The life of Macka G

How Macka G came into our lives

This is Macka G (Macka for short). 

He is a Leopard Gecko that we took in after finding out he was going to be sold cheaply on gumtree when his first owners couldn't look after him anymore.

I didn't like this idea as you never know who could have bought him and if they would have given him a good of a life as possible as I firmly believe that amazing animals like these deserve to be left in the wildwhere they belong. But as he can't just be let go into the wild, me and my partner took him in to give him the best possible live, as close to natural as we could.  

Macka G's House

As naturally Macka would have all the freedom in the world compared to a small vivarium that is recommended for a "pet" lizard of his size, we wanted to get the biggest vivarium we could comfortably fit in our living room. 

His vivarium, which we just call "Macka's house" is approximately 6ft by 3ft. Macka is approximately 7 inches long. Just to put the size into perspective. 

He has Aloe Vera plants, snake plants, succulent plants, moss and other fun greenery (that is all perfectly safe) as well as 4 hide outs, one being his favourite giant tunnel, bark covered walls, drinking water dish and food dish just in case he's feeling lazy and doesn't want to chase his food around, which is usually the case.   

Macka G's food

Leopard geckos only eat insects like meal worms and crickets. Macka's favourite is mealworms but will occasionally have fun chasing a cricket around and very sparingly we'll give him a waxworm as a big treat but they are very fattening for leopard geckos and Macka doesn't need anymore fattening up as he has a BIG appetite. We put some mealworms in and around his food bowl for him to either "hunt" for or just eat out the bowl like the lazy boy that he is, every other evening before he gets up for the night so we're not bothering him. 

Macka G's temperatures

Leopard geckos and other reptiles can be a bit tricky to get their vivarium heat and humidity right. If its too hot or too cold for them they can get uncomfortable and stressed and cause them other issues. So Macka has a hot side, a cooler side and a basking area, a humid area and dry area on the hot side and a humid and dry area on the cooler side. Moss is placed in two of his hides on either side of his house to create the humid areas. We have temperature gages around his house so we can monitor it and change anything if necessary but Macka seems quite content even with some temperature fluctuations as our seasons change and the environment outside of his house changes.

Our overall experience 

Macka is the first lizard either of us have ever looked after and as soon as we heard about him we did nothing but research how to care for leopard geckos to make sure we were ready for such a task and of course looking after any non human animal it has been a bit tricky at times as with lizards its not always as easy to tell how they're feeling or if they are acting odd or not themselves like you somewhat can with mammals. So there have been some stresses along the way but Macka G came to us when he was 6 months old and is now over a year old and is a chunky, handsome, happy, healthy leopard gecko who brightens up my evening when he comes out for dinner and a wonder around and we're looking forward for the years to come with him. 

More info on leopard geckos