Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone tried feeding their Leo outside of it's viv? I have a naturalistic kind of setup, check pics (I took the sand out). Usually, I hold the cricket by one leg at the floor of her viv, in front of her warm hide. She comes out and nabs them from me. Sometimes, she misses and the cricket escapes into any of the many hiding places. Anyway, I was wondering how a 2.5 gallon tank would work. It has a cover and I would put the same floor tile in there as in her viv. I would put a background on the 3 sides. She is a baby still (just starting to show spots in her stripes) and I want to make it a bit easier for her to catch the crix and also not have to tear her viv apart making sure there are no stray crickets left. What do you all think? She is my second herp (Corn Snake first) so I need some pros to help me. P.S. Her vivarium is a 29 gallon, if that matters. Thanks.

0.1 Cat "Abby"
1.0 Corn Snake "Motega"
0.0.1 Leopard Gecko "Zubi"

im not exactly an expert(but this is just my understanding from common knowledge i only got my first gecko 2 days ago) but if you start feeding her wont she then expect you to give the crickets to her? why dont you take the background out for a while and leave somewhere to see into the back of the cave ro all the hidey holes so you can see if the crickets are there... if she doesnt get the hang of it now she probally will just get accostmoned to you feeding her.try popping one beside her and let her chase it

She eats between 6 and 10 crickets a day, and maybe 3 of them she nabs from my hand. Sometimes they get away from me and other times I let them go right in front of her on purpose. She is getting more experienced at catching them. There are just too many places for the crickets to go if they escape her.

I've seen people say they take the back legs off the crickets so they can't get away as fast, giving the Leo an easier chase. I have 3 week old hatchlings but they are in a simplier setup so there's not many places for a cricket to hide. I've done what others have mentioned and put a piece of carrot in the tank so that the cricket(s) has something to munch on if any are left over after feeding, instead of munching on your Leo or on the Leo's poo.

You don't even need a glass tank for feeding seperatly. Just get one of those medium sized kritter keepers (plastic). They come with a lid, and are easy to move around. I have 2 naturalistic set-ups, and those geckos are taken out for feeding mobile things like crickets and roaches...they also have a bowl of mealworms at all times. It's really a great way to be sure you don't miss any crickets. Another pro is that it gets your gecko used to being handled, and the begin to associate your handling with being fed. Just stick the feeders in the keeper along with your gecko for 15 - 30 mins.
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Official Leopard Gecko Freak

3:4:1 Leos - Gilean (HTCT), Aurora (High Yellow), Amber (LVPA), Garnet (Tang), Tigerlily (HT), and Mirage (SHT), Found (HT), Lost (LVPA) (1:0 more on the way! WOO!)
2:0 Cats - Troi and Mitsu (shhhhh...don't tell them they're neutered!)
4:0 Betas - So pretty, yet so violent!
1:0 Husband - Eric (He's a lot of work, but it's worth it.)

I feed a few of my leos outside their homes when I need to. Its a great idea in certain situations:

This helps less-agile hunters and encourages the leos to eat more to fatten them up. Its also the best solution for feeding some colonies/groups/babies. If you throw the prey in their cage/bin, the leos at the bottom of the pecking order may not get equal amounts of food, or even any food. Separate feeding times and tanks solve the problem. Plus, you know exactly how much they are eating.

Also, this saves you from spending time removing the loose crickets by hand after feeding. This way, you just dump the bugs left in the plastic cage/critter keeper back into the box/tub/tank you keep & gut load your crickets in.

It takes the leos one or 2 times to get used to feeding outside their homes -- Do this at night when its dark -- I put the leo in the feeding tank, throw in some crickets or other moving prey items, place the tank in a quiet area of the room, turn off the lights, and leave them for 15-30 minutes.

A sick baby I got from my vet office would not eat at all. After months of slurry force feeding and medicating, I started leaving him in his food tank with some crickets at the same time every night. Initally he was scared of the crickets and wanted out. On night 3, he started eating on his own. I would leave him in there for as long as it took. Eventually he'd eat everything.

A Word on Removing Cage Furniture:
I personally think its a terrible idea to remove cage furniture and hides from the leos' homes before feeding insects. This should be the leos' "safe place" and I prefer not to remove anything unless I'm cleaning (and in this situation, I'd have already moved the geckos fist). I will spot clean and remove humid hides to rewet them when the leos aren't in them, but otherwise I would avoid unsettling them by removing anything. Just think how stressed out they get when you clean and/or rearrange the set-up...
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Too many Leos
1.0 feline "Spot"
0.1 canine "Tika"

Hey, thanks alot for the info. I had noticed she was getting a bit anxious when I would move everything around. She looked lost when her warm hide was not there The trouble is, I have only had her for 10 days and she is still acclimating to me. She will walk onto my hand, but then walk right off. I put my hand near her every day and she tastes to see if its me. When she is on my hand, I have tried moving her up and out of her viv, but she starts moving off my hand right away. I got her out once for about a minute, but the she seemd like she might bolt. I carefully put her back, but she jumped about 4 inches early. What is the best way to get her used to being picked up and how do you pick her up?

Thanks. I already have the 2.5 gallon tank. I'm gonna put some slate tile down with a background on 3 sides, similar to her viv minus the rocks and any hidey places.

Yeah, I put some cricket food in and the crix ate that.