Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This female, Whitie, weighs 87g. She is becoming more and more like a ball of flesh, and she is very soft too (good to the touch though). I have 2 other males that are also 87g, but they don't seem as 'fat'. I am thinking of putting her on a diet; she currently eats 6-8 medium sized supers every second day, shall I reduced the number of feeding to 2 times per week? or shall I keep feeding her every second day but less items, say 3-4 supers per feed? Which is better?

ps. when she was young, she would bite my finger whenever I put my hands in her tank when she's hungry, I hope she won't do it now...

WOW! that has to be the fatest gecko i have ever seen and i thought my male needed to be put on a diet. well you know shes well fed.

wow ive seen dogs smaller than that ahahah

That's good that shes well fed but like any animal/human it bad to be obese. I've talked to a breeder with a leo that size too and shes only feeding it once a week now cuz it got too big.

So you can put her on a diet and maybe she'll still love you, most women wouldn't ;P

It doesnt sound like you feed her too much...she looks like she should be built that way.....
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"i wasn't born with enough middle fingers"

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 columbian boa- Brooklyn
1.0 red blood python-Hiss
1.0 peach phase thayeri-Sancho
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 partial stripe ghost corn- Raven
1.1 hognose- Pricilla and Odd
0.1 russian tortoise- Manja
0.1.1 leos- Boji and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.0 BTS- Griffon
0.1 Iggy- Sunny
0.0.2 Red american toadlets with 0.0.7 legs total (er, i have one w/3....)
0.0.1 gray tree frog toadlet
0.0.6 land snails
0.0.2 millipedes of unknown species from TN
0.0.1 spotted slug
5.3 bettas
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
2.3 ratties Rizzo, Bounce, Bree, Blitzkreig, and Zelda

We had a female much like that, and she was okay. If she eats that many worms, then she should be okay - geckos don't overeat, from what I've seen and heard.

There IS such a thing as an Obese leo, though - I saw her at PetCo, and she was a sickly obese. I will NEVER buy animals from them. Even worse, she was in the same tank with this leo who should have been called "Twiggy." I pointed that one out to the employee, and she tried to tell me that she'd just laid eggs. I told her, I'm sorry, but I breed these animals, and they do NOT get this deathly thin unless they're starved. Even gravid.

~~Dusty
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
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~~The Gecko Barn~~

If you reduce her feeding to 2-3 times a week, try to do it gradually over the course of a few weeks so her body can get used to it.

I would also switch to feeding her other foods that aren't as fattening as superworms, i.e. crickets and roaches.
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chickabowwow

I actually tried crickets, but she just smelt it and walked off...I kept offering crickets to her for a week, and she just ate nothing for that whole week

I think all my leos are spoiled, they are becoming very picky at food. I have 3 that will eat ONLY crix, 2 that will eat ONLY mealworms, Whitie and another female will eat mealies and supers, but not crix...and Bambi, she was the one that's not eating and passing bile, will eat supers and crix...

A bit of update on Bambi, she's eating fine now, about 2-3 supers a day. Her weight dropped to 50g in mid-July (was 64g), and is now slowly gaining back her weight. She weighs 59g last sunday.

One thing you may want to consider. I keep bearded dragons, and we refer to super worms as 'high fat dragon candy." The super worms seem to be everyone's favorite, but they are very fattening. Try really hard to get her to eat something else. It's kind of like she's a junk food junky. Even if you have to let her get a little hungry for awhile, the all superworm diet is probably not the best for her.

She sure is a beautiful big girl, though!

Leslie

RE: diet... Anything that has "die" at the start of it, I don't want anything to do with!