How Old Is My Leopard Gecko?
Have you wondered how old is my leopard gecko? If you got it as a baby, you probably know, but if you got it as an adult then you may not.
Finding out your leopard geckos age can be hard but is possible through a combination of measurements including its weight, length, and looking at its colors. This might not always be 100% accurate, but it can give you a good, general idea of their age.
Every leopard gecko is different and their growth rate and size will depend on their genetics, food intake, health, and their overall husbandry.
There is no obvious way to determine the exact age of your leopard gecko, just by looking at it, because of all these factors. But here are some things you can look for if you want to take a guess:
Length
Length is the best way to try and guess the age of your leopard gecko. Although, keep in mind that they stop growing at 18 months, which signifies that they have reached adulthood.
By adulthood, it will be a little harder to tell how old they are without knowing their actual birth date. Here are their lengths at different ages but do note that these are just generalizations and may not apply to your gecko:
- Birth: around 3 inches
- 3 months old: 5 inches
- 6 months old: 5 to 6 inches
- 9 months old: 6 to 7 inches
- 1-year-old: 7 to 8 inches
- 1 and a half years old (adulthood): Anywhere from 8 to 12 inches
If they are already an adult, they will have stopped growing after a year and a half of life, so you will have a harder time trying to figure out its age from then on.
Weight
You can also guess your leopard gecko’s age by looking at their weight. Keep in mind that this method of measurement can only be used with geckos that are not full-grown or younger than 18 months.
Also, note that these are generalizations since weight can be affected by external factors and should be used along with other methods in order to get a more accurate estimate.
- Birth: 3 to 5 grams
- 3 months old: 10 to 20 grams
- 6 months old: 30 to 40 grams
- 9 months old: 35 to 50 grams (depending on sex)
- 1-year-old: 40 to 65 grams (depending on sex)
- 1 and a half years old (adulthood): 50 to 110 grams (depending on sex)
When you are using weight to try to guess the age of your leopard gecko, make sure to consider any external factors like their gender and diet. Under and overfeeding can also play a role in your gecko’s weight.
Female leopard geckos will also gain and lose weight during and after pregnancy. Both males and females will lose weight when shedding as well. Your gecko’s weight can also change due to illness, so these are all important factors to consider with your measurements.
Colors
The color and patterns on the skin of your leopard gecko may help by giving you a hint of how old they might be. Evolving colors and changes in patterns will happen during your leopard gecko’s life as they age, making this a possible indicator of what part of life they might be at!
When it comes to patterns, most leopard geckos will start off with full bands around their body when they are young, which will later turn into spots after they are a year old. If you don’t see spots, but rather bands on their backs, you might have a gecko that is under one year old.
When they are juveniles, which they will be for a 10-month duration, that is when these bands will turn into spots as they reach adulthood, which is at one year and a half. If you see this happening, you may have a one-year-old.
As they age, these bands will turn into spots and may mellow in color. Their bright colors may become more softened throughout their lifetime, but you may see yellows come in more and more as they grow older.
Keep these in mind, as they might be able to help you gather more hints as to where your leopard gecko might be at in life. It’s also important to note that these color and pattern indication applies to standard leopard geckos, not including morphs.
Shedding
Leopard geckos will shed throughout their lives as they grow and evolve. This is because they are constantly growing.
As your leopard gecko grows larger, it will shed the skin it outgrows. This process will differ in frequency depending on your gecko’s age.
You can usually expect younger leopard geckos to shed about every week or every other week. Adult geckos, on the other hand, will shed every four to eight weeks or so.
This might not be the best way to guess their age, but this knowledge might add a little guess to your hint if you have the time to watch their shedding periods.
Leopard Gecko Growth (90 day timelapse)
The below video shows a timelapse of a leopard gecko growing up. It’s done over a period of 90 days so you can see the dramatic changes in such a short period of time.
Conclusion
It might be fun to try and guess your leopard gecko’s age, but it will be rather hard without knowing its actual hatch date. If your leopard gecko is a full-grown adult, this will mostly be guesswork.
Note, again, that these are generalizations and might not be completely accurate to all leopard geckos. These are just ways that we have proven can be a good indication to guess their possible age.
Again, these will vary in themselves since their rate of growth will not all be the same. How much food your leopard gecko gets, their vitamin intake, calcium, stress levels, and even environmental factors like their tank size.
Good husbandry will provide healthy growth at a normal rate whereas lack thereof can cause their growth to be stunted.
The best way to get an accurate number is to basically try to find the hatch date. You can ask your breeder or if you got your leopard gecko from a pet store, ask the store. This will be the only sure way to actually know their real age.
Otherwise, you can just try to guess by using the methods we listed above. We hope this has assisted you in your journey to figuring out how old your leopard gecko is!