Diablo Blanco Leopard Gecko – Care Guide, Info & Morphs


In the last decade, leopard geckos have become some of the most fancied pets by reptile owners. What most people love about leos is that they come in many morphs and varieties that resonate with different tastes and personalities.

If you’re a leopard gecko enthusiast and you’re thinking of adding a new gecko morph into your household, the Diablo Blanco leopard gecko is a perfect option. This stunning morph boasts a white, patternless body and tail and some attractive red eyes.

Since you need to know more than the color and pattern to take care of this gecko, this guide will go through everything about the Diablo Blanco gecko, from appearance and size to housing requirements, diet, price, handling, and more.

Diablo Blanco Leopard Gecko Appearance & Morphs

The Diablo Blanco is distinguished by its all-white skin, lack of patterns or spots anywhere on his body, and undifferentiated red eyes. The first Diablo Blanco morph leopard gecko was produced in late 2006, making it a relatively recent success in leopard gecko breeding.

The morph was created by leopard gecko expert Ron Tremper, who is also responsible for breeding the original albino strain, the Tremper Albino, in 1996.

The Diablo Blanco morph could only come about because two other morphs already existed: the RAPTOR and Tremper Albino Blazing Blizzard. Ron Temper took the whitest female Tremper Albino Blazing Blizzard gecko and crossed it with RAPTOR males to make the Diablo Blanco.

The resulting lizard displayed signs of albinism by having a white body hue without any patterns and red eyes that don’t change.

Unfortunately, the Diablo Blanco gecko has no known variations since it’s made by crossing two morphs. However, this morph’s looks and aesthetic appeal will excite even enthusiasts with the most discerning tastes.

Diablo Blanco Leopard Gecko Size

Diablo Blanco geckos are small, averaging around 7-11 inches, like the typical leopard geckos. The male geckos tend to be more prominent, measuring approximately 8.5-11 inches. On the other hand, adult females grow to around 7-9 inches.

The gecko’s size makes it ideal for individuals who don’t want to keep large animals or pets that are too tiny.

Diablo Blanco Leopard Geckos Lifespan

While the longevity of leopard geckos depends on their diet, care, health, and tank conditions, Diablo Blanco geckos can live for about 10-20 years.

Usually, geckos in the wild don’t go past ten years since they are exposed to harsh desert conditions, starvation, and predation from other animals, such as birds and snakes.

Captive-bred geckos can live even more than 20 years since they have everything provided to them in the comfort of their terrariums.

They live in climate-controlled environments, get commercially prepared and gut-loaded insects, and get checked regularly by professional vets.

Caring For Diablo Blanco Leopard Gecko

Providing your Diablo Banco gecko with proper care is a recipe for a long, healthy, and happy life. You’ll need to offer your gecko an appropriate living environment and diet and ensure they get the right healthcare services.

As for the habitat, you should ensure that it’s the right size and has the correct temperature, humidity, and lighting. For food, leopard geckos are insectivorous and should be fed only that.

You must dust and gut-load the feeder insects before providing them to your geckos. Also, remember to ensure that your gecko has clean drinking water in a shallow dish.

Another essential care practice is to ensure that your gecko lives in a clean and hygienic environment. You ought to have a cleaning routine that asserts that the leo’s terrarium is filth- and dirt-free.

You should spot clean daily by clearing the poop and washing and refilling the water dish. You should also do weekly cleaning to get rid of accumulated dirt and monthly cleaning to dust and wash the walls and all indoor accessories.

Ensuring your Diablo Blanco gecko is healthy is also essential. You must watch out for any signs of illness, visit a qualified reptile vet, and keep up with all vet appointments.

Taking time to interact, bond, and handle your gecko is also pivotal. It’s only when you train your leopard gecko to socialize that they’ll get used to people and get to interact with them.

Shedding in Diablo Blanco Leopard Gecko

To maintain their health, leopard geckos must undergo a molting process known as shedding. Adult leopard geckos shed their skin every 4 to 8 weeks, while younger geckos do it every 1 to 2 weeks.

