Help me raise my leo's perfect!

[LEO Lover!]

Hello everyone!!!! I just bought two female Leo's off of craigslist the other day!!! I'm a long time reptile lover!!! Was told they were healthy and everything. They both are beautiful, one is a little smaller than the other. They weighed in at 39.6 and 62.1 g's tonight. The lady said said bought them as juvies at... dun dun dun.... ********, 3 years ago.

The lady I bought them from said they were fed mainly crickets they found around the house. I read this is not good. They looked a TAD bit skinny in the bellies but they tails look fat and healthy thankfully

They are NOW on a diet of small crickets. I am going to get some small meal worms from the store soon also.

Now for their previous housing. The lady didn't really upkeep the enclosure too well to be completely honest. Ground was dirty and not too creative with the Leo's toys and whatnot. No calcium bowl. Getting one soon. ALSO their water bowl was empty! They also said they took the UTH off because it was summer.

Since getting them I have changed a lot in the care of them. I'm hoping they pack on some weight quickly. You guys think a gram a week is good improvement? A gram a month? Let me know, I have never owned a Leo before! Only reptile I've owned is an IGUANA!









Okay, now for the good part. The first two pics are of the Leo's. These are the pics off the lady's Ad on craigslist. Can you tell what morph they are?!?!?! The ad said one was patternless but I have no clue to either of their exact morph or even a clue as to their morph. Are they just normal Leo's? (Updated pics soon!!!!) The third pic is off the ad also of their enclosure. The last one is one I took tonight of their remodeled home!!! Check out the green bridges. A little DIY with chicken wire and felt from Michaels Their new home also needs a background bad, forgot to mention. Haha



What do you guys think?! Any questions for me about their home or care?! I'd love to hear from you all and answer any questions y'all have to make these beauties live a healthier and overall better life! THANKS HAVE A GOOD DAY!



All I can say is I LOVE leo's!

 

[Daedric1]

The 62.1g one is a healthy weight for an adult. The 39.6g sounds a little low for an adult. They can put weight on pretty fast when they are growing, but for adults, I'm not really sure.

For adults, use medium or large crickets. Mine can scarf 7 or 8 large crickets in one sitting if you let them. Plus, it's more fun to hear the "crunch." You can use regular or large mealworms too. Small mealworms and crickets are really only for hatchlings or young juveniles. Mealworms are more fatty and less nutritious than crickets, so if your leos start getting fat right behind their front legs, cut back on worms - it's a sign of being overweight.

I think both your leos could be fairly accurately called patternless, but I'm no expert on morphs. One of them has a small trace of "carrot tail" but I'm not sure it's enough to call it that.

The tank looks alright, but keep in mind that leos are pretty clumsy. You don't want anything going high enough that they might fall and hurt themselves from. The height of the bridges are probably okay, but I would take that "hide" or whatever object that is off of the bridge. When shedding, leos rub against things pretty hard and can push around objects that seem fairly heavy even to us. You don't want it falling and cracking the tank, or even worse, hurting your leo.

You'll want the basking spot to be 90-95 degrees on the hot side and maybe around 80 on the cool side if possible. Also, you want to have a dish in there for calcium (I can't tell what's in each dish). Some people have a seperate dish for this, but I just keep calcium in the same dish as I do for the mealworms. That way, if they need calcium, they can get it anytime they want.

I'm guessing both leos are being housed together. This is usually fine with two females, but given the weight difference, bullying may be going on with the smaller one (the big one may be preventing it from using hides or eating). Watch for this. Also, if you have two leos, you'll need more hides. One leo needs a warm hide, a cool hide, and a humid hide (for shedding). With two, you'll need more so that they get what they need.

I'm not sure what size tank you have, but with two leos you'll usually want a 20L (20 gallon Long) or larger for adequate spacing.

Sorry if this sounds critical, but there's a lot that has to go into housing leos. They are easy to take care of, but with leos sharing the same tank it's a little more complicated.

Best of luck to you and your leos, you'll have lots of fun I'm sure.

 

[LEO Lover!]

Thanks for the reply! I think the reason why one is a bit smaller than the other has to do with a the smaller one being a little dumb. Haha. He's not the best hunter, but he grubs on crickets when I hand feed him. To solve this problem I think I am going to normally feed them by throwing crickets in their enclosure and hand feeding the smaller one a bit more every other day or so. Within a few weeks I think the smaller one should beef up a bit and the larger one should either stay the same or put on a tiny bit of weight. She really pigs out on crickets when put in the cage. The lady named her hog because of this. Haha. The lady didn't put a calcium bowl in their cage, I'm going to get a supplement this weekend along with a few more hides. Should I get calcium with or without D3 for the bowl? I'm also going to feed the smaller one a couple mealworms a week more then the bigger one to beef her up over the next few weeks. Think all of this is a good idea? Any suggestions?


Their enclosure is a 50 gallon. They have a rather large light (the light is longer than the top of the enclosure) that turns on at 6am and off at 6pm. The bridges are actually quite stable, I made sure of that. The hide on the top left is their humid hide with a paper towel. It also acts as a basking area, I've seen them on top of it chilling under the light. Their water bowl is in the bottom left, rear corner. Underneath the bridge on the left is a hide I made, I saw one using it for the first time this morning. One the right side is their log hide with a UTH under it. On the top right corner their is a DIY hammock with a fake plant. And I also made a fake stick, diy, that leads up to the hammock along with the "realistic" stick I got from Michaels.


What do you guys think?

 

[pawsible]

congrats!

Congrats on your new additions-you are doing a good job.
As the above posters said, be careful of bullying. The bigger leo can hog all of the food. Also, lighting isn't as important as making sure that the temps in the cage are correct on the hot and cool sides and, at night.
"The warm end should ideally be around ninety degrees Fahrenheit, with the cooler end around eighty. An under tank heater is one of the best ways to accomplish this. Heat tape is another popular choice for keeping the cage at the correct temperature. " At night, allow the tank to cool to the low seventies, with an under tank pad providing a hot spot. Don't allow the night temperature to sink below sixty-eight degrees, since this can also be bad for your reptiles. "
http://leopardgeckocaresheet.blogspot.com/

 

[gothra]

Do you have 2 females? You're referring the smaller one as "him" in your second post. If its one male and one female, I wouldn't put them together in the same tank. Besides that, from the pictures, they both look healthy to me with nice body shape. I think they're both hypo tangerine instead of patternless.

Congrats to your new geckos!

 

[LEO Lover!]

Thank you! I am watching bullying very closely and trying to supplement it by hand feeding the smaller one a little more. The temps are spot on thanks to the UTH and overhead light. And yes sorry they are both females haha. I'm excited they're hypo tangs hopefully they turn more orange as they grow! Any other help/tips?

 

[LEO Lover!]

Also, I think I'm going to get a bowl and some calcium. I'm going to put the calcium in the bowl and feed them mealworms every so often inside that same bowl. Should I get calcium with or without added D3? What does the D3 do?

 

[Alex G]

D3 helps them metabolize the calcium, but I've read too much can cause them to actually stop metabolizing it. I put a cap full of calcium with D3 and a cap without in my tank so that my boy can pick and choose, and once a week I sprinkle his food with calcium + D3.