Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm noticing from pics posted here that the leo's tails seem really fat. I have had my leo for almost a month now, and the tail does not seem to be getting really fat. For the first week or week and a half he didn't eat anything, but now he is eating about 10 mealies a day. He has all the necessities, calcium, hides, etc...Just curious if it takes a while for the leo's to fatten up? Thanks.

. . . I see a ton of leos on here that are obese - and a lot of people getting grief over healthy, but leaner, looking leos. A leo's tail doesn't need to be necessarily like J-lo's in order for it to be considered healthy. In fact, in males, it is my opinion that too fat makes them not effective of breeders.

The tail on your leo should be healthy looking - wider, but it doesn't have to look like you need a trailer and air shocks to haul it in. In my opinion, that is NOT natural, and will lead to a lot of obesity-related problems down the line.

I do pack a little more on my females to get them ready for the breeding season, but this year I am also much more conscious of pulling the male out once all the females are laying.

If your husbandry is decent, and he's eating 10 mealies a day, don't sweat it. Be sure to supplement. If you want to speed up their weight gain, try T-Rex Sandire's "Leo ICB dust" - that has all the supplements and nutrients a leo needs.

I hope this helps. If you think your leo's tail is thin, send me a pix, and I will be more than happy to help you out.

I hope this didn't sound like a rant - but I think it's a worthwhile topic to discuss. I would appreciate other people's comments as well.
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos
Email

No Fru-Fru morphs in the herp room

.. . . this leo belonged to a friend of mine, and escaped into his herp room for a long time - over a year if I remember correctly.

She was recently captured - take a look at her. Now she probably had a target-rich environment to hunt in, because he breeds a ton of stuff and escaped prey items had to be all around. But this gives you a good example of a healthy, female leo.

Now remember, this is an adult. Juvi's and sometimes even sub-adults get a little gangly looking. The only time I see them really fat as subs and juvis is when someone powerfeeds them - which means that they will fill a container of mealies in a dish and let them eat as much as they want. (Trust me, a number of breeders practice this method of beefing leos up).

Hope this helps.

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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos
Email

No Fru-Fru morphs in the herp room

The reason obesity is common for our leos might be that so many of us use mealworms as a staple. When I switched my last leo from crickets to mealworms, she plumped up in no time.

I think if your leo doesn't look like he's gaining much weight, you should have him checked for parasites. They can rob up to 40% of his nutritional intake. It's also possible though that he just has a longer body and he looks like he's leaner because he hasn't had enough time to fill out.

I'm trying to keep my adults' weights stable, but I guess my babies are a little round. I don't even feed them everyday. They're active and growing quickly though.

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chickabowwow

3.2.3 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)

Is it not a good idea to leave mealworms in the tank at all times? I've been doing this for a couple of months now. Jak eats however many he wants when he wants. Some nights he'll only eat two or three or even none at all, other nights he'll eat all ten that I leave him. His tail is fat but seems a healthy fat, I'll see if i can get a pic sometime soon. Needless to say, I think Jak is quite healthy, but you made it seem like "power feeding" was potentially a bad thing, so I was just curious.

Here's the best pic that I have of his tail right now, I'll try to get a better one later. I've been meaning to take more pics anyways, because He just shed 2 days ago.

Nothing wrong with juvvies/subadults having mealies all the time, they'll put the calories into faster growth, it's also fine for females you are trying to beef up for breeding. However if geckos are adults and you are not breeding them, or if it's a male, some geckos will get obese if you give them unlimited access to food 24-7. I've only put one female on a diet, she is a breeder but was getting to look obese- she was getting excessive belly fat, and her tail was maxxed out. This is a pic of her right before I put her on a diet. No, SHE IS NOT GRAVID IN THIS PIC!

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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

np
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chickabowwow

3.2.3 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)