If your gecko sheds more frequently than this, it might be due to mites, sickness, or insufficient diet.

Most lizards shed their skin in chunks or flakes over many days. However, the leopard gecko undergoes a shedding process analogous to a snake; the old skin is lost rapidly and almost entirely in one piece.

Here are some of the tell-tale visual signs of upcoming shedding:

  • Lack of interest in food
  • Lethargy
  • The skin becomes duller. However, it’s not equally visible in the Diablo Blanco gecko

When the time comes, your leo might start rubbing off rocks to commence the shedding process. The scalp is the first area to experience flaking and peeling.

During this process, leopard geckos move their bodies back and forth and use their mouths to pull and stretch the old skin.

Leos need moisture and humidity to shed properly. So, you’ll need to provide a humid hide lined up with a moisture-holding substrate such as eco earth or sphagnum moss.

Ideally, geckos need humidity between 70-80% to shed effectively. Since creating such a condition in the cage is somewhat challenging, the easiest thing to do is create a humid hide.

It’s always crucial to avoid holding your gecko during this period. While shedding, leopard geckos can become irritable, and some even become hostile.

Due to unnecessary handling and tension, a stressed-out gecko may experience problems like jammed sheds. Please don’t interfere with nature; give your leo the finest environment possible and leave it alone.

Do Diablo Blanco Leopard Geckos Hibernate?

In chilly weather, wild leopard geckos do hibernate. However, their kind of hibernation is known as brumation. Leopard geckos spend between 30 and 90 days in a semi-dormant state during the cold season. Essentially, leos brumate during the chilly months to conserve energy and escape the low-food season.

While brumation is a natural process, not all geckos get to go through it. Actually, it’s infrequent in captivity since the environment is always predetermined and controlled.

However, Diablo Blanco geckos might still get into brumation through simulation or naturally.

If your gecko is about to brumate or is getting into brumation, you’ll see signs and symptoms such as:

  • Recurring hiding
  • Staying in the tank’s one side
  • Regular naps
  • Less frequent defecation
  • Reduced appetite
  • Slow or no movement at all

You should gradually alter the lighting and temperature in your gecko’s tank while it is brumating. The tank’s daily temperature should ideally be decreased from approximately 86 degrees Fahrenheit to around 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

While your leopard gecko may appear dormant during brumation, it still requires care. A constant supply of water is still needed. Additionally, keep calcium supplements available at all times for your leopard gecko.

In the end, leopard geckos don’t brumate because it’s necessary to their health; they do it because it’s cold outside. As a result, there’s no need to coerce your gecko to brumate.

Diablo Blanco Leopard Gecko Housing and Indoor Requirements

The first step in providing a happy, healthy environment for your leopard gecko is picking the right cage. Your leopard gecko must be kept in a tank, aquarium, terrarium, or vivarium that is of the appropriate size. These come in various sizes and are widely available in pet stores and online.

The kind you choose will depend on your particular aesthetic preferences, the room you have, and how many geckos you have. Usually, glass terrariums are preferred since they make it easy to create ideal internal conditions.

Ideal Tank Size for Diablo Blanco Geckos

You should offer at least a 20-gallon aquarium for a single leopard gecko. It should be 12 inches in height and 30 inches in length to provide the gecko plenty of room to lounge, climb and hide.

Lizards are not strong climbers like some of their reptilian cousins. Therefore, they do best in low and wide tanks rather than high and narrow ones.

Choose a tank made of clear glass or plastic. Never put leopard geckos in wire cages because they are too likely to get caught and hurt.

Heating Requirement for the Diablo Blanco Leopard Gecko’s Terrarium.

 Keeping the enclosure at the right temperature is crucial for your leopard gecko’s health and well-being. Leopard geckos have particular temperature needs, so you’ll need to closely monitor and adjust the heat levels in your pet’s home.

