Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 2 fat and healthy leo boys that I've had for about six months,and they're doing fantastically.
Recently however, I was at a local pet store buying some frozen feeder mice for the leg-less members of the family, and noticed a display of juvenile albino leos for sale. I went to look and found only one little leo, huddled in a corner (no source of heat in the tank) and she was positively starving to death.
She's so skinny that you can count her ribs!
I got her for a "discounted price" after cussing out the manager about the state of all the reptiles in the place, and now I'm wondering what to feed her, and how often, to help her regain her health without shocking her digestive system, or making things worse.
She ate a couple of meal worms upon settling in once I got her home, and she's looking for more, but I don't want to give her all she can eat right away- I have no idea when she was fed last (neither did the store manager suprisingly enough).
I have mealies, crickets, and wax worms on hand- anything better than anything else? Or anything else I should get for her?
She also made a bee-line for the dish of calcium/D3 powder, which I let her have in intervals so she wouldn't consume all of it at once.

One other question- I use infrared heat lamps on the tanks that house my 2 boys, but have heard that an UTH would be better. Is this true? Should I replace their lamps with UTH's?

Thanks in advance!

Poor little girl!!

I've not had to rescue any animals so badly abused, so I’m sure that others will be able to give you a much better answer then myself. I do think that it’s smart to not let her eat all she wants just yet. It’s a good sign that she does want to eat. Once you’ve seen that she has pooped (indicating a clear digestive tract) I’d give her anything she wanted! The wax worms will be good for plumping her up, but be sure most of her food is either crickets or mealworms - they’re better nutritionally. I’d imagine the crickets will be easier for her to digest right now because of the softer bodies.

As for the heating, I don’t think one is really better then the other. People love the UTH partially for the belly heat, and partially for having less things sitting on top of the tank. You can get just as good belly heat from the infrared heaters. After all - the sun manages to heat rocks outside just fine! As long as you make sure the temperature range is right, you can use either!

I would also bring a fecal to the vet immediately as soon as you have one. Leo's from petco, especially ones with compromised health are often parasite ridden. Keep her far away from your males, and wash your hands between handling. If she has a clean fecal and she is eating then feed her whatever she will eat, include a variety of insects and she should be fine

Good luck!
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My female was starved before I got her but when I saw her she wasn't nearly as bad as yours. She might have been when the pet store I got her from got her but I don't know because they'd nursed her back to better health before they put her up for sale. When I got her I was told to feed her medium sized crickets that have been dusted because she was so thin but she is also an adult. If yours is still pretty young I'd suggest going down a cricket size or whatever you're going to feed it so that its not overwelmed. I did get mine from a pet store thats true but the pet store I got mine from got her from the original owners, the owners brought her in to get rid of her. I'm just stating this for those people that might think I got her at a chain pet store because this pet store is a small family owned place that would never abuse animals thats why I love getting my animals there. The one thats been starved might turn out to be the sweetest one you have I know my little girl is sweeter than any of my other reptiles. All you can really do for it now is give it love and a better life than the one it had.