Leopard Gecko Tank Setup: What Your Gecko Actually Needs

Leopard Gecko Tank Setup: What Your Gecko Actually Needs

Leopard geckos have a reputation for being low-maintenance, and setup-wise, they mostly are. But a few details, especially around humidity and heat placement, matter more than the simplicity of the species suggests. This covers the full setup, for a deeper dive on temperature specifically, see our Leopard Gecko Temperature Guide, and for the full care picture, see our Leopard Gecko care guide.

Enclosure Size

36x18x18 inches is the current minimum for an adult, well beyond the old 20-gallon-long standard (roughly 30x12x12 inches) that a lot of older care sheets still repeat, and bigger is always fine. Hatchlings can start in something as small as a 10-gallon while they're small. Leopard geckos are terrestrial and ground-dwelling, so floor space matters more than height. Go with a front-opening, well-ventilated enclosure with an escape-proof screen top, and house your gecko alone, they're not a social species and don't do well cohabitating.

Temperature Gradient

• Warm side/basking: 88 to 92°F surface temperature at the warm hide, measured at the hide itself rather than the surrounding air
• Cool side: About 72 to 78°F
• Nighttime: A drop to around 70°F is fine and actually healthy, tolerable down to 60°F

Heat comes from an under-tank heat mat placed under the warm hide, always on a thermostat. Never run a heat mat without one, an unregulated mat is a real burn and fire risk. Skip colored night bulbs entirely, they disrupt sleep, use a ceramic heat emitter instead if you need supplemental night heat. See our Leopard Gecko Temperature Guide for the full breakdown on getting this gradient right.

UVB: Optional, But Worth Doing

Leopard geckos don't strictly require UVB the way bearded dragons do, but the research on this has shifted in recent years. Controlled studies have shown that even brief, low-level UVB exposure, as little as two hours a day, measurably raises vitamin D3 levels in leopard geckos through their skin. It's a genuine benefit, not just an aesthetic addition.

Add UVB and keep the output low: a UVI of 0.5 to 1.5 at the basking spot for normally pigmented geckos, and 0.5 to 0.7 or lower for albino or other less-pigmented morphs, which burn more easily under standard output.

Humidity: The Detail People Get Wrong

Keep the general enclosure at 30 to 40% humidity. But separately, and this is the part that matters most, provide a dedicated humid hide at 70 to 80% humidity on the cool or middle side of the enclosure. This one feature prevents the majority of shedding problems in this species, covered in more detail in our Leopard Gecko health issues guide. Don't raise humidity across the whole enclosure to hit that number, that just creates a respiratory infection risk instead.

Substrate

Paper towel or tile are the safest choices, especially for anyone newer to the hobby, since they eliminate impaction risk entirely. More experienced keepers sometimes move to bioactive sand or soil setups, but that comes with more nuance to get right. Whatever you use, never use calcium sand or fine loose sand, and don't line the humid hide with sphagnum moss or paper towel that could be ingested.

Furnishings

You need three hides, not one:

• A warm, dry hide
• A cool, dry hide
• A humid hide (lined with damp substrate), placed on the cool or middle side

Add a shallow water dish your gecko can climb in and out of easily, refreshed daily, along with some rock or wood for nail filing and light climbing. Run a 12-hour light, 12-hour dark cycle to keep a normal day and night rhythm.

Diet, Briefly

Leopard geckos are insectivores, crickets, mealworms, and dubia roaches are all solid staples, with the occasional waxworm or hornworm as a treat. Dust feeders with plain calcium at most feedings for juveniles and breeding females, 2 to 3 times a week for adults. Add calcium with D3 only a couple of times a week, and only if the setup doesn't include meaningful UVB exposure, since a gecko already getting UVB is synthesizing its own D3. Gut-load your feeder insects before offering them. Hatchlings and juveniles eat daily, adults every 2 to 4 days.

Once this setup is dialed in, see our Leopard Gecko handling guide for building a good relationship with a well-settled gecko, our enrichment guide for what the research says is actually worth adding on top of this, or browse the rest of our Geckos care guide category.

If the lighting side of this is new to you, our complete guide to UVB lighting covers Ferguson Zones and the mistakes that cause metabolic bone disease.

Printable Guide

Want this as a printable reference? The Leopard Gecko Care Package turns this guide into a 22-page PDF you can keep by the enclosure, $8.99.

Sources & Further Reading