Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I hear a lot of ppl have calcium dishes... what do u use in it? like what are the names of the calcium supplements u use?

also, whats his stool supposed to look like? and how often do they lay them?

Is there such a thing as overfeeding? he'll just stop eating when he's full, right?

your calcium dish can range any size, from a cap from a pop bottle, to a dish bought at the store. I use Bone Aid, which can be bought at any petstore, note that dusting your feeders with calcium and vitamin supplements are also important. Your leo's stool should be intact, not to wet and loose, and should be from black to brown in color. Depending on your leo's metabolism, and how much it eats, it should only take a few days after feeding for it to deficate. I havent heard of overfeeding leo's, I feed mine as much as they can eat, and when they decide they had enough I stop with the feeding. Hope this helps. Btw make sure your leo has the proper heating requirements, as it is a necessity for proper digestion and eating habits. Good Luck

My only experience with over-feeding came when I had to take one of my females to the vet due to her having an eye infection...

The vet flushed her eye, did a fecal and basically did an overall check.

He asked me what my feeding practice to date had been like (by that point, leopard geckos were still VERY new to me, I just happened on a great deal for five of them - and only have since then been doing a lot of research).

Anyway, my feeding practice for the first few weeks of purchasing my geckos was to throw in enough crickets (about 5-6 per gecko) into their terrarium and let them feed away (this practice was performed everyday - with me removing the crickets after an hour or so). Well, Dagny is a compulsive over-eatter. Man, she will eat anything that moves and rarely stops.

When I told this to the vet, he showed me her enlarged kidney or liver (I don't remember which one) and told me to reduce her food intake. So, now I feed all of my geckos anywhere from 2-3 times a week, all they can eat in a 20-30 minute session. Also, I take them out of their terrarium to feed - that way I can monitor exactly how much they are eatting and I don't have to worry about them sucking up mouthfuls of sand when they miss (my albino, Dominique, is the WORST hunter - so feeding her in the plastic terrarium reduces the space in which she has to travel and also increases her feeding percentage to miss ratio!!!)

Anyway - I think over feeding is really more or less a per gecko basis. I have one female, Kira, who has always been a light eatter. She's just not that interested. She still weighs a good amount, looks beautiful - I just refer to her as my "dainty" gecko. Dagny, well, she's just a brute.

Feeding, in my opinion, is a watch and see thing...

My cheap ole .2

- D

right now i use the sticky tongue/miner-all brand. though i have quite a few geckoes, so i'm wondering if maybe there's some brand (just as good) that i could buy in bulk, to save some money...

also, one of my local (herp-knowledgeable) pet-shops told me that the brand that comes in a white bottle, with a pink label (i think it's rep-cal), will make female leos sterile! if anyone knows anything about the veracity of this, i'd be interested.

and with overfeeding- i think the main way to tell is if they develop really big fat deposits under their arms, though the fat deposits aren't necessarily always bad. also, don't feed really high-fat diets, like all waxworms or something.
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marla
keeper of: axolotls, catfish, ferrets, leopard geckoes, oriental fire-bellied toads, and sugar gliders