Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Snake Man that would like to get a couple of Leos. Just wondering how many crickets or meal worms I should expect to feed two Leo's. If I am to keep two Leos together should I shoot for two males, or two females, or Male and Female? Wasn't sure which would be most compatible. Thanks...

2 males- never
1 each- will breed, unless you get an old female
2 females- might get along, might not
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1.0 Hypo stripe, Het RW from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino from Petsmart (Cloud)
0.1 Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko from Petco (Beatrice)
0.1 Stripe female (rehabilitated rescue)(Pepper)
0.1 Jungle het RW hatched by me! (Jungle Bunny)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko from Petco (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko from Petco (Rainbow)
0.1 RW Stripe hatched by me! (unnamed yet)
0.1 Leucistic rescue (Lucy?)
0.1 Tremper stripe from JMG (Delta)
0.1 SHCT hatched by me! (Blinky)
0.0.1 SHCTB hatched by me! (Sunny II)
0.1 Ball Pythons
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
Hatched: ~50 leos

It depends on the size obviously as they grow. Our adults are at about 3 large crickets every 3 days for the most part. If your are raising yours from small, you will find you may be feeding up to 10 crickets of a smaller size before being able to move onto the next size up and then typically you are feeding daily.

My first question would be why get two right away? They do very well as solitary animals and if you are new, it is much easier to "make all the mistakes" with just one to worry about. I would highly suggest only having one gecko to begin with.

If you must get two, realize that, like humans, there is no guarantee that any combination will not result in injury and death.

Male to Male - when they mature they will fight to the death

Male to Female - Assuming they are of compatible size and don't fight for food, they have a good possibility of breeding and you will have dozens of eggs a year

Female to Female - best option, but they must get along and be of the same size or else they will compete for food and the larger one can bully and injure the the smaller.

Hope that helps.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Hi.
Leos eat more often than snakes, especially when young. I started off with one for a year. Then got another 2. They're addicting. I suggest starting off with one. My experience was a good one.

I think geckogirl and sleepy gecko are both right.

Later, Geckjo.

Great responses so far. I would add the point that up until they are about a year old, I feed my leopard geckos every day to help their growth. Once they are a year old, and show the nice fat tail, I slow down and usually feed every other day.
I feed crickets and mealworms (much easier to deal with than crickets)- about 5 per feeding. Just an added note, make sure you understand the concept of 'gutloading' and 'dusting' the insects before feeding them to add much needed vitamins and minerals.
Good Luck with your choice.
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Wally
Web Site: Supreme Gecko
e-mail: Supreme Gecko e-mail

Good points about gutloading and dusting Wally, I forget that since my snake friends all feed frozen and don't deal with any of that.

If you are serious and all this sounds good definitely look into the book "The Leopard Gecko Manual". Last time I checked it was less than $5 at the store. Even the most experienced here refer to it from time to time.

Also when the gecko reaches maturity it will pretty much tell you that you need to feed less. Freaks most first timers out, even me, my girl just stopped eating one day. That's when you can go to less often feedings.

Please, ask as many questions as you like. We are very happy to answer any and all, the rule around here (at least to me) is we will happily explain in any detail anything BEFORE you get an animal. We also will help afterwards, but we like to see as many potential problems and questions offset before you have the animal.

So, ask away, and if you join us in the leo world, you won't be disappointed. They are the hams of the lizard world, I have yet to meet one without a crazy habit or funny quirk and they are easy to handle, care for, and well maybe I'm biased.

But can you resist this face? I know she's up to something...

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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Wish I was active in this forum before and when I had my first leo for the first year. Another thing I found out was the demeanor and temperament of leos are similar to snakes. I love to notice the change of from : "oh yeah just handling me" or " oh......just cleaning my cage to/vs. "it's feeding time!" So if you're snake experienced, adapting to leos will be easier for you than just being a reptile novice. Hopefully this video from my camera goes through of Claiborne being a piglet. She'll eat anything, 2 of mine are finicky sometimes. I/ve never posted a video. Is that possible? I suppose I'll find out...At times, I'll find mealies to crickets to superworms are desired. I've yet to try the phoenix worm I saw in the Reptile magazine, and my friend tries to sell me special roaches to tong feed -- still yet to try.Or maybe I'll just stick to traditionally what i've been doing.... Bye for now. Going out of town for about a week. Ooooops! Staying up into the wee hours of the night just to respond. Goodnight.

Maybe a clip of Claiborne will go through this time....if not I'll stick to pics.
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