My friend says that my leopard gecko looks skinny. I just got it Sunday at the White Plains Expo. Does she look skinny?
Does my leopard gecko look skinny?
- Thread starter silvertip0
- Start date
I know she eating because I saw her eat some crickets last night. Should I get her some waxworms?
She looks fine. The tail is fat and bulbus. No need to feed it wax worms unless they're treats every now and then.
The tail is thick but the body itself does look a little underweight.
1- get a scale. A digital scale would be very cheap on eBay (under $10). When you are talking about such small animals we are talking grams, not overall look. Weigh each animal on a routine basis (like the first of the month) and keep track of it all. This can let you see subtle trends you would have otherwise missed and alert you in time to catch problems before they are so bad that your leopard gecko is so skinny it NEEDS to go to a vet.
2-Prevention is better than a cure. Internal parasites are very common in reptiles (and anything fed live foods). Knowing a good herp vet can save the lives of your animals one day. Go to one once so you know where they are, they know who you are, and they may catch something the first time you go. At the very least use an over the counter dewormer from time to time as a perventative.
Mealworms are also a good addition to the leopard gecko diet. All of the very robust and healthy ones I have ever seen have been fed mealworms (in part or exclusively).
1- get a scale. A digital scale would be very cheap on eBay (under $10). When you are talking about such small animals we are talking grams, not overall look. Weigh each animal on a routine basis (like the first of the month) and keep track of it all. This can let you see subtle trends you would have otherwise missed and alert you in time to catch problems before they are so bad that your leopard gecko is so skinny it NEEDS to go to a vet.
2-Prevention is better than a cure. Internal parasites are very common in reptiles (and anything fed live foods). Knowing a good herp vet can save the lives of your animals one day. Go to one once so you know where they are, they know who you are, and they may catch something the first time you go. At the very least use an over the counter dewormer from time to time as a perventative.
Mealworms are also a good addition to the leopard gecko diet. All of the very robust and healthy ones I have ever seen have been fed mealworms (in part or exclusively).
The first place a leopard gecko directs nutrition to is it's body. All the additional surplus is stored in it's tail. In other words, it won't have a fat tail if it's body is under weight. Too many people have overfed and fat leopard gecko (including myself) and to them they look normal. I see a healthy, trim leopard gecko. Do you know the age of it? It looks like it's just shy under a year old hence why it's not "plump" yet.
Yeah it looks fine to me as well. and young females are typically a bit slender.
I do agree with prevention though, if there is even the tiniest hint or worry that parasites might be a problem you may as well just treat to prevent.
But generally if the tail is nice and fat and the gecko is other wise healthy and eating well, it should be fine.
A friend of mine has two perfectly healthy mature females that have always been on the smaller side, they can very in body build just like people can.
I do agree with prevention though, if there is even the tiniest hint or worry that parasites might be a problem you may as well just treat to prevent.
But generally if the tail is nice and fat and the gecko is other wise healthy and eating well, it should be fine.
A friend of mine has two perfectly healthy mature females that have always been on the smaller side, they can very in body build just like people can.
body looks a bit underweight but the tail is is nice and fat so thats good but waxworms are only like a treat cause there candy to a leopard gecko..
He or she looks to have a perfect weight, it has a nice big tail so everything is good, a lot of people over feed their geckos and consider an unhealthy weight healthy
and some leos hold their weight different, I have one that is long and slender like yours but a few others that are very robust and big, one female is 71 grams and is huge
so don't fret as long as its eating good your fine
and some leos hold their weight different, I have one that is long and slender like yours but a few others that are very robust and big, one female is 71 grams and is huge
so don't fret as long as its eating good your fine