Leo feeding - HELP

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TheOneThatGotAway

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 7, 2007
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NJ, USA
I just picked up a pair of leos. I know they are a bit young for breeding (8 mo) but its for school so its absolutely necessary.

Anyway, my female is a bit underweight for breeding. i've heard the minimum weight for breeders is 45 - 50g; the male is right around there and she's at 35. I tried beefing her up a lil with mealworms by tweezers (out of the tank) but she refuses them. Just for the hell of it, I tried giving some to the male, too. He also refused them.

There are free-roaming crickets in the tank but I don't think they can find them on the cypress substrate (dont worry, im changing it). It's also hard to tell if they're being eaten or not because they hide inside the two pieces of cholla wood in there.

So, any help is appreciated. Is the female underfed or is that normal for an 8 month old? How can I keep the crickets from escaping besides removing the cholla and replacing the bedding? Why won't they eat them in general? How can I feed them periodically with live food but without leaving it in until its finally eaten?
 
ok well if u JUST picked them up from the store ofcourse theyre not going to eat. they have to adjust to theyre new home. try not to pick them up for a few days.and you wont be able to succesfully breed them unless they are of age. more than likely the male and female will fight stressing out your female. i would seperate them if i were u. dont try breeding them at this size because the outcome wouldnt be good. and i hope u arent planning on just dumping these things when ur done with your project. i hope u did research before u bought them

oh ya and im no gecko proffesor i just remember what my friend had to do when he had his
 
dzb912;2178021; said:
ok well if u JUST picked them up from the store ofcourse theyre not going to eat. they have to adjust to theyre new home. try not to pick them up for a few days.and you wont be able to succesfully breed them unless they are of age. more than likely the male and female will fight stressing out your female. i would seperate them if i were u. dont try breeding them at this size because the outcome wouldnt be good. and i hope u arent planning on just dumping these things when ur done with your project. i hope u did research before u bought them

oh ya and im no gecko proffesor i just remember what my friend had to do when he had his
Click to expand...

I picked them up Sunday, i don't know if that's "just" or not. Actually I have been handling them, but mostly for observational purposes. I guess I'll have to limit that a bit more. I've also heard that they will mate at this age, but may not produce eggs or fertile eggs. However there is still a chance. So far, the male and female get along wonderfully. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Im also borrowing an extra tank from my supervisor to separate them after mating. The animals are full grown (i believe. Male is about 6 in, female 5.5"), just the female is a bit light. And of course I won't dump them! I'm already very attached to them. After the project, I will keep them both. The first surviving offspring will be given to the school (its a biology academy with HUNDREDS of animals, so it will be taken excellent care of) and the rest will be sold to my dad's friend who runs a pet store.

Thanks for the advice and concern.
 
From looking at the photos of the pair they look fat and healthy to me. I wouldn't worry just yet, you've only had them a few days.
 
I agree with the others, give them time to settle in, they're just stressed from being handled too much.

I left mine alone when I got them on saturday, fed them on sunday, and they ate, but it's been very difficult to avoid picking them up. I'm giving them another two days haha :D
 
Alright. It is hard XD they're so freakin adorable. its also hard trying to do research without handling them
 
What exactly are you researching? If you're researching behavior you don't need to handle them much, if it's physiology, I'm sure that's available online and in literature.

A good book on leopard geckos will go a long way for research.
 
Also you shouldnt have crickets free roaming in your lizard cage;). It will stress your geckos insted of estimulating them to eat. Also crickets get a litle sadistic at times:irked: they can literaly eat your lizard´s fingers and the tip of their tails:eek: I sugest this: let your lizards get used to their new tank and let them alone for a few days to build apetite. Also your tank is really to small for 2 leopards and that mulch aint a good substrate. Insted try news paper or papertowells :D Also dont forget how important is to give them hidding places and that every leopard should have a moist one and one close to the heat sorce. Then trow in a cricket. If its easier for you get a pair of long twesers(this is how I feed my female) to prevent the cricket from escaping. If your geckos are healty they will EAT:drool: Give about 4 prey items for gecko. Good luck :D Also try to gut load the crickets
 
cohazard - Im researching everything that has to do with breeding. behavior, physiology, genetics, etc. and i have books, but this isnt an ordinary school. its a marine biology academy and they want our projects to be hands-on. i could just hand in a report no matter what school i went to. they want either an experiment or field research.

coura - everything ive read says 10 gal is the minimum for a pair. and even if it is too small, its temporary until the actual mating occurs. then they'll each have their own 10 gal. i know now that the cypress is bad and the guy at the store was an idiot -_- (got the wrong substrate, food, AND breeding age). I have calcium sand to replace it with when my dad gets home tonight. They have plenty of hiding places and i planned on picking up the long tweezers soon.

Hey just a thought. Would a dowel with a pin on one end be good to feed them with or is the risk of them being jabbed/impaled too high?
 
If it's a pin as in a sharp pointy object, then the risk is too high, actually, you don't want risks involved with keeping your herps, that's how deaths/escapes, etc.. happen.


I'm surprised you didn't pick breeding clownfish as your project. They are able to change sex when there is lack of a male. So they teach about other animals other than marine animals at this marine biology academy?

What's the name of the school it sounds cool, I want to read up on this place. :)
 
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