New leo owner!

DrenneRvc

New member
I'd leave 5-10 mealworms in the dish, let them eat however much they want to eat. It's a growing gecko, he'll eat a lot and it's ok, they need the nutrients.

Will do, thank you. What is the best place to purchase meal worms? I'll be getting crickets and gut-loading for a bit, but if I wanna offer variety where could I get them best at? The ones I got at petsmart came with shredded wood things in it or w/e. I'd like it without :S I have been sifting through and taking them out but would rather not.
 

mecoat

New member
I breed my own mealworms it's dead easy, you could give it a go, I'm happy to tell you more if you want.

However, they may not be in shredded wood, but wheat (or similar) bran, which is what they mainly eat.
 

DrenneRvc

New member
I breed my own mealworms it's dead easy, you could give it a go, I'm happy to tell you more if you want.

However, they may not be in shredded wood, but wheat (or similar) bran, which is what they mainly eat.

would love to hear more!
I'm guessing the wheat is okay for my geck to eat?
 

Mardy

New member
Will do, thank you. What is the best place to purchase meal worms? I'll be getting crickets and gut-loading for a bit, but if I wanna offer variety where could I get them best at? The ones I got at petsmart came with shredded wood things in it or w/e. I'd like it without :S I have been sifting through and taking them out but would rather not.

Shop around for good prices, they vary, a lot has to do with how much shipping cost you. But since you only have 1 gecko, it may not be a bad idea to just get your mealworms locally from your pet stores. Since there's no way you'll use up 500-1000 mealworms before they pupate.

They should be having mealworms on wheat bran or oats, not shredded wood pieces.
 

DrenneRvc

New member
Shop around for good prices, they vary, a lot has to do with how much shipping cost you. But since you only have 1 gecko, it may not be a bad idea to just get your mealworms locally from your pet stores. Since there's no way you'll use up 500-1000 mealworms before they pupate.

They should be having mealworms on wheat bran or oats, not shredded wood pieces.

I'm going to call and see, if not. It's not a HUGE deal because i'll be feeding him gut loaded crickets too.
 

mecoat

New member
What I did with mine, is that I bought a tub of mealworms because I couldn't get mini mealworms, and some of them pupated before Daff could eat them. I put the pupa on a "bed" of bran, and waited for them to turn into beetles. The beetles cannot fly, or climb up the sheer sides of a plastic tub, so in an old mealworm tub is fine. Once they start to turn into beetles, you need to add a bit of veg (eg carrot ends, apple cores) so they have water, they'll eat both the bran and the veg, but if the veg is in there too long take it out and scrape off all the bran (you can't see the eggs without a microscope).

Every once in a while, use a new tub filled with fresh bran (or plain porridge oats, or similar), and transfer only the beetles to the new tub. Wait and keep putting in a bit of veg, replacing when it looks old (or before it gets mouldy). The movement of the beetles and/or baby mealworms will cause the veg to sink, so you'll have to "stir" it a little.

The tubs with the baby meal worms will appear to have no life in for a bit, but then you may notice that when you stir, the bran moves where it shouldn't by gravity. This is the baby mealworms, they are VERY small at first, so they are very hard to see, but keep feeding and you'll be surprised to see the whole tub alive one day. It takes about 1 month (or perhaps a little longer) to grow them to a size that your leo will be interested in.

If you grow too many, you can feed them to birds (some of which will only take live worms for their young), so they're good for your local bird life, or give/sell them to other local friends who also have pets that eat mealworms. (Or some people actually eat mealworms themselves, apparently they're good for you):shock:!

Hope this helps, let me know if you've any more questions.
 

Saskia

New member
I am happy whenever I see a new owner willing to ask questions, learn and provide the best care possibble. Kuddos to you!
I would advice you to breed some sort of feeder insects, on a short scale, just to be prepared in case you pet store ever runs out of feeders, you can try with mealworms, crickets, of dubia roaches, always keep in mind that the more variety you add to his diet, the happier and healthier he will be!
There are plenty suppliers online, you can find different types of roaches and worms, they do like to munch on new things!! And telling from your video, you have one good eater!!
Regarding the sex i must say you probably have a female, it´s true what Mardy and Maggot said, it is too soon to tell, but due to his procedence it is most likely a female, pet stores and breeders who sell to pet stores breed more females because they can house them together and lowering the fighting issue they would have with males, but, this is just my opinion, you will only be sure in a few months, when he is getting closer to maturity
 

DrenneRvc

New member
Thanks for all the great information and advice on breeding insects. I hope at some point in the future I will, but for now I'm going to stick with buying foods from local pet shops and gut loading them!

