Help aging please?

[ReptileLover]

I recently got a leopard gecko from a local pet store and I am trying to figure out how old "he" is. Hopefully someone here can be of some help. He still has some faint banding and also baby proportions but I can't an age down.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Reptiles are cold blooded and don't grow at a constant rate like mammals do. They grow based on how readily available heat and nutrition are - the more food and heat the faster they grow. Therefore it is really hard to determine age unless you know the hatch date or the gecko was really tiny when you got it.

That said, your guy looks a little dark and skinny. The dark color can come from being kept too cold or not getting the right vitamins. He could be much older than others the same size if he has not been kept correctly. If you make sure he's getting everything he needs his color should brighten up quickly

 

[ReptileLover]

Thanks for the info. He is definitely getting everything he needs and as far as his weight goes he has improved significantly from when he was at the pet store a few weeks ago. Though I agree he stills needs to gain more .
That said Is there no way to get a rough estimate based on the bands? Or is it that the bands disappear at the same rate Leos grow?

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I don't think there is a definitive way to know. I don't know for sure but it seems logical to me that the bands would fade as they grow not necessarily as they age (although both tend to happen together). Therefore a gecko that grows more quickly would lose its pattern more quickly and those that grow more slowly would stay patterned for longer. The bands on your gecko could be more visible because he is dark. I think the spot on his back is there to stay. It's really hard to say for sure as they are all unique.

 

[ReptileLover]

That makes sense. He was at the pet store for quite a while, most likely from the time he hatched so it wouldn't surprise me if he was smaller then he should be because of the malnutrition. He gets his meal worms every day dusted with Ca with d3 and his Ca without d3 in his cage. you mentioned he may be dark colored because he lacks something so, should I give him any extra vitimins on his food? If so what band would you recommend?

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I would make sure you're using a vitamin supplement as well as Calcium. I don't think you need to give him "extra" but he definitely needs vitamins. For my adult geckos I dust with calcium one feeding, vitamins the next and then nothing the third feeding. I use calcium with D3 every second or third calcium dusting and without D3 for the others. If you use Repashy you can do that every feeding if you separate the vitamins and calcium you'll have to do something similar to what I do. Some good brands that many folks use are: Repashy Calcium plus (its an all in one - probably easiest and best for a single gecko owner), Vionate (for all pets but lots of leo breeders use it), and Herptivite.