Leo questions

[bman123]

I got my Leo today about 5:30pm, so I'm excited and so was my daughter as it's her b day gift. He is a adult raptor pretty good size too.
He has been sleeping all day almost. He came out of his humid hide around 10pm and took a dump then he went back in and is still in there sleeping away.

I put the hide in the cage with some bed a beast in it that was dry and he wouldn't go in, so I swapped it out with damp spaghnum moss and now he won't come out. He is still sleeping. Is it ok to leave a humid hide in there all the time and to let them stay in it alot?

I tried to feed him but he wouldn't eat. He showed no interest in either crickets, mealworms or superworms. I mean I put a mealworms right in front of him and he walked away from it.

He did manage to knock over his temp water dish I had in there so I had to change out his newspaper already. Wonder how much thru the day do leos sleep? Also how much should I feed him when he starts eating?

I don't know his weight I don't have a scale but it's probably around 60 grams around 8inches long. He's a pretty boy for sure, I'm gonna take pics of him and try to post them. I haven't posted pics here before so it may take me a bit to figure it out and pics will be from a iPhone so they won't be great.

I'm hoping to keep this thread open as I'm sure I will have more questions.his temps are warm side 91f cool side 80f his hide is on the warm side and he's still asleep at 1:48am. I bet if I wake him up to take pics he bites me lol

 

[bman123]

I woke him up and he's not co operating yet. I tried to hold him and he let me pick him up but he wanted down. I let him down in his tank and he hid behind his castle thingy. I'm sure he just has to get use to me. I don't know if him sleeping in that humid hide is bad or not. He's not in shed right now but when I had it with the bed a beast he didn't want anything to do with it.

I new to leos so there is alot I don't understand yet. he is a cool lil dude tho he didn't try to bite me he just wanted to get away from me. I hope he does eat In the next couple of days. I'm probably just bugging the crap outta him so I will leave him alone til
I get up in the morning.

I am willing to bet he is sleeping in that humid hide tho. I'm gonna make him a new hide tomorrow with just the hide no bedding and I will see if he gets in it or not. I know he needs a hide but I'm afraid the moisture from the humid hide will mess him up.

 

[bman123]

I'm keeping the humid hide on the hot side so he stays warm. I have to go to the dollar store tomorrow and get a cheap tupperware container to make him a cool side hide. He came out for a little bit about half hour and laid on the cool side and drank some water. Now he's back sleeping in that humid hide.

Everywhere I read says to use 3 hides I don't have room for 3 unless I do 2 on top the uth which would take up the whole hot side of his tank then he wouldn't have alot of room to move around.

Well time for bed, hopefully someone responds to this and gives me some input on. Him staying in the humid hide on the hot side. I saw some people say that their Leo always stays in the humid hide. I just wanna make sure. See ya guys tomorrow with pics of him...

 

[IronGecko]

It all sounds normal. No worries. Alot of Leos will hang out in the hide for long periods of time. Its fine as long as the moss is not soaked. It just needs to be damp.

 

[STUTFL]

Just leave him BE for a bit, he'll be stressed from the move and may not eat at all for several days. Leave him in the tank, let him get used to it. Once he feels safe he can start getting used to you.

 

[STUTFL]

In my leo's tank (10 gal.) I have one warm hide, one cool hide, and one in-between hide. :laugh:

 

[bman123]

I have to find something to use for hides then. He is big 8inches long and it looks like his hide now is too small. The moss is damp. I'm going to the dollar store to try and find some cheap hides for him. I picked him up locally so it's not like he had a flight but I'm sure the drive probably bugged him out a little.

How big are the hides you guys use for adult leos? He is in a 20tall so I'm working on a idea to make a platform above the floor for him incase he wants to walk around more. With another hide he's gonna have less room to walk around, I news to find something smaller but something he still fits in. He's longer then my hand from nose to end of his tail. I will try to take pics around noon and show him to you guys.

 

[bman123]

In my leo's tank (10 gal.) I have one warm hide, one cool hide, and one in-between hide. :laugh:

How big is your Leo and what are you using for hides. He's a big guy lOl

 

[STUTFL]

He's a little over 8 inches (just measured him 'cuz I wasn't sure :laugh: he's a bit of a scrawny-looking fellow), he's got a standard half-log hide on the hot side (he had it before I got him), a humid hide made of a cottage cheese container with a "door" cut in it (he just fits in that curled up, and it's his favorite even when it's dry), and a pile of large flat rocks partly resting on his water bowl that make a very low "cave" that the likes to squeeze under and peek out from one of the two openings.

 

[adam&nikki]

. I picked him up locally so it's not like he had a flight but I'm sure the drive probably bugged him out a little.

