Are baby leos any harder to take care of than an adult leo?

[lovelovelove135]

Hi, I'm getting a leo very soon and I'm just wondering if babies are harder to take care of than adults. Are they more prone to illness? Do I have to feed them more crickets than superworms? I know some people say mealworms can cause impaction, and especially for babies, but how about superworms? I know their exoskeleton is more digestible, but are they still bad for the baby leos? I plan to feed my leo mainly superworms and occasional crickets. Also, I'd like to see my first leo grow up, and see it's stripes break up into spots, but if babies are more difficult to keep then I'll just go with an adult. I wouldn't want my first leo dying on me so soon, and at such a young age :/ Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[prettyinpink]

I'm not sure where you read mealies can cause impaction for leos, for bearded dragons that's the case.
You can feed your little one mealies, then you move up to super worms from there.

This site has some good care sheets that will help answer some of your questions regarding care
http://geckoforums.net/articles.php?c=115

Hope this helped

 

[roger]

Hi, I'm getting a leo very soon and I'm just wondering if babies are harder to take care of than adults. Are they more prone to illness? Do I have to feed them more crickets than superworms? I know some people say mealworms can cause impaction, and especially for babies, but how about superworms? I know their exoskeleton is more digestible, but are they still bad for the baby leos? I plan to feed my leo mainly superworms and occasional crickets. Also, I'd like to see my first leo grow up, and see it's stripes break up into spots, but if babies are more difficult to keep then I'll just go with an adult. I wouldn't want my first leo dying on me so soon, and at such a young age :/ Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance

How old is your baby ? False-mealworms dont cause impaction.Obviously adults are hardier.If u have a 3-4 month u can give them superworms but they have to be the ones that are freshly molted,they are real soft.All my leos feed on a mix of supers,crickets and monthly i give them wax worms as a treat.All my leos are big and robust cause of the mix of prey.I would get a 4-5 month old.Babies are ok but any breeder shouldnt be selling them lighter than 20 grams and they need to be established with the eating.Make sure u supplement with calcium every other day,calcium with D3 monthly and a multivitamin like MINER I , weekly

 

[acpart]

The biggest issue with babies in my opinion is that if you get one from a pet store, it's likely that it will have been poorly fed and overcrowded which gives it a bad prognosis. If you get one from a reputable breeder, you should not have this problem. I generally sell my leos at 15 grams (and would never ship one under 15 grams) but have, on occasion, taken some younger ones to a show if they were eating well and growing spectacularly. Very small babies will find superworms too big, though I have successfully fed superworms to babies as small as 11 grams (she ate 2!). Babies also hide a lot of the time for the most part. If you don't mind that aspect, they are a good choice so you can watch them change.

Aliza

 

[Merriweather]

Babies can just be more flighty, and I think sometimes the young ones, if they have a serious problem that isn't visible, thats when it hits and they go under. Aka, they just need to be watched a bit better as they aren't as tough as the adults to shake through problems they might have. Thats just kinda been my feel with the youngin's. I dont think you should let that throw you too much, just know that if you get a little one you need to give it more space and not take it out as much as you're dying to. X)
Little mealworms should be fine, I got my leos around 2 months old-ish, and they were blowing through crickets left and right.

 

[lovelovelove135]

Alrighty, thanks everyone! I think I'm going to get a baby one. I really would like to see him/her grow up haha