Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 2 baby leos, about 4-5 in. long. They sit in one of their hides together all day and rarely come out, even at night. I worry that one of them may not be eating, I have seen one eat multiple times, but not the other. I have tried crickets and mealworms. Crickets disappear as well as the mealworms, but im not sure if its one or both. Any suggestions? I am heating the tank with a heat lamp and it is at 80-85 degress, slightly cooler at night when I use a night/red bulb. Thanks

Sorry to hear about yoru reptile problem. but, what i have to ask you is this. how long have you had your geckos? some times it will take up to a week for new reptiles to eat.
try Waxworms not meal worms. mealworms stay alive in the stomach of the reptile eatting away at the walls until the acid kills them.
i lost two geckos because of this.
try baby bananna food or peach. i know is sounds weird but, some will eat these things.
i hope i help you out.
Good luck and let me know how things turn out.
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~Jaa Mata~

Hi.

The first advice I can give you is to separate the leos. This will have many positive benefits, the 2 most important of which are:

1) You'll be able to monitor exactly what each one is eating and how much of it
2) Neither will be intimidated by the other

The second thing is that I don't agree with the other poster's advice at all. I have raised over 100 baby leos on mealworms alone and have never, EVER had a problem with mealworms eating a baby from the inside out. I would need to see solid, empirical evidence from numerous sources to even begin to consider that as possible. (Many of the "big" breeders - I hate that term - including Ron Tremper, feed mealies exclusively right from the start ... Ron wouldn't let his livelihood get eaten from the inside out, would he?) I would also not bother with baby food. Leos, unlike crested geckos, are almost exclusively insectivors, meaning that they eat bugs. Crested geckos, other rhacs, and other types of geckos are omnivourous, meaning that they will eat different types of food ... bugs, fruits etc.

Assuming the babies are healthy, separate them into warm, small enclosures, feed them appropriately sized food items and leave them alone ... and they will thrive.

Joel
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2.5.1 Leopard Geckos
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.0 Blair's Phase Gray Banded Kingsnake
0.0.2 Crested Geckos

np
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5.6 leopard geckos

chickabowwow

eating the leos from the inside out is an urban legend. this happens as often as people blowing up from eating pop-rocks and drinking pepsi at the same time. just doesn't happen. if anybody believes that the worms can and will eat the leos from the inside out, PLEASE contact me as i have a really nice bridge in brooklyn that i'm considering selling. i'll cut you a good deal!!!!

if you do not have the space to separate, try weighing them to make sure that they are maintaining, or better yet, gaining weight. if that is not an option, try removing the one which you do see eat for a little while at dinner time. this will give the other one a chance without competition.

I also agree with everything Finnigan said. However, MedievalElf if you have proof of your mealworm incident I would love to see it. Did you get a necroscophy done? If not how do you know this was the cause of death? Please explain.

Lisa
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0.1 Hypo Leopard Gecko
0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko
0.1 Blizzard Leopard Gecko
1.0 Albino Pacman Frog
1.0 Lovebird (Tony)
1.0 Elkhound Cross (Otto)
0.1 Malamute Cross (Paris)
6.0 Bettas