feeding leo too much?

mleary

mleary

New member
I have had my leo for around 2 weeks now. I feed him a diet of calcium/multivitamin dusted crickets. He gets 4-5 nightly and he always eats them enthusiastically, usually in less than 5 mins (I've never had to take out any uneaten crickets). I have read different things regarding this issue. Some people say feed only every other day, or 2-3 times weekly, or every day. I do not know how old he is, but he is around 5-6 inches long.
Am i feeding him too much? Or not enough? He actually seems like he would eat a few more nightly if I put them in there lol. Thanks for the help.
 
Allee Toler

Allee Toler

Member
Honestly, he sounds like about 5-6 months old to me.

Feed them every other day. Give them as much as they'll eat in 15 minutes.

You feed only crickets?
 
mleary

mleary

New member
Right now im just feeding him crickets. Probably going to pick him up some mealworms or waxworms next time I go to the petstore, just to get him a little variety and to see how he likes them (do you need to dust the mealworms too?) I was also thinking about giving him a pinky mouse maybe once a month...have you fed yours any? If so, how do they like the mice? Here is a pic of my leo, his name is Meaty.
meaty3.jpg
 
zack

zack

New member
sry this does not help you with your Qs but it goes with the subject, I feed my leo as much as it will eat every day is this a bad thing?
 
zack

zack

New member
lol oops i forgot to put tis in the last post :lol: but you have a veary pretty leo whats his/her name?:D
 
Allee Toler

Allee Toler

Member
I wouldn't recommend feeding every day, but it's your call honestly. Your pet, your rules.

You need to dust all worms and all food. Remember that waxworms are treats, not meals. They're really high in fat and are used as treats, or to fatten up a gecko.

My girl is 9 months old, she's still too small to eat a pinky mouse in my opinion. I'm waiting for her to reach 8 inches long. She's only 7 1/2 right now at 9 months, clearly has some growing to do since she's so big at 9 months. When they're head is half the size of the pinky mouse, then go ahead and feed them. Some geckos eat them, some don't.

In a few months I'll have her on a set schedule. Right now she's been fighting being sick so her food is hand fed to her. When she reaches one year, she'll be fed every other day, a waxworm once a week, and pinkies once a month.
 
mleary

mleary

New member
So what do you feed yours as the staple of the diet? Crickest and mealworms? Do you alternate or give a few of each at each meal?

If youre feeding your girl every other day as much as she will eat in 15 mins, how many crickets does that generally end up being?
 
Allee Toler

Allee Toler

Member
GiGi is a very picky eater. She refuses to eat mealworms and crickets.

She eats a variety of silkworms, phoenixworms, superworms, butterworms and waxworms.

I offer at least two each at each feeding- except the waxworms.

If she wants more, I give her more.

Usually, she'll eat a few supers, two butters, two or three silkies, and two phoenix. (I'd say she eats roughly 10-15 worms.)

When she was younger, she ate crickets. She'd gobble up 20 small ones at a time. Now she bites them, kills them, then drops them on the floor. So I get a tank full of killed crickets. Hah. So I stopped buying them. If I buy them once every month, only a dozen, she'll maybe eat three.
 
R

rglove

New member
Feed every day, all he want. Why don't feed everyday? you cant overfeed a leopard gecko. Leopard geckos eat what they need. If your gecko has 5/6 months is a little leo and need to eat every day. When you feel that the gecko start to dont eat every day but every other day you start feeding every other day.

Allee Toler said:
I wouldn't recommend feeding every day, but it's your call honestly. Your pet, your rules.
Click to expand...
Why you say this?
 
H

hyposhawn

Newbie
rglove said:
Feed every day, all he want. Why don't feed everyday? you cant overfeed a leopard gecko. Leopard geckos eat what they need. If your gecko has 5/6 months is a little leo and need to eat every day. When you feel that the gecko start to dont eat every day but every other day you start feeding every other day.


Why you say this?
Click to expand...

Of course you can overfeed a Leo. People have there own opinions. I can see yours but your Leos may be seriously in danger of obesity if you feed them a lot of food every day.
 
Allee Toler

Allee Toler

Member
Geckos can get obese pretty quickly. If I don't feed GiGi for three days, she slims down, give her two waxworms, and she's fat again. It's like playing God.
 
R

rglove

New member
You can't overfeed a leo. If you give fat food like wax worms, much mealworms, superworms, of course, the gecko is obesity, but if you give a diversity of things like cricket, roaches, mealworms, sometimes waxworms your gecko will not be obesity.
Give what they want. What they want is what they need.
 
Allee Toler

Allee Toler

Member
So you're basically saying give them all waxworms if they want waxworms? Right? Because we CAN read geckos minds.

And if you paid attention, you would of seen that we all stated they need a varied diet to maintain their health.

