Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello all,
after two years I finally got my leo to the vet and found out he's one of the healthiest lizards that vet has ever treated, though he does have a very slight over infestation of hookworms.she gives everyone a standard lecture for their first visit and we disscussed some things that I could be doing differently to promote better health and the one thing I wasn't doing that she mentioned was to feed my leo some greens. Her reasoning for suggesting leo's get greens is that there just isn't enough info on nutritional needs of lizards and well in the wild they do get some greens when grabbin ginsects on or near plants. I agree with the logic but my problem is, bubsy doesn't touch anything that doesn't move. I have to take him back for a re-check in two weeks so I plan on talking with her about it more, but for the time being does anyone here feed their leo greens and if so how do you get the to eat it? I figured a good way would be to dab organic baby food onto his nose and letthing him lick it off. now she said not alot of
greens considering they are carnivores so don't get me wrong, he
won't be on a high fiber diet, just a little fiber to help keep his system clean and to promote a more natural lifestyle (or as good a one you can get when locked in a synthetic environment). also does anyone here have experience with regular fluorescent UVB vs. compact bulb fluorescent UVB? I need a new UV light because mine is dead and I wanted to know if there was any significant difference between the two, other than price.

The best way to greens into your gecko is to feed them to the crickets and worms for 48 hours before feeding them to your gecko. Your gecko is not going to eat greens. They are insect eaters they will most likely not eat any plant matter. Baby food usually isn't great for them as it is high in sugar. So the best way to keep them nutrionally sound is to "gutload" your feeder insects (by feeding them good foods), offering a variety of foods (crickets, mealworms, pheonix worms, silkworms, superworms ect.) and by supplementing properly.

As for a UV bulb, if you want to use one, a reptisun 2.0 or a reptiglo 5.0 would be recommended.

I feed my leopards with only 12 to 24 hours after gutloading my feeders. I think that if you watched your crickets for a while, you might see that they poo very often, all the crap that you see covering the egg crates, and the substrate. These guys have a gut length of well, very small guts okay,.. you wont do any more good to wait for another day or a day and a half. Not to mention that since most people don't pull the food out of there, they could technically already eaten more of the gutload by the time you feed them. Anyways just a thought,..