Your small companion will need to roam to different parts of the enclosure at varying times of the day and night to maintain a consistent body temperature. For this reason, it is crucial to set up and keep a proper temperature gradient across the tank.

Leopard geckos require both a warm area for digesting and a cold area to lower their body temperature. During the day, keep the temperature between 84 and 90 degrees. The temperature on the cooler side of your enclosure throughout the day should be between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can heat your gecko’s terrarium using any or all of these options:

  • Heating pads
  • Ceramic heaters
  • Suitable lights

Humidity

Humidity is another essential item when providing a suitable environment for your leopard gecko. High humidity can make breathing hard, and too little humidity can cause dehydration and other health problems.

Your leopard gecko tank’s humidity should be between 30 and 40%. This may sound very complex, but it’s typically not too difficult to change the humidity in the aquarium with a few tiny modifications.

Be sure to provide adequate ventilation if the humidity level in your gecko’s tank is too high. A simple way to lower the humidity in the tank is to reduce the size of the water dish.

If the moisture in the cage is too low, try increasing the size of the water dish or introducing a live plant. Humidity in the tank can be raised by including extra wet components, like damp paper towels and sphagnum moss.

Lighting Requirement for Diablo Blanco Gecko Tank

There are various points of view on Leopard Gecko illumination, and some would even call it contentious. Some owners argue that their nocturnal reptiles don’t need special light to survive.

Although most people believe that leos are nocturnal, the truth is that they are crepuscular and become active at dawn and dusk.

Diablo Blanco geckos require a specific cycle of darkness and light to help them adjust, just like they would in their natural environment. They need 14 hours of daylight and 10 hours of darkness during the summer and at least 12 hours of light during winter.

While many keepers claim that these lizards don’t need UVB since they have managed to care for them without it, modern research has proved that UVB light benefits geckos. Therefore, gecko owners should try to add UVB light bulbs to their gecko tanks.

However, due to their sensitivity to harsh lighting, you should only use UVB bulbs with less than 5% light. Remember to give your gecko vitamin D3 through supplementation.

Substrate

Just like humans put carpets in their houses to make them comfortable and warm, geckos also need the right flooring to thrive and live comfortably.

Luckily, there are plenty of substrate options to choose from. A suitable substrate for your leopard gecko shouldn’t be made of anything that could scratch or irritate its eyes or skin.

Some of the best substrates for Diablo Blanco leopard geckos include:

  • Reptile carpets
  • Ceramic tiles
  • Stone slates
  • Large river pebbles
  • Newspapers/paper towels

However, some specific substrates shouldn’t be used in gecko terrariums because they might lead to impaction or irritate the gecko’s skin. They include:

  • Sand
  • Calcium sand
  • Various types of mulch
  • Wood shavings.

Accessories and Décor

Although leos are curious animals, they are not that vibrant and thus don’t need a lot of décor and accessories in their cage. The hides are the first and most essential accessory for your Diablo Blanco gecko.

You need to provide several hiding places where the animal can escape when they want to sleep or when they feel scared and want to hide.

You can create hides using shoe boxes, rocks, or even logs. You may add artificial plants to make the cage look more natural.

Diablo Blanco Leopard Gecko Diet and Nutritional Needs

The Diablo Blanco geckos are insectivorous and must consume a diet of healthy insects. You can feed these leos various commercially produced insects, including crickets, mealworms, and roaches. Others, like wax worms, butter worms, and silkworms, can be fed as snacks.

However, never give them insects such as butterflies or moths because these could potentially be toxic to them or cause other health problems.

Your Diablo Blanco leopard gecko’s age and the stage it is in its growth cycle will determine how often it needs to be fed. Because they require robust growth and development, baby geckos must eat anywhere from twice to three times a day.

On the other hand, juveniles older than three months must consume food once daily to maintain optimal growth and replenish energy reserves.

When it comes to adult geckos, you only need to feed them once every two to three days because they don’t grow very much and don’t require a lot of nutrition in their later years.

