The Fascinating Leopard Gecko
The Leopard gecko is a very beautiful nocturnal animal, which generally live in the ground. They have very attractive color and pattern and normally can be found in the deserts of South Asia, from the northwestern parts of India, through Pakistan, to the southern parts of Afghanistan. In recent days, adopting an exotic animal like Leopard gecko has becoming one of the most popular hobbies all around the world.
Nomenclature and Species
In 1854, a British Zoologist Edward Blyth first described Leopard geckos as a species and he named it Eublepharis macularis. Leopard geckos are like all the normal geckos, which are familiar to us including the African Fat-Tailed Gecko. It has five subspecies, counting the nominative species: Eublepharis macularius montanus , E. m. macularius, E. m. montanus and E. m. smithi.
Physical Description
These geckos are naturally small in size. An adult gecko’s length can be 20.5 to 27.5 cm and weight can be about 45 to 65 grams. Where as a baby gecko can be 6.5 to 8.4 cm and weight can be about 3 grams. The skins of leopard geckos are very nice and have beautiful colors and patterns. Their skins are very durable, which act as a safeguard from the coarse sand of the desert and rocky territory of their dry surroundings.
Nature of Leopard Geckos
Generally leopard gecko likes to live in dry grassland, rocky and desert areas of south-Asian Afghanistan, north-west India, Pakistan and some areas of Iran. In winter the temperature in these locations become quite low, which force the Leopard gecko to become underground into hibernation. Generally they like to spend their daytime by hiding under the rocks and come out at end of the day to search any insects to eat. Generally they have a have a province in the animal world, and usually they don’t like to live with other animals.
Diets of Leopard Geckos
Leopard geckos are Insectivores, which feed on worms, spiders and insects. These geckos like to have their meal by hunting. Crickets are their favorite food source and they can easily hunt them in their surroundings the way they would in the natural. Sometimes food is inadequate in the desert, so in that situation they sore additional fat in their tails. However, they can eat their own discard skin for protein and extra nutrition. It is noticeable that an adult leopard gecko discards its skin one time in a month, but young geckos may shed in so far as twice.
Sexual Dimorphism of Leopard Geckos
The differences between females and males of a species are generally known as Sexual dimorphism. It commonly found in wild animals, such as leopard geckos and it appears in adult females and males, but it is quite difficult to determine in baby geckos. The sex of geckos can be truly determined from the underside of the geckos. Male geckos can identify the sex of other geckos by smelling their pheromones on the skin. Male geckos respond to other male geckos with desperate behavior while they show a courtship behavior with females.
Recently leopard geckos become good pet and it becoming very popular to adopting a wild animal like it, especially for its beautiful colors and patterns and for the cheap cost of its maintenance. These geckos don’t have an awful odor, they have need off quite small space and slight supervision, very cheap to maintain, are very easy to care and most of all they can be a great project for children.
