Geckos with different metabolisms, pics

[Geckoreo]

This fatso eats like 4 mealworms a week, I had to cut a bigger hole in his humid hide because he couldnt fit.
His next door neighbor eats like 5 mealworms a day and is half the size.
Are there obese genes in geckos too??

Anyhow, sorry to bore you with my analysis but heres a picture of my favorite gecko at the moment, So docile and vibrant, greaaaaaaaaat pet.
Meet Pixel

 

[chad ramsey]

i'm not sure if there is. but i bet there could be? oh well great looking gecko's by the way. i love the BB and the SS

 

[eyelids]

Awesome geckos!

I too have ones that maintain a huge weight (90+ grams) which eat only 2-3 superworms per week... Then there's one that eats 12 supers per week and consistently weighs 53 grams...

That gecko in particular is very strange... He is over a year old, is as long as some of my 90+ gram geckos, has a nice plump tail and a lanky body... He was 44 grams from 4 months old until about three months ago when he suddenly gained 9 grams... I'm always trying to fatten him up by offering more food, but it doesn't help... He can even go a week without food and not lose weight...

Anyways, thanks for bringing up the subject! I never would have thought of it...

 

[paulnj]

Very intriguing observation !

I have a tremper girl who is 9.75 inches long, fat tail and thin . She eats about 50 mealworms a week with ease, yet weighs 52 grams... huh?

 

[Geckoreo]

This is the male with the slow metabolism,
very aggressive eater. He knows exactly when feeding time is as soon as I slide out his enclosure. Maybe its because this male is breeding and the other male is not?

I just want him to have a nice plump tail

 

[gaparicio]

I have females who rarely eat during the winter months and their weights remain stable. I have other females who eat like pigs and don't seem to gain a gram.

At the same time I have one male that is seasonal. He eats like a pig during the summer months and almost stops eating altogether in the winter and doesn't gain or lose much. He is at a stable 75-80g. He has gone more than a month without eating but a few mealworms and his tail remains huge. Go figure.

 

[eyelids]

Maybe its because this male is breeding and the other male is not?(

B-I-N-G-O!

That would definitely slow him down (growth wise)...

 

[TokayKeeper]

Do you offer any water source? Eating isn't the only means to having a "fat/obese" gecko. These animals live in an arid environment within the wild. The tail not only serves as a function of fat storage, but also water as well.

And FWIW, every animal isn't the same. They are just like humans in a sense. I'm 5'6" and have never weighed over 152 lbs. My 4 years in high school I stayed at 115-120, eating healthy plus whatever I wanted. But I was also on the Cross Country team. Genetics, plus your diet tie into weight management. And just because your gecko doesn't have a 2 inch thick tail doesn't mean it is underweight.

 

[Gazz]

Captive pet leo's have all the DNA of all the leo species/sub'sp coz in the old days a leo was a leo regardless of species.Maybe the (AFGHANICUS) gene show it's self time to time dwarfing the odd leo time to time.

 

[DanTheFireman]

Beauties Robert. It's usually the one you want to grow like mad that takes its' time, at least that's my luck.

 

[rubym]

We have a female "normal" that is 2 years old and is only 5.6 inches long and weighs 46 grams. She is a healthy little eater ( we have had her a year). She looks healthy but is just small. I think they are all different. Her clutch mate is 3 times the size of her and doesn't eat close to what Elenore puts down in a day.

 

[Pedersen, Soe]

Some animals grow faster than others. Within a single clutch the babies can be very different in growth. That is one side of the story. Another is that noone actually knows what lies behind in the genes. The origin of 99% of the leopard geckoes are unknown. Looking at the "subspecies" (i call them that because there are very few if any leopardgeckoes with locality) some are bigger, fatter than others. Some are slender and some are more bulky. Some are somewhat smaller. As long we are talking about unknown origin and even a mix of subspecies, it is very difficult to make real conclusions.
Breeding a lot of species of reptiles, I see that there are a lot of difference among the juveniles. Personally I continue to breed the typical ones more than the weaker or the colourfreaks. The best eaters and fastest growing animals are the ones I keep for further breeding.
BESIDES that I have kept a few of the abnomal ones. There is a market for them, even I actually consider them as "freaks". I would be crasy NOT to breed some new colourmorfs moneywise, but still the natural ones are my best. I wish to have more of those "subspecies"
Back to growth. Keep the best and healthiest animals for yourself and breed them. The rest is for the market.
Best wishes
Søe

 

[Pacific Gecko]

awesome geckos! pixel is beautiful