Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have my Leo 9 months now and she was always a very placid and lazy Gecko up until recently. When i go to feed her now (Mealworms and WaxWorms) she will try and bite me when i put the food into the tank. She even lunges at me through the glass as i prepare her food. I feed her everynight with a Min of 10 Mealies and on other nights i feed her 5/6 wax worms. Her tank is a 20G with lots of climbing items in it along with a couple of items where she can hide out along with a humid hide so its not as if she is bored and lacks space. Her lunges at me are getting more and more aggressive each night. Is this to do with mating or is she unhappy about something? I rarely handle her as she does not like it and her temps are correct. I dust her food a couple of times a week and i have a calcium dish in there also so all looks ok for a normal set up but why the sudden aggression? I checked her to see if she was in any pain (IE Cuts,infections in her eyes) but she looks ok and she has regular poops and that looks ok to.

Sounds like a waxie addiction.

They're like crack. Cut back.

OK but how much is enough per week?

Unless you're trying to fatten the gecko up, why not just skip the wax worms altogether? They're not very nutritious.

OK will do. I only gave them to her as a treat. I mainly feed her meal worms as she has gone off crickets. Are mealies a staple diet?

Maybe she's just excited for the food? My leo doesn't mind being handled, she's pretty hand tamed already... but she knows when it's feeding time and she usually flips out when she knows it's time to eat. This includes running up to the glass, running towards the cricket tube, etc... however, she doesn't try to bite. Has your leo bit you before? Or open her mouth when you try to feed? Maybe try calming her reaction by sticking your hand in there, try to handle, and just wait before actually feeding. That's what I do with mine, so she doesn't think food is coming. Mine knows the cricket tube though. Everytime she sees that tube, she flips out and stares at it while she runs toward it Silly girl!

Mealworms are a good staple diet, so that's fine. But 5/6 wax worms is too much. If you were to feed waxies, I'd give 1 or 2 waxies once a week to once every other week... nothing frequent because she could stop eating the mealies all together - and what Andrew said, they're not nutritious, they're fatty, they're highly addictive, and they're equivalent to the addicting junk food we humans have
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ALGeckos
Aimee Salazar & Leon Holland