@saskia; When I purchased my leo, he was actually in a tank alone, while there was another tank with 2/3 in it, so I figured that either he might have been male, and house alone, or the other ones that were with him might have already been bought ! Time will tell tho, and will love either way ;p
 

DrenneRvc

New member
Sorry for a double post here folks, as I'm getting paid at the end of the week I'm going to be upgrading my buddys house (cage's and hides, ect ) and was what are some of the better sites to buy from.

Better in terms of, cheaper deals, better products, ect.
If nothing good comes up, i'll go to petsmart. thanks
 

Mardy

New member
Petco's $1 per gallon sales will be the cheapest tanks you'll find, that's $20 for a 20 gallon long tank, and $15 for the mesh top. That's cheaper than any meshtop 20 gallon tanks you'll find anywhere else pretty much. Only catch is you have to search the local ads to see when Petco will have these $1 per gallon sales. Use this to check your local ads: PETCO - Local Ad

Hides, just either buy from local pet stores or make your own.

UTH, I find them cheapest from amazon. The "medium" 8x12 zoo med reptitherm which is perfect for a 20 gallon long is only $17 when you buy it direct on Amazon. If you buy that from Petsmart/Petco they'll run close to $30.

If you go 20 gallon long, you can place 2 slate/ceramic tiles, buy those from homedepot or lowes, very cheap. They'll fit in perfectly, see here for step by step tank setup: http://www.onlinegeckos.com/basic-leopard-gecko-tank-setup.html
 

DrenneRvc

New member
Would love to get the 1$ per gallon sale, but I'd really like to upgrade ASAP, so dont know if i'll wanna wait for that. Thanks for the link tho.
 

Mardy

New member
If you don't want to wait for the sales, Petco's 20 gallon terrarium with meshtop will be cheaper than Petsmart. At least they are down here, not sure if things are different where you live.
 

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Would love to get the 1$ per gallon sale, but I'd really like to upgrade ASAP, so dont know if i'll wanna wait for that. Thanks for the link tho.

If you don't want to wait for the sales, Petco's 20 gallon terrarium with meshtop will be cheaper than Petsmart. At least they are down here, not sure if things are different where you live.

Where I live on the Oregon coast the Petco is having a 25% off sale on those 20 gallon LONG tanks right now :). Just put your zip into Mardy's link and there you have it.

Thanks, Mardy, just added that link to the beginning of the Leo Caresheet right where I mention that sale.

Steve ~

Check out post #26 following the Leo Caresheet: a complete listing of the products with links (many Amazon) that Tony Perkins uses in his setup video. Post #36 is a basic list.

Some Lowe's will trim the tile for free or for a small cost.

Just placed a semi-large order with www.petmountain.com. Prices look very good.
 
Last edited:

DrenneRvc

New member
Thanks Elizabeth, will check out that post and that web site you linked once I'm home and ready to start building my shopping list.

@MARDY: Around my town, we real big on petsmart, I reckon I could give the drive a go if the deal is really worth it tho
 

DrenneRvc

New member
35mp66c.jpg


Also new picture of my little guy !
 

DrenneRvc

New member
Looks like my little buddy is strarting to shed !!
He's very white except for his nose, looks like he already got that part off :D
 

DrenneRvc

New member
thanks Mardy !

Looks light it was a good shed (no leftover sheds on body/feet/head). Hes no longer white, there was a little shed left over in the tank, but I reckon he ate the rest of it O_O good for nutrients or ??
Anyways, hes doin guud!
 

Mardy

New member
Their skin is good protein. But another explanation is that in the wild, they eat their skin so predators can't sniff them out.
 
Top