Feeding Advice Needed.

[Tigerjon73]

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I posted something similar to this a few weeks ago, but I’m going to post again not exactly as the first time. I didn’t get some of the answers I needed and now that we have a new gecko I have some follow-up questions. This is the second time we will have had a pet leopard. The first time around we were inexperienced and unfortunately our pet only lived about six years. She started to develop swollen joints and had problems shedding. We used a zoo med heat pad underneath her 20 gallon tank. We feel pretty confident that we kept the temperature gradient in her enclosure where it should have been but we did not use a thermometer. This time we are using a thermometer. We are able to keep the warm side of her enclosure around 85 to 87°F. The temperature on the cool side is around 72 to 75°F. We fed her meal worms exclusively. We did not keep a dish of Repashy’s supplement in her enclosure; We just dusted her meal worms with it. I have read some articles saying to keep a dish of Repashy’s in the enclosure, but I’ve seen other articles saying this is a bad idea because the animal can become impacted due to over eating it. This time around we will primarily feed crickets and only give meal worms as treats.

My first question, how often should we feed crickets to our juvenile leopard and how often should we feed meal worms? Should we feed meal worms at all or some other type of worm?

My second question is, should we keep a separate dish of Repashy’s in the enclosure because I am confused with everything I’m reading?

My third question is, if we are supposed to give her, say, six crickets a week, do we put them all in her enclosure at once and let her do the rest?

Thanks so much for any advice you could offer

[acpart]

I think I responded to you last time, but here are my answers to your current questions:

1. Keep a small dish full of mealworms and feed the crickets 2-3 times a week. I was feeding juveniles on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

2. With Repashy, I would recommend dusting the crickets every other feeding and not keeping the dish in the cage. That has worked fine with me since 2009 except for some newly hatched geckos that seemed to need some plain calcium without D3 in their cage for the first few weeks.

3. Assuming you're feeding crickets 3 times a week, put about 4 crickets in each time. If the gecko eats them all up immediately, put in a few more to see if it's still hungry. If it loses interest, take out the extra crickets if possible (I don't think it's the end of the world for a cricket to stay in the cage of a healthy gecko). Eventually through trial and error you'll figure out what the correct number of crickets to feed this gecko is.

Aliza

[Elizabeth Freer]

I posted something similar to this a few weeks ago, but I’m going to post again not exactly as the first time. I didn’t get some of the answers I needed and now that we have a new gecko I have some follow-up questions. This is the second time we will have had a pet leopard. The first time around we were inexperienced and unfortunately our pet only lived about six years. She started to develop swollen joints and had problems shedding. We used a zoo med heat pad underneath her 20 gallon tank. We feel pretty confident that we kept the temperature gradient in her enclosure where it should have been but we did not use a thermometer. This time we are using a thermometer. We are able to keep the warm side of her enclosure around 85 to 87°F. The temperature on the cool side is around 72 to 75°F. We fed her meal worms exclusively. We did not keep a dish of Repashy’s supplement in her enclosure; We just dusted her meal worms with it. I have read some articles saying to keep a dish of Repashy’s in the enclosure, but I’ve seen other articles saying this is a bad idea because the animal can become impacted due to over eating it. This time around we will primarily feed crickets and only give meal worms as treats.

My first question, how often should we feed crickets to our juvenile leopard and how often should we feed meal worms? Should we feed meal worms at all or some other type of worm?

My second question is, should we keep a separate dish of Repashy’s in the enclosure because I am confused with everything I’m reading?

My third question is, if we are supposed to give her, say, six crickets a week, do we put them all in her enclosure at once and let her do the rest?

Thanks so much for any advice you could offer

Welcome to Geckos Unlimited, Jon! Geckos Unlimited has an awesome Leo Care Sheet that's linked right in my signature on this post. To date I've linked 149 separate articles.

Are the temps you mention ground temps or air temps? If those temps are ground temps they are much too cool to facilitate digestion. How does the size of the heat mat compare with the length/floor of your leo's 20 gallon enclosure? 1/3, 1/2? a 20 long: 30 x 12 x 12 inches tall or a 20 regular tank?

What type thermometer do you use now? Proper heating is the bottom line to proper leo husbandry.

I recommend buying a thermostat to automatically turn off the heat pad when temps go too warm.

Temperatures - A temperature gradient from warm to cool maintains your leo's health. Here's a temperature guide for all leopard geckos as measured with the probe of a digital thermometer or a temp gun (and controlled by a thermostat set at 91*F/32.8*C):

• 88-92 F (31.1-33.3 C) ground temperature right underneath a leo's warm dry hide
• no greater than 82ish F (27.8ish C) air temperature - 4 inches above ground on the warm end
• no greater than 75 F (23.9 C) air temperature - 4 inches above ground on the cool end

What do you feed your crickets and your mealworms?

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(click to enlarge)

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For 144 click: Repashy's Calcium Plus (all-in-one) multivitamin Schedule for Leopard Geckos -- August 2017

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Oftentimes experienced keepers and breeders tweak the supplements more than the manufacturer suggests based upon the health of their leopard geckos.

Supplements stick better to crickets and to dubia than they do to mealworms or to superworms.

Here's the Repashy's Calcium Plus (all-in-one) multivitamin schedule that GU's acpart (Aliza Arzt) has used for all her leopard geckos ----> breeders and non-breeders. You'll need 2 different powders.

Repashy's Calcium Plus (all-in-one) multivitamin
(without UVB)

R = Repashy's Calcium Plus, Cc = pure precipitated calcium carbonate (without vitamin D3)

Week 1:
M-------T-------W------Th-------F-------Sat-------Sun
R.....................Cc.......................... .....R...................


Week 2:
M-------T-------W------Th-------F-------Sat-------Sun
Cc...............................R................ ..........................

For hatchlings 0-2 months old: Aliza also places a bottle cap of pure precipitated calcium carbonate (without vitamin D3) in the cage 24/7.

Repeat this schedule every 2 weeks throughout your leos' lives.

[Elizabeth Freer]

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Jon ~

/\ /\ Do you see where the Repashy's Calcium Plus (an all-in-one multivitamin) schedule also requires plain calcium carbonate periodically throughout those 2 weeks? Substituting Repashy's Calcium Plus is too many multivitamins. If you don't supplement as often as this schedule recommends, your leo won't get enough plain calcium carbonate. That puts your leo at risk for MBD (metabolic bone disease). Your leo needs the added plain calcium carbonate as this schedule recommends.

This is the supplement schedule long time (former) leo breeder GU's acpart (Aliza) has used for her leopard geckos.