Another new Leo owner...

Fishbone

New Member
Messages
8
Location
Tampa Bay, FL
Hi all, my name is Dave, and I just happened upon my first leos today. I am a long time reptile keeper, over 20 years, mostly boas and pythons, more recently beardies.

So I answered an ad on craigslist, with two 40 gal breeder tanks and a stand for both, which I wanted, a juvenile golden tegu, which I wanted, and 3 leos, which honestly, I really didn't. Kind of a fire sale. We've gotta move/go outta town, and need to sell. But i've never found an animal, especially a reptile, i didn't love. And I've got a house full of rodents, crickets, phoenix worms, silkworms, butterworms, and sometimes supers, waxworms and hornworms, plus calcium,vitamns, etc... So I figure i can read up and provide them with a good home until I find someone who likes and/or breeds geckos.

So I get everything home and set up, and actually watch them. And thier really pretty, and really cool behaviorally. Which was a bit surprising for me. And they are not normals. There's a male, which is at the least a very nice normal. One female appears to be a bell albino, maybe something else too, im not sure. And the other female appears to be a very dark patternless, possibly with the eclipse eye morph. I havent taken her back out to look closely as I'm leaving them be to get adjusted for now. She actually looks similar to what someone was selling as a "black patternless" on kingsnake. Thats just my guess as of yet, 2 days ago I didn't know the names of any of the leo morphs.

So after 20 years, i may keep, and eventually possibly breed, some geckos. Which is how I got here. I figured I'd introduce myself as i was searching and pilfering info from your site:main_cool3: They all seem very well and alert, and look healthy. The guy selling them seemed to know what he was doing, with the exception of having a bunch of crickets hopping around in there. I need to play with the heating a bit, the cool side of the tank is in the mid 70's. But im actually going to do a caging shuffle, so I should get all that worked out tomorrow. Ill post a few pics when I can. I'd love to know what that female is, as that leopardgeckowiki site gave me a headache after a while. Im sure it's probably obvious to a skilled eye.

Thanks for having this forum up, searching the old threads has already answered most of my questions :)

Dave
 

geckoluver4evr

New Member
Messages
262
Location
Florida
Hello! Welcome to the wonderful world of leo's. :D <3 Sounds like you've got a gorgeous trio already. :) We'd love to see pics when you can get some up! They're pretty little things, aren't they? :)
 

Fishbone

New Member
Messages
8
Location
Tampa Bay, FL
Thanks for the welcome :) I do normally have an array of bugs. My dragons are well fed and happy, with a good variety. I dont ever have mealies though, I see that seems to be most peoples main staple feeder? They are very high in phosphorus, high in fat, and alot of chitin for the amount of meat in there, so I never feed them to the beardies. But I dont know much about the nutrition needs of leos, so... I'll see how they are about the phoenix worms. As well as silks and butters. And they already like crickets.

As soon as their settled in & adjusted l'll get some good pics and post them up. And yes, they are quite pretty, and kinda cute. And their quite interesting behaviorally. I had thought they would be boring. They are very cool little critters...:cool4:

Dave
 

ZombiGecko

DragonGecko
Messages
348
Location
Ohio
Actually if you get crickets, that would be better for them :) We just feed mealies as its easier to keep on hand as they dont die off like crickets. I feed mine mealies and crickets though :) Cant wait to see pictures!
 

Russellm0704

Active Member
Messages
1,070
Location
Marietta, Ga
Leopard's seem to digest mealies very well and almost all leo's with eat mealies, therefore it is the feeder of choice for most of us. Bearded dragons tend to not digest mealies well at all, this is why they require crickets.
 

Fishbone

New Member
Messages
8
Location
Tampa Bay, FL
Thanks for the info guys. I got some mealworms today as they have shown virtually no interest in the pheonix worms. Two of them ate a few right away. Im hoping the third little bell albino will after it gets dark. I have two other questions regarding feeding. What about supers? Do they need to be any certain size before feeding them? And this may sound silly, but they are in a 40 gallon breeder, and when ive fed any crickets at all, they seem to bounce all over the tank, and stay away from the geckos. They get a few quickly and the other 5 or 6 just bounce around. I've never liked leaving crickets in any animals enclosure. Is it alright to do this here? How do you guys feed crickets? 1 or 2 at a time? Or just leave a few in there overnight, since that seems to be when they are most active? Thanks in advance for the help:) I am going to try to get some pictures tonight, so maybe i can get an ID on the odd dark patternless one.

Dave
 

scm133

GULFCOASTGECKOS
Messages
1,285
Location
Alabama
Crickets..pinch the back legs off. They run, but do not hop. Anyone over 30 grams gets superworms at my house.
 
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