I have 5 leopard gecko hatchlings I have been keeping straight out of the eggs for 4 and a half weeks. I have found new homes for 2 of them and plan to keep 3. I do not know if anybody will remember but I asked a question on here about one of them being sickly. He is doing much better, has doubled his birth weight, and eats/poops on a regular basis. He was diagnosed with Cerebellar ataxia by the vet (lack of coordination and balance basically) which he still has. He randomly falls over and is not graceful in anyway but with some assistance hunts and eats on his own. Anyway he is not who the question is about, just stating I have been able to coddle him to good health and now is managing with less babying.
The other 4 are very healthy and growing fantastically. The average weight of three of them about the same size was 8.5 grams as of a few days ago, each being between 3 and 4 weeks old and nobody is obese (their tails are appropriately fattening for their body size). I was looking around for an accredited source of average growth rates and found this publication:
www.herpconbio.org/Volume_5/Issue_3/Gauthier_Lesbarreres_2010.pdf
Now here is why I am here, my biggest, Big Steve was 5.4 inches head to tail and 8.9 grams at 3 weeks old and 6.3 inches and 12.6 grams at 4 weeks old. He also started eating within 24 hours out of the egg (the others took the standard 2-4 days to start eating) and still consumed all his sheds. He is not obese in anyway, like the others his tail is fattening up nicely but slimmer than his body (as it should be during early growth phases) He eats 10-15 (he cleans them up in less than 15 minutes) 3/8 to 1/2 inch crickets a night and every 2 nights I do a mealworm feeding. My question is for those with experience raising from eggs, what kind of growth rates have you experienced? Has anybody here raised a giant or super giant from an egg? I am aware that growth rates can be highly variable but I am just looking for something to compare against because my guys appear to be monsters relative to the 15 monitored in that publication.
BTW yes they are caged separately so I know exactly how much each of them is eating each night. Yes insects are properly gutloaded and yes I have taken care of all of their husbandry needs from day one.
The other 4 are very healthy and growing fantastically. The average weight of three of them about the same size was 8.5 grams as of a few days ago, each being between 3 and 4 weeks old and nobody is obese (their tails are appropriately fattening for their body size). I was looking around for an accredited source of average growth rates and found this publication:
www.herpconbio.org/Volume_5/Issue_3/Gauthier_Lesbarreres_2010.pdf
Now here is why I am here, my biggest, Big Steve was 5.4 inches head to tail and 8.9 grams at 3 weeks old and 6.3 inches and 12.6 grams at 4 weeks old. He also started eating within 24 hours out of the egg (the others took the standard 2-4 days to start eating) and still consumed all his sheds. He is not obese in anyway, like the others his tail is fattening up nicely but slimmer than his body (as it should be during early growth phases) He eats 10-15 (he cleans them up in less than 15 minutes) 3/8 to 1/2 inch crickets a night and every 2 nights I do a mealworm feeding. My question is for those with experience raising from eggs, what kind of growth rates have you experienced? Has anybody here raised a giant or super giant from an egg? I am aware that growth rates can be highly variable but I am just looking for something to compare against because my guys appear to be monsters relative to the 15 monitored in that publication.
BTW yes they are caged separately so I know exactly how much each of them is eating each night. Yes insects are properly gutloaded and yes I have taken care of all of their husbandry needs from day one.
