Leopard Gecko
One of the most popular geckos we see is the exotic Leopard gecko (Eublepharis Macularius).
They are ground dwelling lizards native to rocky dry grassland in the desert regions of Afganistan, Pakistan, North-west India, mid-western Nepal and Iran.
In captivity, they are very easy to keep even for a beginner, as they don’t take up too much space and they are considerded to be a relatively small lizard with a length of up to 28cm and weigh up to 80 grams for the male. Leopard geckos are not like any other geckos as their toes do not have adhesive lamellae, so they cannot climb smooth vertical walls.
They have a bizarre defense mechanism which is to detach their tail! This detatched tail can continue to twitch for 30 minutes allowing the gecko to flee from the confused predator. The good news is that a Leopard gecko has the ability to regrow its tail but sadly it will not be quite the same as the original tail.
The tail also has another important purpose which is to store fats that can be use as a souce of energy when food is scarce.
Their diet consists of mainly live insects such as roaches and crickets (they do not eat dead prey). It is highy recommend to feed them with nutloaded and calcium dusted insects.
Leopard geckos have lots of morphs which makes them very popular and much in demand. Breeders are competing to create new types of morphs much in demand.
Overall Leopard geckos as pets are very popular as they are considered to be small, readily availability, cute and quite easy to maintain. (Source: Wikipedia)
