Hi Mark,
welcome to the forum, hope you have fun with your new pets.
Concerning the leads, Chas has set of ready made cables with a safety feature (no damage to the system in the event of wrong polarity), plus a power switch is fitted.
The original cables have core dia. of 4mm, length approx. 80cm. But if you fit new leads you will also need to fit a power switch.
Circuit diagrams can be found on the home page/downloads.