My daughter's Leopard Gecko, Lucy

[metaldad904]

This is my little girl's Leo baby, she named her Lucy. We got her a week ago at a Reptile Show. I have no clue what morph she is (not familiar with Leo morphs). She's adorable as can be, we like her a lot. I do have a concern though. Since i got her I have yet to see her hunt and eat anything on her own. The only way i can get her to eat is to trick her, which requires me to trick her into opening her mouth and very gently putting a cricket between her jaws, which she takes immediately, never spits it out....just wolfs it down. She seems healthy otherwise, pretty alert and i don't think she looks sick or anything. What do ya'll think? She look healthy? Any ideas? Or am I being paranoid and should just let her be and she'll come around?

thanks!

 

[jmlslayer]

Nice little tremper albino you got there congrats

 

[Crazygecko]

you could always try meal worms. alot less messy then crickets they dont smell and if you put them in a small clear dish the Leo will be able to see them and get them. Alot easier to catch then a cricket.

 

[syntheticreality]

Tremper Albino. Based off of the pictures she looks to be healthy

 

[Crazygecko]

Oh yeah. Also most Leos eat at night since they are nocturnal. So try feeding her at night with the lights out and see if that helps her.
Other then that. very cute gecko

 

[Jaiden23]

I agree with Jarret, you have a nice little tremper albino there. She looks pretty healthy from what I can see as well.

How long have you had her? It's pretty common for a new reptile to refuse to feed on its own after any transition to a new home or owner. Also, considering you picked her up at a reptile show, there's a pretty good chance that she was fed mealworms by the breeder. If she continues to turn her nose up at the crickets I would suggest getting a tub of mealies and offering those to her. Some leos can be pretty picky about their food

edit: Wow I must be slow at typing today, you all beat me to it :main_laugh:

 

[jaredm3624]

I agree with everyone. Tremper albino. Looks healthy. Anotheroption other than meal worms are pheonix worms (also called calcium worms). Try those. All my smaller leos seem to love them.

 

[Lena]

I agree with everyone else. I prefer worms because I can leave them in a dish knowing how many I put in, then check the dish the next day and know how much she's eaten (Which is usually all of them, my little one is a feeding machine).

I'm staying away from phoenix or 'calcium' worms because, in my experience, my little one couldn't digest them. At all. In fact, the little buggers were often still alive and wriggling if you detached them from the poo.

However, I've never had any digestion problems with any other food source, including superworms which have become a favorite. She easily puts away 3 or 4 of them a day.

 

[GECKOFREAK]

She looks like a Rainwater albino to me...:main_robin:

 

[jaredm3624]

I haven't had any problems like that with phoenix worms,but I guess it'somethink to watch for. How young are the leo you fed the phoenix worms to? Mine are a couple of months old.

 

[Lena]

She's about 5 months now. Maybe they were just too small?

She ate 10-20 a night.

 

[jaredm3624]

I feed mine about 6-10 at a time. Maybe someone else has an answer on this delima. I'll make a thread in the feeder section to keep this thread on track.

 

[Lena]

Oh, no worries. I already posted about it, and other people have had problems with digesting phoenix worms, too.

 

[gothra]

She looks like a Rainwater albino to me...:main_robin:

I was going to say Rainwater too...but I'm not good at identifying morphs.

She is a cute little gecko anyway!

 

[Dom3rd]

very nice looking

 

[gage]

tremper for sure

 

[metaldad904]

Thanks ya'll! She ate last night! While it was only 1 small mealworm, a win is a win and i'll take it. I'm thinking i'm probly just being paranoid b/c she's so young. We've had her since July 26th, so about a week and a half. I'm going to continue to try more worms and see if I have any more success, thank again! I'll keep everyone posted on her progress.

I find it funny, I never really had any interest in leos before just b/c I've always been more into large contrictors and monitors but i'm coming around. I'm seriously considering getting myself a group now lol.

 

[jaredm3624]

They are addicting, and fun to have around. One question, can you try to get some eye pictures so that we can decide which albino strain it is? Trempers and RWs look so close sometimes that you can only tell by the eyes.

 

[metaldad904]

They are addicting, and fun to have around. One question, can you try to get some eye pictures so that we can decide which albino strain it is? Trempers and RWs look so close sometimes that you can only tell by the eyes.

I can try, my daughter took her back home with her (she lives with her mom in Tennessee) but i'll see if she can take some pics for me. What exactly are you looking for in the eyes? Like what's the difference between each morph?


Also, can anyone direct me to some information about the "giant" leos? I dunno if it's considered a morph or something else but the ones that get larger than ur typical leo. thanks!