:help: i have just got my 2 leopard geckos and the famale is underweight been told she is about 7 yrs old but dont know how true this is. any idea on how to get her up to weight
from sally
from sally
urgent help on leopard geckos
- Thread starter salandmat140204
- Start date
Yes, feed them gut loaded crickets and meal worms. I'd feed them several every couple of days until they get back up to weight then go on a normal feeding schedule. You should also make sure that you mist their tank a couple times a day as they are most likely dehydrated as well.
hth and please keep us posted
hth and please keep us posted
Go to Petsmart and see if they have Waxworms. They are high in fat content and will help fatten your LG up. After she's fattened up, only give them to her every now and then. And like mentioned above, make sure she is well hydrated.
thanks for all the help i know that she eats crickets fine so tomorrow i will get some wax worms for her and i will mist them both later
from sal
from sal
zForget the crickets, do meal worms and like 2 waxies a day. Keep her apart from any other leo until she is up to weight, as that can cause stress and food wars.
Do not feed just waxies, as they are unhealthy and fattening, as well as addicting. Breaking an addiction is tough, and takes some time, so don't mess with it since she is already under weight.
Make sure to dust with D3/Calcium. Is there a reason she is underweight? Possible parasites or a disease? You might even want to consider a vet to just rule out all diseases and make sure it is truly just underfed.
My other suggestion, join a reptile forum, as you will get 10 times better responses from them then you will on here, as this is more of a fish forum. I've got my own forum down in my sig, you can try posting there, they helped me out with my issues, and thegeckospot.com is decent too, but I didn't have the best of luck with them all the time.
Do not feed just waxies, as they are unhealthy and fattening, as well as addicting. Breaking an addiction is tough, and takes some time, so don't mess with it since she is already under weight.
Make sure to dust with D3/Calcium. Is there a reason she is underweight? Possible parasites or a disease? You might even want to consider a vet to just rule out all diseases and make sure it is truly just underfed.
My other suggestion, join a reptile forum, as you will get 10 times better responses from them then you will on here, as this is more of a fish forum. I've got my own forum down in my sig, you can try posting there, they helped me out with my issues, and thegeckospot.com is decent too, but I didn't have the best of luck with them all the time.
No, how about forget meal worms because they don't have much nutrition to them and stick with crickets. Mealworms are basically a chiton shell filled with puss and you can't really gut load them either. I have never fed mealworms in the past 15 years of raising LG's and they are all healthy as ever. If you can, go catch some wild caught crickets/grasshoppers from an area that you know for sure has not been sprayed with pesticides/insecticides. These are the best gut loaded food item you can find.
Not always. I wouldn't waste time with crickets especially with an already unhealthy leo. I've never fed crickets to anything other than my crested, and I will only feed mealworms. In this case, it will be better, unless you want to go about breaking the legs off the crickets every time. You need to make the prey as easy as possible to catch until the lizard is back up to weight and healthy.
And do not ever catch crickets outside, even if the area wasn't sprayed with pesticides. You need an area with a large distance around it that hasn't been spread. The crickets can roam between areas that contain pesticide, so you don't have any idea what you are really catching.
What you might want to try getting is possibly some silkworms, phoenix worms, superworms, or even certain roaches.
And do not ever catch crickets outside, even if the area wasn't sprayed with pesticides. You need an area with a large distance around it that hasn't been spread. The crickets can roam between areas that contain pesticide, so you don't have any idea what you are really catching.
What you might want to try getting is possibly some silkworms, phoenix worms, superworms, or even certain roaches.
Umm.....yeah I've been catching and feeding crickets and grasshoppers to my lizards and fish for almost 20 years now. I've had no problems and lots of people I talk to do this. You really think crickets travel great distances, lol! Obviously you don't want to catch them in your yard in a development if you know people spray their yards. But a varied diet is the best way to go with any animal. I feel bad for your geckos if you feed them nothing but mealworms, (aka Bags of Puss). Even if you dust them this is still not a good complete diet. And it isn't that big of a deal to cut or pull the legs off a cricket. Or you can use some tweesers to feed your LG if it is that slow and weak.
Oh, and my LG's are healthy as anything from their years of eating your "Poison Grasshoppers". My first pair just turned 15 in July and I've hatch over 100 young from these two, take a look for yourself...
Oh, and my LG's are healthy as anything from their years of eating your "Poison Grasshoppers". My first pair just turned 15 in July and I've hatch over 100 young from these two, take a look for yourself...
I do a mix with other types of worms for mine, but do not risk catching things outside, I however live outside of Washington, DC, so finding an area not touched by pesticides is almost next to impossible. The next problem in finding these areas is being 100% certain. You will be the first person in the trade that I've heard has used wild caught feeders and recommends them. I never recommend them as often you have no idea if they spray in an area. If your area is certain, then thats fine, go ahead and use them. I breed leos as well and haven't issues.