Your statement was redundant. "you can't overfeed your leo" okay. So you say we can't. Then you say "If you give fat food like wax worms, much mealworms, superworms, of course, the gecko is obesity" THEN you say to give them a variety of foods. But isn't giving THREE worms a variety?

I don't give crickets. I don't give roaches. Do you say I'm wrong? But THEN here we go again with another quote from you... "Give what they want. What they want is what they need." Well bud. GiGi DOESN'T want crickets or roaches. Mkay?? So I AM giving her what she wants and what she needs. She wants waxworms. Do I GIVE her constant waxworms?? If left there, they'd eat them. They're highly addictive to leos.

Don't start bickering with me if you can't respect everyone's opinions. ANYTHING can get obese! I have obese fish. I let my little sister in law watch them. She constantly fed them. And guess what?? They ATE.

You have your opinion. I have mine. Don't challenge me. I can hold my ground.
 
Kichi

Kichi

New member
Actually you can overfeed a Leo. You can overfeed anything. Anything can get obese.

My leo is still young. She about 2-3 months old. So she should be eating every day. My advice to you is this: Feed him only as much as he will eat in a 10-20min time spand.

I remove my leo to eat crickets, as I don't like having them in her cage. I feed her one at a time until she stops eating and lets me know she wants out. She usually eats 5-10 small crickets a day. But once or twice a week I put 5-8 small mealworms in a small bowl in her cage. If she eats them overnight, thats good. If not I remove them.

But mealworms usually are not a good idea to feed your leo solely. As they have a high fat content, but some people only feed them mealies and they do fine.

So as Allee said, its totally up to your disgression. You know your Leo best :D
 
H

hyposhawn

Newbie
Here is what you said rglove, you can't overfeed a Leo. Give it what it wants.

While the first statement you absolutely can overfeed a Leo. What if you give it 10 wax worms every night. That is seriously overfeeding a Leo and you said you can't. If you keep doing this he will die.

Your second statement give it what it wants. Listen a Leo wants something but does need it. For example if a Leo wants tons of wax worms there is barely any nutrition and is highly fattening. You have to provide it with nutrition, a variety of food, and not fat foods all the time.
 
R

rglove

New member
Allee Toler said:
So you're basically saying give them all waxworms if they want waxworms? Right? Because we CAN read geckos minds.

And if you paid attention, you would of seen that we all stated they need a varied diet to maintain their health.

Your statement was redundant. "you can't overfeed your leo" okay. So you say we can't. Then you say "If you give fat food like wax worms, much mealworms, superworms, of course, the gecko is obesity" THEN you say to give them a variety of foods. But isn't giving THREE worms a variety?

I don't give crickets. I don't give roaches. Do you say I'm wrong? But THEN here we go again with another quote from you... "Give what they want. What they want is what they need." Well bud. GiGi DOESN'T want crickets or roaches. Mkay?? So I AM giving her what she wants and what she needs. She wants waxworms. Do I GIVE her constant waxworms?? If left there, they'd eat them. They're highly addictive to leos.

Don't start bickering with me if you can't respect everyone's opinions. ANYTHING can get obese! I have obese fish. I let my little sister in law watch them. She constantly fed them. And guess what?? They ATE.

You have your opinion. I have mine. Don't challenge me. I can hold my ground.
Click to expand...

I saw that if you give much fat food you can put the gecko obesity but if you give healthy food the gecko is healthy, BUT you need to give all the QUANTITY of food that the gecko wants!!

Is this what I saw. I don't saw to give the food that he wants (sorry, I'm portuguese and I can't say this correctly). I saw to give him healthy food but to give the quantity that he wants, not to give the food he wants! If your gecko don't eat crickets and roaches you are not giving him a good diet because crickets and roaches should be the best diet for leopard geckos. And if your gecko don't want is because you, when he was little didn't got crickets and roaches...
 
Allee Toler

Allee Toler

Member
Excuse you?? Telling me I'm not feeding my gecko properly?? I fed her crickets when she was younger, and tried roaches. She didn't like the roaches, they made her PUKE and gave her DIARRHEA!

So, I'm the bad mommy, huh? Yeah. Let me tell you. I'm SOOOO going to give my gecko something that makes her SICK.

And don't cross examine her diet. I'm at the vet TWICE a week because this girl is too picky! She has a mixture of vitamin supplements she has to take every day because she can't absorb vitamins efficiently like a normal gecko can.

silkworms, butterworms, and superworms are enough as a healthy well rounded diet. I add phoenixworms for the protein.

SHE GETS WHAT SHE NEEDS!

Ron Tremper feeds only mealworms. You going to bash him now??

The point is you SAID a gecko can't be obese. Point blank. They CAN'T BE OBESE. But then you say they can?? Don't be redundant!
 
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