obesity in leopard geckos

[gecko4245]

A few months ago my sister lost her gecko due to obesity so I wanted to make people aware.

Carnivorous reptiles
iStockphoto/Thinkstock Some carnivorous reptiles such as leopard geckos are voracious eaters and easily become obese. Leopard geckos primarily eat insects in captivity; this leads to problems when the insects are too fatty or if the animal is allowed to overeat. Earthworms, slugs, and calcium-enriched crickets are decent food choices; minimize mealworms (all varieties) and waxworms.

Obese reptiles can actually develop severe illness due to accumulation of excessive fat and cholesterol in their organs.

Published: July 15, 2010; Updated: November 29, 2010

Author: Dr. Mark Burgess, Southwest Animal Hospital / The Exotic Animal
Practice

Choose food carefully

Strange as it may sound, obesity is another common health issue with leopard geckos.

To avoid obesity problems, don't feed your adult leo a diet comprised only of worms, as these tend to be fatty compared with crickets and roaches. Instead, alternate between feeder insect types every 3-6 months.

Also, don't feed your leo more than 3 times per week, and when you feed it don't give it more feeder insects than it can eat in 15 minutes.

Overweight geckos often develop bubbly looking fat reserves behind their front legs.







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[sunshinegeckos]

A variety of diet is key and depending on the age of gecko will determine amount of times per week. Some worms are lower in fat like pheonix worms and silkworms. Im sorry your sister lost her leo

 

[contracteryin]

I use primarily mealworms, a lots of people do. As long as you overfeed, I've heard of very few issues, though yes, mealworms are kind of fatty... and sorry she lost her gecko.

 

[gecko4245]

Thanks everyone. FYI his diet was mealworms and superworms. He was 95 grams which the vet said was too much. He did not even look very fat except for the fat bubbles under his armpits, but they found alot of fat around the organs.

 

[lillith]

I'm sorry you lost your little one.
Thank you for bringing this subject up, I think sometimes we forget it can be a problem.

This is why I try to keep my geckos in the 50g-70g range when not breeding.
It's not a contest to see who can make the fattest geckos.

I know everyone likes BIG leos, myself included, but having a hefty weight on a frame not designed for it, isn't good. On the other hand, the one gecko I have that has the frame for getting BIG has never passed 76g...it's like he's a vaccuum cleaner with a bottomless tank. I think I'm gonna start calling him "hollow legs".

 

[sunshinegeckos]

some geckos are just big boned though

 

[gecko4245]

I'm sorry you lost your little one.
Thank you for bringing this subject up, I think sometimes we forget it can be a problem.

This is why I try to keep my geckos in the 50g-70g range when not breeding.
It's not a contest to see who can make the fattest geckos.

I know everyone likes BIG leos, myself included, but having a hefty weight on a frame not designed for it, isn't good. On the other hand, the one gecko I have that has the frame for getting BIG has never passed 76g...it's like he's a vaccuum cleaner with a bottomless tank. I think I'm gonna start calling him "hollow legs".

Thank you for being open-minded and realizing this does exist. I was hesitant to post this thinking I would be thrown underneath the bus, but then I thought of all the geckos this might help which was more important. I was told the normal frame sized leos should not exceed 80 grams. It can't be healthy holding so much weight with those little legs

 

[sunshinegeckos]

Yeah you have to be careful how much you feed of any feeder. Variety is best if you can. Mine either get 1-2 supers or 1-3 silkworms or pheonix worms or 10-15 mealworms every other day.

