Food Plan for my Leo

[Mr_Peepers]

I've currently owned my leo for about 4 months now, and he's very healthy and growing steadily.

However, while his body continues to grow, his tail seems to stay relatively thin proportionally speaking.

Before the shortage of mealworms, my leo would get crickets (15ish) every other day, with a few mealworms on the other days he doesn't get crickets

now I try to keep him with 20 every other day, and he gobbles them up in no time and with no problem (the poops are HUGE!)

I know that the tails are where they keep the fat, however I don't think he's using the stored fat for warmth, since our dorm rooms stay at around 75, and his lamp is on 24/7, to help with digesting and so he can lay on top of a rock i have on the heat side

Any advice as to go about feeding my gecko on a constant basis so he continues to stay healthy?

 

[Foreverandever]

I would use mealworms as a main staple and supplement with crickets, but thats just me

 

[2bacop]

When you say lay on top of a rock do you mean heat rock?? If so you should get rid of it because those things malfunction all the time and can severly burn your gecko. Other than that it would be benificial to get a uth and lose the lamp, can you tell me what your floor temps are?

 

[froggz]

I agree with 2bacop about getting an under tank heater. Geckos aren't like most diurnal lizards that will come out and bask on rocks and decor to pick up heat. At night is when they come out to find a warm place to digest after eating

A uth will give you an area of the tank that is always at the perfect belly temp for digestion. I feel that if your leo's digesting better it may gain weight faster and leave less behind for you to clean. I would also probably switch it up a bit and give 10 crickets daily instead of skipping days. When leo's are young hungry bellies aren't good at all. If you stick to twenty every other day, provide a bowl of mealworms in the enclosure at all times for him, as its very important that young geckos eat often.

Good luck!

 

[Mr_Peepers]

thanks for the tips guys. It isn't a heat rock, it's just a spot near the lamp that gives him some heat to lay on. I'm eventually going to ditch the substrate for some tiles and a uth soon, once I get my next check.

Looks like I'll be doing 10 crickets every day, simply because up here in MI there's a mealworm shortage (is this a national shortage?) and I haven't been able to pick up any for the past month or so.

As far as temps go my little dohickey on the tank says around 85 in the lamp side, with the other side (water and hide) stay at around 75 or so.

 

[froggz]

Wow, its unfortunate your still affected by that. In Iowa they aren't as plentiful as they were before, but they aren't too hard to come by either. I'd call pet stores around you and see if they are/can get any in. You might bump into some luck. If you do find some pick up a couple hundred and start your own colony Its actually extremely easy, I'm doing it now, and started out with just 200 worms. I don't have alot of geckos so I'll have extra once they start breeding. Its been going for a week now, and I have over ten pupae already. The larger the mealies, the faster they will pupate as well. Don't buy the "giant mealworms" though.

The floor temps should be at about 90-93 for optimum digestion. I would also add a few more hides if you only have one. At least have a warm side dry hide, a warm side moist hide and a cool side dry hide. Adding a cool moist hide is better even.

I was also curious as to what size crickets your using as well. If they are very small 10 may not be filling his belly. The two month old I have can easily take a prewing cricket, but wanders off after two of them. You may also find yourself spending less on crickets as well.

 

[Mr_Peepers]

update: went downtown to our local (non-franchised, and very large) pet store, and got a nice new dish of 100 mealies to help sustain my leo. MI is finally just getting out of the shortage, so I should be able to keep my leo well sustained on mealworms / crickets

I've still been feeding my gecko small sized crickets. Last night I gave him 12 and he ate all but one (it kept jumping out of harm's way) and seemed to be full and in his normal state of lazy/curiousness. I'm still giving him small crickets because I feel it's best to be safe than sorry.

I did talk to some workers at the pet store that own leos and they did mention as you said froggz about letting the mealies pupate and continuing to have a constant supply of mealies. I'm doing that as we speak, So I should never be short on worms again.

Thanks for the tips on the hides, too. I've got a long 10 gallon tank for now and what i'm thinking is I'll remove the piece of driftwood in there (i've seen him on it ONCE) and put a few more hides in there, so that he has a warm hide to go along with his moist cool one and his large hide that is half warm half cool