Leopard Gecko help needed!

The Pheasant2

Hey guys, I need some help with a Leopard Gecko I've acquired - my auntie appeared out of the blue an hour or so ago and left a Leopard Gecko since I'm "into that sort of thing" and her kids didn't want it anymore...

Now I know a little bit about geckos and this one doesn't look great. The first thing I noticed is that it's tail is pretty thin. There's also no light on the vivarium she left (is that a necessity?).

She said she's been feeding it on woodlice of all things, so she certainly wasn't gutloading of dusting them.

It came with a heat pad but I've left it off for the moment..the temp gauge is showing about 80 degrees farenheit...that okay?

I'm actually quite annoyed tbh, her leaving this with me before I could do some proper research...

I might try and post a few pics of the setup later on and thanks for the help

dodderangler

My experience with leopard geckos is a while but had one for few years. Fed him on black and brown crickets of medium size. I left the Mat on all the time but wouldn't leave the light on all time. Only if the temp in house was cold. Or when I fed him.
My monitor lizard had his lamp and light on all day until I go sleep then it's off.
They're cold blooded so heat is extremely important. Not really fair to jump dump an animal like that but stop with the woodlice and get yourself to a pet shop tomoro for €3.50 you'll get a box of crickets make sure there water aswell.

Jen Pigs Fly

Leopard geckos are nocturnal so they don't need light. If you want one for yourself so you can see it so be it but geckos do not like light.

Turn the heat mat on you want around 36 degrees Celsius in the warm part and the around 24 in the cool part. Leave it on for 12-14 hours a day. They are designed to come out at night to bask so he'll he out more if it's warm and dark.

Feed him brown crickets. Low protein for them, make sure you dust with calcium and d3 at least twice a week. They're very prone to mbd. If you feed too much high protein food they produce too much urea which creates crystals, which causes gout! And we don't want that!

Avoid meal worms, wax worms, locusts etc. the best thing for them is crickets, super worms and roaches.

Take a picture if it's underside near the tail and post on here and I can tell you if it's male or female as well as any issues it may be having.

A moist hide is essential for these guys too, they may be desert dwellers but they love somewhere warm and moist to hide In. It helps with shedding and skin dryness.

Any questions pm me,i have a lot of reptile experience.