Environmental Enrichment: Decorating Your Leopard Gecko’s Enclosure

Decorating your leopard gecko terrarium is more than just another means to waste your money and/or make your gecko’s space look prettier. While they can serve an aesthetic function, they also enhance a reptile’s quality of life by mimicking their natural environment and providing mental stimulation. The best zoos do this all the time — it’s called environmental enrichment. 

Hides/Caves

A leopard gecko needs at least two hides: a warm, moist hide, and a cool, dry hide. Do not limit yourself to two hides, however. If possible, add more — like a warm, dry hide. People like having options, and leopard geckos do, too.

Plants

There’s not a lot of plants in leopard geckos’ natural environment, but if you want to enhance the aesthetic with plants, great! Make sure to wash artificial plants before using. Custom Reptile Habitats has a great selection of super-realistic and durable options.

Any live plants should be nontoxic and suited to a dry environment so you don’t have to raise the humidity too much with occasional watering.

Rocks

One of the best ways you can improve the enclosure’s appearance will be with rocks. Leopard geckos like climbing, and in fact, stacking pieces of slate with inch-two inch spacers between simulates the cracks that they hide and climb in in their natural environment.

Water bowl

Geckos drink readily from water bowls, so they need on in their enclosure. It should be shallow enough that the gecko can’t drown by accident, and the water should be replaced daily or whenever it gets dirty.

Backdrop

If you’re using an all-glass enclosure, adding a naturalistic backdrop can be much more attractive. It also helps the gecko feel more secure in its environment because he can’t see outside as much.

Leopard Gecko Terrarium Design Ideas