Leopard Gecko Lifespan and Care Guide
A leopard gecko is not a short-term pet. A healthy captive animal commonly reaches fifteen to twenty years, and some go beyond that. Anyone buying a hatchling is signing up for a relationship that will outlast most phone contracts, several house moves, and probably a couple of jobs. That is the first thing to understand about lifespan: it is mostly a measure of husbandry, not of luck. In the wild, most leopard geckos never see old age. Predators, drought, and parasites keep the average short. In captivity, the animal has no predators and no drought, so the two things that shorten life are the two things the keeper controls: temperature and nutrition. What Actually Shortens a Leopard Gecko's Life Metabolic bone disease is the most common preventable killer. It comes from a lack of usable calcium, usually because there is no UVB and no adequate supplementation. The bones soften, the jaw turns rubbery, and the gecko stops being able to hunt. It is slow, painful, and entirely ...
