:scratchhead: Ok, so should I focus on tail, the abdomen, or both? Ahh! Lol.
Both and more.
It isn't so much about over weight but over fat, excess fat is stored in the tail for times when the diet is restricted in nature, in captivity the restriction never happens unless the owner puts his or her geckos on a restricted diet.
When the tail is as fat as it is going to get you see the development of fat elsewhere, the first picture above is clearly a bit on the chubby side.
Leos in general have a range of sizes they will attain, take away the tail which may not grow back to the same length it was and you have what we call the SVL (Snout to Vent Length). This is the length most stable for any one gecko once it reaches its full adult size.
A shorter gecko will not be expected to carry the same weight as a longer gecko, and females are nearly always the smaller of the two sexes (assuming the same genetics).
Any gecko that is fed mainly a high fat diet of mealworms, superworms, or wax worms will be over fat.
For the most part leopard geckos in captivity are a bit on the (lets be politically correct here) big boned side of things. Which is fine to a point, they have little to fret over, and being in captivity has offered them the chance to live far longer than on would expect them to live in the wild.
With this long life comes issues though, certainly few leos in the wild live so long as to die of old age, most are going to die from predation, rapid onset of illness, or injury. In captivity death is most often dietary related (starvation, MBD, fatty liver disease, gout, dehydration, etc.), husbandry related deaths are likely slightly less common (impaction, falls, escape followed by predation by other household pets, thermal burns, scale rot secondary to improper substrate choice and/or lack of hygiene, etc.), the least common causes of death are old age related and can run the gamut of anything from simple old age to cancer, we are all only going to live as long as our genetics allow and how well we care for ourselves, this applies to our geckos as well.
So if we monitor our geckos well enough from birth, we can see when they make the switch from growing (increases in SVL) to gaining mass. As has been pointed out differing opinions will be found as to where the limits of this gain should be held at.
In my opinion, growing leos need to eat as much as they can as often as they can, it is here that they will grow the fastest, and you will see huge gains in weight and SVL. When the change in SVL month to month of a leopard gecko starts to decline they will begin to fill out and bulk up. They are using the nutrients and calories in their diet to build fat reserves, and put on weight for breeding and the expected cold / foodless season they would encounter in the wild.
On the assumption that the gecko is well fed and otherwise properly cared for it should take between 9 and 10 months to reach the geckos optimal weight. They should be neither slender or overly bulky, and quick on their feet as a result of their good health. A leo fed the same as it was as a growing hatchling will become lazy and over fat due to being more heavy than its size is designed to carry. It is common to mistake this laziness for tameness, leos are curious geckos that will spend a great deal of time and energy in search of food, water, and comfortable temps.
Adjust the quantity and or frequency of food or type of food to maintain your geckos desired weight. Adjust upward for breeding females and either sex if a tail is being regenerated.
Maurice Pudlo
