Putting Weight On Female Between Clutches

[cowana]

Little Sunny laid her eggs on the 4th and they look great and she seems to have had an easy enough time with it. Which surprised me considering her small size. The highest her weight got was 45g when she was heavy with eggs and still eating normally. Lost a bit when she stopped eating for a week, and when I weighed her yesterday after laying her eggs she is now only 34g. She does still have a nice fat reserve in her tail.

She is back eating again and seems to prefer a few small meals multiple times a day. So I am offering her mealworms (which she is grubbing on) and dubia nymphs (not really interested) dusted with Repashy Calcium Plus. I picked up a few waxworms to for an after meal treat. Is there anything I can do to help her grow and put weight on between clutches? I'm worried that if she has 4-5 clutches (or more) it will take it's toll on her tiny body. [emoji20]

 

[Neon Aurora]

Just feed her as much as she will eat. A few waxworms is probably a good idea. I had a female last year (sad story) that I bred. She wasn't eating because she was ovulating, and I didn't really think anything of it since its normal. After she laid her first clutch, she didn't eat. She laid 3 clutches and didn't eat at all, except for one time between those clutches. She developed gout in the middle of all this, which was why she wasn't eating, but she laid 3 clutches and kept enough weight to be considered healthy. I put her down because her gout was very bad.

Anyways, I told that story to say don't stress too much (maybe a sad story isn't the best way to say that. =P). Leos can be quite resilient. Feed her all she wants and make sure she gets enough calcium (don't forget to leave a bowl of no d3 in there along with dusting her food! If this female's bones are still developing, than she may be more susceptible to MBD with all the calcium she needs to make good eggshells.), and I think she will be alright. It sound like she's handling it fine. She laid two perfect looking eggs and started eating again right on cue.

 

[cowana]

Aww. I'm really sorry about your poor girl with her gout. That is so sad. [emoji22]

Thanks, for the advice and reassurance. I always keep plain calcium in my Leos cages so they can have some whenever they feel the need and extra particular about dusting her food.

She is a tough little cookie and doing quite well and eating well enough. I just wish she wasn't so small, so I worry. It isn't fair to her that she is so young/little having eggs. I am hoping for her sake that she is one of the geckos that lays only a few clutches the first season and not like 12!

 

[Neon Aurora]

It was pretty sad. =/ I learned a lot from the experience, though, and I'm much more cautious and better at monitoring the health of my animals.

It sounds like your girl is doing fine, so just keep trucking. =) Good job with her.

 

[cowana]

Unfortunately, we learn some of our best lessons from our hardest times/biggest mistakes. I know I have made plenty of them. [emoji53] The important part is to take what you learn and apply it for the better, and it sounds like you are doing just that! [emoji3]

 

[Shrapnailed]

Just now seeing this. It seems my female is dropping weight the week before she lays a clutch. I havent tried wax worms yet but doing my best to fatten her up between clutches. She loved crickets and I gut loaded them and fed them to her and now she appears to have no intrest in them. Im going to go get some wax worms tomorrow and see if that will help. Any other ideas?

 

[cowana]

I recently got Superworms and they were pretty excited about them. I gut load them as I do the mealworms. I keep them on a bedding of mixed Gerber baby cereals (oatmeal, rice, multigrain) and organic chicken starter granules that have animal protein. I also have been using a mix of fresh fruits, veggies and leafy greens for moisture and for extra nutrition right before feeding. My girl only lost egg weight when she laid and I believe is putting on extra weight between these clutches.

They also like Dubias as long as they're not too small.

 

[Shrapnailed]

My 5 month old male is putting on the pounds like crazy! He has a huge fattie of a tail and my female is so so. lol