My geckos are a little thin, please help.

[Izzie]

Hi, I am new to gecko forums. I have had my two female leopard geckos for about 7 years now with no problems but have started to have some so I decided to ask the people who know

They are healthy, active and have no trouble eating but we had a stressful move from Spain to England and I think the move and temperature change has affected them a little and they have lost a little weight. Is it likely they could have lost weight from all the moving and inconsistency?

I feed them crickets, moths and occasionally mealworms if they are in. they get special leopard gecko dust on them as well. But i need something I can handfeed them to make sure each one is getting a good amount of food. I was thinking about waxworms but have heard they can harm geckos? The pet shop also sell freeze-dried crickets which I was wondering if they are any good since the crickets I get don't last long whatever I do.

They are not over-thin, I would just feel happier if they put on a little weight and I am not sure one of the geckos is getting her fair share.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thankyou

 

[RepBex]

feed them at difrent ends of the tank and count how much they eat ....

 

[Jaiden23]

It's very likely that the transition is what has caused them to lose the weight. I would recommend against feeding waxworms as anything more than just an occasional treat, as they are very fattening and it's about the equilivant of candy to a gecko. To monitor their eating, I find it easier to feed mealworms or superworms if you can locate some. Other owners like using dubia roaches as well.

Usually leos won't eat anything that is already dead, it's difficult to get most leos to eat a freeze-dried cricket and honestly I wouldn't waste the money on em if you have other alternatives.

If you find that one of them still isn't getting enough to eat, you may have to seperate them and see if it responds differently when it is on its own, as the other one may be bullying the smaller one. Although if you've kept them together for 7 years, I would imagine it's probably just the stress of the move. How long has it been since the move?

 

[Izzie]

It's very likely that the transition is what has caused them to lose the weight. I would recommend against feeding waxworms as anything more than just an occasional treat, as they are very fattening and it's about the equilivant of candy to a gecko. To monitor their eating, I find it easier to feed mealworms or superworms if you can locate some. Other owners like using dubia roaches as well.

Usually leos won't eat anything that is already dead, it's difficult to get most leos to eat a freeze-dried cricket and honestly I wouldn't waste the money on em if you have other alternatives.

If you find that one of them still isn't getting enough to eat, you may have to seperate them and see if it responds differently when it is on its own, as the other one may be bullying the smaller one. Although if you've kept them together for 7 years, I would imagine it's probably just the stress of the move. How long has it been since the move?

Thanks for your quick reply! I will try to get mealworms next time they are in before they disapear i don't think I can get superworms but I can try if you think they are worth it.

I don't think my geckos are very clever and can be fooled into thinking something is alive by bouncing it up and down, I was just worried about nutritional benefits...

Hopefully now things have settled down I can monitor their eating better. I did separate them once before but they weren't happy until they were back together. I didn't think they would miss each other but they must have formed a bond.

We moved a couple of months ago and then moved again recently. Everything has only just settled down enough for me to concentrate hard on getting their weight back up.


Thankyou again for you advice