Latest on Randall

[Jennifer1]

Randall has been here for about 11 weeks now. Seems to be doing well, still has a big appetite and I think would eat as many crickets as we would give him. He still does not seem to want to be handled, though. He does not seem scared of us, as he will tolerate our hands in the tank for maintenance and will walk right by, and will eat worms from our hands. But if we try to touch him he will usually flinch or turn around like he might bite. So we still haven't handled him at all really.

Today was cage cleaning day, so since he had to be taken out anyway, we finally got a weight on him....a whopping 25 grams I estimated his length to be about 7 to 7-1/2". Also tried to determine sex; much to our disappointment he did not look obviously male, but hoping he's just too immature to tell (we prefer a male so as not to have to worry about eggs & egg binding). I wish we knew how old he was. He is obviously not an adult yet, but no longer looks like a baby, either. Here's a couple of pictures. The first is from about 3 weeks ago, and the second about 2 weeks ago:

 

[Saskia]

From the side picture I think I see hint of hemipenal bulges there.... ?? Hopefully you´ll end up with a nice male! He is cute anyways

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Hi Jennifer ~
Good to note Randall's progress. Sounds as if he has settled in with your family quite nicely. :banana:

 

[Jennifer1]

I haven't been here in a while, but thought I'd pop in with an update and a couple of questions.... Finally got Randall upgraded to a 20L tank, with a tile floor (he kept getting his teeth caught on the carpet, and had started pulling it up and I was afraid he was going to get stuck under it). He is still a little overwhelmed by the change, but I hope he will like it. Here are his new digs (ignore the surrounding clutter):



The middle hide is his humid hide, and the one on the right is the warm hide, with UTH on that side. The large overhead fixture has a 55W CHE (may need to upgrade that this winter). (The smaller fixture is a 50 W bulb just used when taking pictures.) Both have thermostats controlling them.

Now for pics of Randall:


He now weighs 48g and is about 8" long. Still loves to eat, and not crazy about being handled, but I can sometimes pick him up briefly (just trying to get him used to it in case we need to examine him). He doesn't act aggressive or scared, but just acts like he thinks we have cooties and he'd rather us not touch him.

Now, for my questions (1) When should you cut back feeding to every other day, and is this absolutely necessary? It's just that's the only time we really get to interact with him. And (2), he seems bored, and keeps trying to scale the wall on the left end. What else could we add for enrichment? I was thinking maybe some of those magnetic shelves, though they seem kinda pricey for what they are....

 

[Completeleopard]

Hello!

Feeding every other day is not necessary, you can still feed him every day, however by feeding every other day you will most likely get a better feeding response from Randall!

There are some great ideas in the Naturalistic Vivarium section of GU, including making a background with your Leo can climb! How about some fake rocks? Tunnels? Vines? (Be careful of him climbing vines!)

 

[Jennifer1]

Hello!

Feeding every other day is not necessary, you can still feed him every day, however by feeding every other day you will most likely get a better feeding response from Randall!

There are some great ideas in the Naturalistic Vivarium section of GU, including making a background with your Leo can climb! How about some fake rocks? Tunnels? Vines? (Be careful of him climbing vines!)

I think we could feed him twice a day and still get a strong feeding response! He is a little piggy! Even after the stress of being transferred to a new cage, he was ready to eat immediately. We have to go by how much WE think he should have, not how much HE thinks he should have or he would be the fattest leo ever.

I like the look of some of the backgrounds available, but I'm a little concerned about him climbing that high and either falling or getting stuck between the background and the screen.

 

[Completeleopard]

OK ,

Its generally recommended to feed as much as he wants within 15-25 minutes!

Yes, that can be a issue, but if you make your own, you can prevent that