A freshwater bowl should always be in the enclosure that houses your leopard gecko. The water dish must be cleaned and refilled daily to keep the lizard adequately hydrated.

The most pivotal thing you can do for your leo and pretty much any other pet reptile is to ensure they get enough calcium. Calcium deficiencies can lead to metabolic bone disease, a degenerative disorder that, if left untreated, can increase the risk of fractures, disfigurement, and even death.

Calcium deficiency can also lead to osteomalacia, a condition that causes the bones in the entire body to become brittle and break easily.

As a result, when considering the diet for your Diablo Blanco leopard gecko, you need to ensure that they receive adequate calcium and vitamin D3 supplements.

Calcium and vitamin supplements can be added to the leo’s diet in one of two ways, depending on your preference:

Gut-loading. This is when crickets are given a diet high in calcium for 24 to 12 hours before being consumed by geckos. This allows the geckos to absorb more calcium from the crickets. When consumed by geckos, crickets release the calcium they have stored in their guts into the gecko’s digestive system.

Dusting. This is a method of supplementation in which pet owners dip insects into a calcium or vitamin powder so that the powder can carry the nutrients into the leo’s gut after the insects are consumed.

Some experts also believe that if you position a bowl of calcium or vitamin supplements in close proximity to the water dish, your gecko may lick the powder and therefore obtain the necessary supplementation.

Water

Leopard geckos also need to be provided with clean drinking water daily. Despite hailing from hot deserts, Diablo Blanco gecko needs water to stay hydrated and support all their body functions. Water should be put in a shallow bowl and placed in a convenient place inside the enclosure.

Diablo Blanco Leopard Gecko Health Complications

There are a few potential health complications that you need to watch out for in your gecko.

  • Dehydration: Inadequate nutrition and low humidity can lead to dehydration in geckos. Chronic dehydration is harmful to health and can even be fatal.
  • Metabolic bone disease:  The condition is brought on by a lack of vitamin D3 and is made worse by a diet low in calcium. As a result, bone density decreases, and the bones cannot support the body.
  • Respiratory infections: Overcrowding, poor husbandry, or a weakened immune system can all lead to respiratory illnesses in leopard geckos. Difficulties in breathing, sneezing, and mucus discharge are all signs of respiratory diseases.
  • Impaction: When Diablo Blanco leopard geckos eat substrate or large insects that are too big for their digestive systems, they risk becoming impacted. Getting veterinarian help is essential because this might be a life-threatening condition.

How Do You Breed a Blanco Diablo?      

The Diablo Blanco morph is developed by crossing the Albino Tremper Blazing Blizzard and RAPTOR leopard gecko morphs. The Albino Tremper Blazing Blizzard is an all-white hybrid between the Blizzard and the patternless Tremper Albino.

The Raptor is a hybrid of several morphs, including the Eclipse morph, which has black and red eyes due to its albinism.

The Diablo Blanco was created by breeding the whitest Albino Tremper Blazing Blizzard female and Raptor male and raising their kids together. This produced a morph with slight albinism and a patternless body. However, the morph had solid red eyes, one of its most impressive features.

It is vital to note that the Diablo Blanco has distinct genes; thus, breeding two Diablo Blancos will result in additional Diablo Blancos, not Albino Tremper Blazing Blizzard or Raptor offspring.

How Much Does a Diablo Blanco Leopard Gecko Cost?

Although the Diablo Blanco leopard gecko is among the rarest morphs, it’s not one of the most expensive geckos. You’ll need to pay between $199.95 – $579.00 to take this scaly gecko home.

Conclusion

If you’ve been contemplating buying the Diablo Blanco leopard gecko, this guideline has outlined all the steps and things you need to do to care for this reptile friend.

The essential items are to provide a conducive living habitat, offer gut-loaded insects and supplements, clean the enclosure, give them water and handle them regularly.

Once you do what is detailed in this guide, you can forge a long-term relationship with one of the market’s most beautiful leopard gecko morphs. 

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