 

[EnigmaEcho]

i agree that any animal can get over fed @@ i was anoyed at all the comments i used to find saying " its impossible for a gecko to get fat because they automaticaly stop eating when they are full". perhaps in the wild, but in captivity, its a differnt story-
i used to just feed my girl as much as she can eat- she put on so much weight, i decided to stop doing it and feed her, like you said, 3-4 times a week- since she is disabled and i need to hand feed her, she doesnt get much exercise in the chase -so i take her out and let her run around for a while every few days
thankyou so much for posting this i thought i was crazy (... well...lol)
and so sorry to your sis gecko

 

[reps4life]

i agree that any animal can get over fed @@ i was anoyed at all the comments i used to find saying " its impossible for a gecko to get fat because they automaticaly stop eating when they are full". perhaps in the wild, but in captivity, its a differnt story-
i used to just feed my girl as much as she can eat- she put on so much weight, i decided to stop doing it and feed her, like you said, 3-4 times a week- since she is disabled and i need to hand feed her, she doesnt get much exercise in the chase -so i take her out and let her run around for a while every few days
thankyou so much for posting this i thought i was crazy (... well...lol)
and so sorry to your sis gecko

I also agree. I only feed after I have seen a bowel movement and when they are out and about searching. As long as their tail is a nice size, they are eating enough. I have noticed with any reptile who is overfed becomes lazy and not very active. Why hunt if it's layed right in front of me, of course they will pile up too much fat. Unless they are disabled as in your case. I rotate crickets, roaches, silkworms, hornworms and (pheonix worms which he is not too excited about) and butterworms as a treat only. The worms I lay in different spots and he walks around collecting. Fun to watch:main_yes:

 

[Niners72]

So weird, I just wrote to the breeder of my two leo girls to ask about pudgy bubbles behind the armpits on one of my girls. Guessing from this thread, she is getting to be a bit of a fatty. She is definitely the bigger of the two and has always been less active.

May try to get her out a bit more or get her some crickets. I usually only do 6-8 giant mealworms every other day for the two of them. Didn't think that would make her fat? Oh well, glad it is just fatty pockets and not something else. Is there anything like jazzercise for geckos?

 

[KelliH]

We most certainly overfeed our geckos. People equate fat geckos with good health, when the reality is just the opposite. The first several years I kept leopard geckos they were fed a diet of crickets and never did they get big and fat. They were very healthy and I always had excellent fertility and egg production too.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

After my geckos got back up to a healthy size after breeding, their food supply definitely got cut back. But I just finished eating cookies and milk

 

[acharpenter]

Thank you for this post - I am a new owner.

I bred Dubia's just for them as all my research said they are best protien wise

I have been weighing my 2 Geckos and after the comments in this thread - I will be cutting back

Geek was 60g 06/16/11

on 08/28/11 he was 82G

Cricket was 20g on 05/23/11

and 46g on 08/28/11

I was leaving 4-5 medium Dubias in Crickets dish and 3 medium to large Dubia's in Geeks dish - adding new ones every other day

Think I am going to do what someone else said - wait until I find a bowel movement before adding roaches for them

 

[reps4life]

After my geckos got back up to a healthy size after breeding, their food supply definitely got cut back. But I just finished eating cookies and milk

I think we worry more about their health sometimes than our own:main_laugh:

I love chocolate cookies!

 

[BrightReptiles]

I think we worry more about their health sometimes than our own:main_laugh:

I love chocolate cookies!

RIGHT! I have bad back problems and me and the lady are both sick this week. Guess who gets to go to the doctor... One of the geckos

 

[animeavatar]

I think the reason my gecko doesn't eat much anymore is because he hates worms and is probably scared of the new type of crickets. He's only 53 g so I don't think I should worry much.

 

[im faster]

We most certainly overfeed our geckos. People equate fat geckos with good health, when the reality is just the opposite. The first several years I kept leopard geckos they were fed a diet of crickets and never did they get big and fat. They were very healthy and I always had excellent fertility and egg production too.

eggssakedly


^^ i dunno i was bored'

exactly, fatter is not always better..

 

[OhioGecko]

Good info! Thanks for sharing.

 

[animeavatar]

eggssakedly


^^ i dunno i was bored'

exactly, fatter is not always better..

Yea, like in Homo sapiens