The first month with a hatchling leopard gecko sets the baseline for its entire life in your care, and memory is a poor place to store it. A feed that 'seemed fine last week' cannot be compared with tonight's refusal unless someone wrote down what was offered, what was eaten and what the enclosure was doing at the time. Good records for a hatchling are brief, dated and consistent — a minute a day that turns guesswork into evidence.
Feeding entries: offered, eaten, refused, dusted
Log every evening's feed with four details: which insects were offered, roughly how many the hatchling actually ate, anything refused or left roaming and removed, and which supplement was dusted on that night. Plain calcium most feeds and a multivitamin on set days is a common rotation for a growing baby, and the record is what proves the rotation actually happened when two people share feeding duties.
Sheds, skin and the toes check
Record each shed: the date you noticed the hatchling going pale and dull, the date the shed completed, and whether the old skin came away cleanly. Leopard geckos eat their shed skin, so you may never see it — note 'skin clear, toes checked' instead, because the place stuck shed hides is on tiny toes and the tail tip, where retained skin can constrict as the baby grows.
Weight and growth: the weekly number that matters most
Weigh the hatchling once a week, at the same time of day, on a small digital scale that reads in grams, and write the number down immediately. A growing baby should trend steadily upward; the exact pace varies, but a flat line across several weeks or any loss is a flag worth acting on. Pair the weight with a note on tail thickness, because the tail is this species' fuel tank — plump and widening is reassuring, narrowing while weight stalls deserves attention.
Temperatures, water and droppings
Log warm-side floor temperature and cool-side temperature several times a week, and always on the day of any appetite change. Leopard geckos digest and hunt according to the warmth under their bellies, so 'refused food Tuesday' means one thing at correct temperatures and something entirely different if the heat source failed on Monday. Note thermostat checks and any bulb or mat change with its date.
Droppings earn a line too: frequency, and whether they look formed with a white urate portion, as is normal for this species. A sudden run of watery droppings, undigested insects passed whole, or no droppings at all across several fed days belongs in the record and, if it persists, in front of a vet. Water dish refreshes can be a simple daily tick — small, but it proves the routine happened.
Behaviour notes and the month-end review
Close each week with two or three lines on behaviour: where the hatchling sleeps, how it responds to handling, whether it explores after lights-out or stays hidden. Note the first day it ate from tongs, the evening it explored the whole enclosure, any night it stayed out unusually long. These details look soft next to weights and temperatures, but they are how you will recognise 'not itself' in month three.
At the end of the month, read the whole record once. You should be able to state this baby's normal feeding appetite, shed rhythm, weight trend and favourite hides without guessing — that summary is the real product of the month's minute-a-day habit. A KinsLe Pet Passport holds those feeding logs, shed dates, weights and temperature notes in one portable packet, ready for a vet visit, a sitter handover or the hatchling's eventual move to a bigger enclosure.