Ever heard of leopard gecko patterns like the Ruby-Eyed Tremper Albino morph? What about the Patternless Mack Super Snow? Or the Tangerine Super Hypo Carrot-Tail? You might not have heard of any of these, but they’re out there and available for you to purchase. Even as you read this, professional leopard gecko breeders are hard at work producing ever more amazing morphs (that is, visually distinct leopard geckos) for people to fall in love with and buy.
But where did this all begin? How is it done? And was there a time when this little leo actually looked kind of like a leopard making it the only option for the wannabe reptile owner? Read on to find out more…
Housing
A good rule of thumb for Red Eye Tree Frogs is 5 gallons per frog. A ten gallon tank is perfect for a pair of frogs. Flip it on its end to make the tank taller, Red Eye Tree Frogs are arboreal and like to climb. The cage top should be half glass, half screen to keep humidity up.
The best way to feed your leopard a calcium supplement is to gut load its feeder insects with a high-calcium diet. Blend together a sauce made from any of: dandelion greens; watercress; collard greens; mustard greens, and/or endive. Be sure to include both the juice and the pulp. Feed this to the feeder insects during the period 24-48 hours prior to feeding them to your leopard.
You want humidity in the 60-80% range. This can be achieved by using potting soil, orchid bark, sphagnum moss as a flooring substrate. These substrates help hold moisture in. You can also do regular misting, or close off part of the cage top to hold in moisture. A good rule of thumb is, if the glass has water beading on it, its to moist. Adjust as needed. It is a good idea to mist your frogs a few times a week.
They will require branches and plants to climb and have hidey holes.
Diet
Red Eye Tree Frogs are insectivorous. So a diet of crickets, mealworms, fruit flies, and just about any insect that fit in their mouth is fair game. I recommend gut loading anything you give them, as this adds to the nutritional value of your insects. Provide them a large water dish with fresh water, they rehydrate themselves by soaking in the dish. Use ONLY distilled water, or filtered and De-chlorinated water. Chemicals in tap water can kill your frog.
Today
With all the leopard gecko patterns currently available, what’s left to do – are there still any ‘holy grail’ morphs that no one has been able to breed yet? The answer (at the time of writing in 2010) is yes, absolutely. Chief among the morphs that everyone wants to develop are an all-black morph and a true all-blue morph. There’s probably no doubt that these morphs will be achieved soon…so start saving your pennies!
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