.

just think of being placed into a deli cup that you barly fit in and moved from your home placed into a brand new tank that smells so diffrent and looks so diffrent then also add the fact that some hudge creature is tring to pick you up and is always looking at you thru a glass wall that would scare the poop outa me

just give him some time and he will poke his head out and look around get use to everything it will just take some time

 

[STUTFL]

About the size of the hides - there's a reason they're "hides" and not "rooms" :laugh: I've found my leo prefers hides that are very small and allow him to feel a solid surface against as much of his body as possible. He just smashes himself in there and makes himself invisible. :tongue3: So long as the gecko's body and head fit, they seem pretty comfy. The tail or a hind leg are often left draped out even if they do fit. :main_rolleyes:

 

[bman123]

Well I tried to make it easier for him lol. I got a 4 pack of rubbermaid tagalong containers with lids. They are probably 4x4 inches and 3inches tall I cut a opening in the front for him on both. I put new damp moss in one and put it on the hot side, I put the other on the cool side.

He went right into both of them and looked around then stayed in the cool hide. He came out looking around I figured he may be hungry so I offered 3 of the super mealworms and a large cricket. He ate it all. I had to hand feed him tho. I held the prey right infron. Of his mouth and he gladly took it. He wouldn't chase the cricket or even eat out of the dish so I hand fed him.

He is on the hot side now next to his hide laying down. How much and how often should I feed him? He was only eating the small mealworms before so I don't want to get him all bloated ya know.

I see alot of different things about how much to feed them, that's why I'm gonna ask you guys. He is about 8 Inches long and I'd say 60 grams but I'm not sure.

Also how do I post pics here? They will be done with a iPhone since I don't have a pc so expect the pics to not be great. I will take pics of him and the enclosure plus a pic of him next to a tape measure if possible so you can see how long he is. Thanks fo everything guys I appreciate it.

 

[STUTFL]

You can upload your photos to Photobucket or a similar public photo-hosting site, then copy the image URL it gives you and paste that into the field offered when you click "insert image" on the top of the post editor (yellow square with mountains on it)

The length isn't *that* important, he's a smallish-to-average adult and will probably eat every 2-3 days. Adults rarely overeat with "normal" prey items like mealworms, superworms, crickets, etc. If you're hand-feeding or offering prey items loose in the cage, you can usually stop and clean up the strays after 10 or so minutes, if the gecko doesn't stop eating first. They let you know when they want something; mine comes out and watches me until I feed him or let him out.
Mine usually takes 3 superworms, 5 or 6 large crickets, or 10 - 15 mealworms (sizes vary) in a feeding.

Fat little grubs like waxworms and butterworms are tasty and high-fat for their size, and are usually offered as treats.

 

[gmaier19]

just keep feeding him until hes not interested. he'll know when to stop. only in extreme cases like obesity should you curtail his food intake. i offer mine food about every other day but sometimes (especially in the winter) theyre not hungry. its not a big deal if hes not hungry for a while. just make sure hes not loosing weight and he'll be ok.

sorry ive never posted pictures on here so idk. good luck with everything tho and keep asking questions if youre not sure on anything!

oh and one more thing i didnt notice if u said anything about dusting feeders or not. u should leave calcium without d3 in the tank in a small dish at all times and then dust the feeders with calcium with d3 once a week or so. u also need a multi vitamin that u can put on the feeders abt every other week. i use rep cal from lll reptile here: http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/vitamins-medicines-and-cage-cleaners/

 

[gmaier19]

good call stutfl, i forgot about not feeding too many fatty feeders!

 

[STUTFL]

Also, a lot of them seem to know you'll hand-feed 'em eventually, so they can take a while to finally decide to hunt or eat from a dish. A healthy one can go quite a while without eating though, so don't fret too badly if he's off to a slow start.

 

[STUTFL]

That reminds me, I need to buy some more calcium - the gecko keeps tracking crud into his dish so I have to replace it, and the tortoise actually *likes* the stuff on her food so I give her as much as she wants. :laugh:

 

[STUTFL]

I just remembered, Photobucket lets you copy the IMG code directly as well.
End result is always the same: [IMG][/IMG] tags around the URL.
[IMG][/IMG] + http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii456/Kipanya/Curl.jpg =

 

[bman123]

Yeah I have a small dish with calcium in it for him to lick up. I need to get some tho, the guy I got him from gave me some in a small deli cup. I need it to dust his feeders and give him the vitamin.

I'm just waiting on a check to come in the mail so I can get his calcium and vitamin stuff, he has enough calcium now to last him a week easily.

 

[bman123]

He took 3 supermealworms and a cricket so I should give him more now?
Say like 3-5 of each thing evry other day to every three days right. I was more concerned with him just getting something in his belly ya know.