Reptile & Amphibian Forums

whats the best wat to get your leo to get big and fat??? mine is 7 inches and is small with a good tail. but how do they gain whieght (sorry for spelling), fast Can I start freddie on a diet of super meal worms?? thanks for your help
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1 lazy freddie

heLLo!

the best way to fatten up your leos tail would be gutloading your mealworms and/or superworms well and give a wax worm once a week (and once a week only... u don't want your leo to get addicted to them & avoid all other foods). also, if your leo is an adult, you can give it a pinky mouse once every other month. just don't overdo the fatness you don't want your leo to become obese. obesity will make your leo more lethargic, possibility of fatty liver disease, have respiratory problems, cause constipation, etc. so you can chubby him up - just not too much wax worms are really high in fat content, so giving that as a treat once a week will do some good.

[aimee]
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1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
2.0 Fire-Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
http://aimee.i8.com

How do you gut load them?? I've tried putting them in a substrate of foods that The local vet suggested but it doen't work.
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1 lazy freddie

i use meal worms... and those can be gutloaded pretty easily.

what i do is, stick them in a cup of oats (from oatmeal, not the instant kind), non-fat powdered milk, baby cereal, fish flakes, some insect gutload from the store, and calcium powder that i give to my leo. i use this as my gutload as well as my substrate. shake it up, put the mealies in there - they dig their way down and they just keep eating on the way to wherever they wanna go also, leave a small piece of paper towel on top and put a slice of carrot or potato or an apple to provide them with moisture - it's where they get their water. you may not see them eating, but they are if you see mealworm sheds inside and on top of the gutload, that means they're eating well because they're growing you don't have to put everything i mentioned, it's kinda what i got from a list of everyone's worm gutloads when i posted a question on what they use. also, when my leo eats, he might leave one or two mealies behind - but it's a good thing i put a REALLY thin layer of t-rex sandfire cricket gutload at the bottom so it just keeps eating at it and eating.. so it's gutloading while waiting to die i got this technique from azteclizard & he said he got it from someone else from this forum. but you can use whatever gutload you like to save you cash

with wax worms, i hear you can put them in some oats with a little bit of honey. the honey sinks to the bottom and they eat through that. this adds some nutritional value to the wax worms. if you keep them in the wood chipping substrate from the store, they're just there for the fatty part for your leo without much nutrition.

if you gutload crickets, they have cricket gutloading in the pet store (don't get the corn-based one). also leave a sponge or a very shallow water dish (like a bottle cap) for the crickets to drink.

but have fun with gutloading hehe~ good luck & take care!

[aimee]
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1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
2.0 Fire-Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
http://aimee.i8.com

thats the way to gut load, you can make your own mixture like aimme doed ( good mix) or buy the stuff from the pet stores.. but they will rape you on the price.. its better to just make your own up. i use oatmeal, along with a feed mix thats meant for farm animals, its got oats, corn, mollasses, milo and wheat all cracked and ground up.. they dig that stuff.. ive never seen fatter little meal worms. but like she said dont try and beef him up too quick.. its bad for the health of the leo, let him grow at his own pace, hell be full size soon enough then youll miss the little baby gecko and youll go out and start breeding and end up with a ton of them then spend 2 grand on more breeding stock the next year.. ok maybe not but thats what happend to me.. lol. have fun with him!!
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Jaylon ( bigJ)

www.hometown.aol.com/flyingcolorsloft/main.html
0.1 black pine
2.6 northern pines
12.68 leo's of all colors/morphs
2.5 UKC registered American pitbull Terriers ( i had to add them

oops that was supposed to read "like aimee did" not whatever it ended up saying.. my bad
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Jaylon ( bigJ)

www.hometown.aol.com/flyingcolorsloft/main.html
0.1 black pine
2.6 northern pines
12.68 leo's of all colors/morphs
2.5 UKC registered American pitbull Terriers ( i had to add them

lol it's cool "baby j" hehe~

and DANG 12.68 leo's of all colors/morphs?! that's a lot!
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1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
2.0 Fire-Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
http://aimee.i8.com

k.. well not ALL colors morphs.. i guess i should fix that lol.. i still need the giants, and a few other things.. ya know.. odds and ends lol
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Jaylon ( bigJ)

www.hometown.aol.com/flyingcolorsloft/main.html
0.1 black pine
2.6 northern pines
12.68 leo's of all colors/morphs
2.5 UKC registered American pitbull Terriers a.k.a "the bouncers"