Help with Weight of my Leo please?

[JessJohnson87]

I'm curious about that now since I got some that are very small and I left them out at room temperature and they did not get any bigger. Everything I read on them said not to change the media in the container and most of mine have died off.

 

[CWilson13]

Same thing happened to me Shane. Aside from looking up how to increase their size. Also, I got mine when Apollo was still fairly new to the house and was at least 12-15g less in weight. The medium ones still attracted his attention, but after giving him Hornworms and overall larger prey, he did seem to lose interest. If I order any again I will definitely be getting the Large ones.
Apollo has become a picky eater, he by far seems to enjoy Hornworms and Super worms the most out of all the choices I have given him.

 

[CWilson13]

I'm curious about that now since I got some that are very small and I left them out at room temperature and they did not get any bigger. Everything I read on them said not to change the media in the container and most of mine have died off.

Yours actually died? I had mine for weeks before I noticed even one dead worm... I did notice that they molted somewhat frequently since my house is kept fairly warm most of the time. In order to get the molted "skins" out of the media I just used a small wire sieve and tapped the sides to shake the media into another container. Helped with finding the bigger ones for Apollo too.

 

[JessJohnson87]

yes some of mine died and the smell was terrible. So I picked out the dead ones and let the container air out. Put them in the cooler with the hornworms to slow them down until I could feed them to Ziggy

 

[CWilson13]

Did you get yours from a local reptile shop or was it Petco/Petsmart? I actually found Calciworms at Petco, those were near microscopic though.

 

[JessJohnson87]

Petco. I forgot to ask at the shop that I get the roaches at if they have phoenix worms. I'm sure if I could get bigger ones, he might eat them better. Ziggy kinda looks at them like what the crap is this.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Hey guys,

So on the subject of Phoenix Worms, you guys talking about them earlier reminded me I meant to share something with you guys.

Long story short I ordered some for the first time, medium size and was shocked at how small they were, many barely visible in the container. My Gecko who normally has a very strong feeding response barely noticed these guys even in large numbers, so I started to dig around about what I could do to grow these guys on a little.

Now I am aware certain retailers of the Black Soldier Fly Larve (those branded "Phoenix Worm" in particular) urge us not to feed the worms once we get them but that never made much sense to me if you can careful about what they are fed and change their media as needed, they are in fact known for their strong antimicrobial properties, including lipid coated viruses, coccidia, clostridium and protozoa.

So anyways I found a thread on the bearded dragon forums (I don't have a Dragon Im just obsessed with obtaining, breeding and learning about all the different kinds of feeder insects) made by a girl who had the same problem as me and found a VERY effective solution to help the worms grow and thrive.

My once tiny worms are now over an inch long and 3/4 of an inch wide and are multitudes of times more active and healthy looking. This process took just over a week to do and they are still growing as we speak.

If it is something you guys might be interested in I will update my own Leo's thread with details on how I do it, just let me know.


- Shane

Please share the details, Shane. Then you might link your thread here.

 

[Zux]

Sure thing guys, ill update you all once I get back from University today.

- Shane

 

[Zux]

As promised - Hope it helps some of you.

http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...ko-soon-owner-heating-query-3.html#post453018

 

[CWilson13]

So, lately Apollo has been less active than usual. Unless I take him out and let him climb all over me of course. When in his tank I NEVER see him anymore. I have checked for any oddities physically and nothing, temps have been great lately too. Up until about a week ago he was out and about fairly often. Nothing environmental has changed, physically he is great and finally at his goal of 60g. Wondering if this is normal or if I should be as worried as I am...
Any ideas on his sudden reclusiveness?

 

[amsdadtodd]

Even though we strive to keep our temps constant and our pets completely isolated from the changing seasons, I am fairly confident they still can detect the coming winter, at least in our corner of the country. I noticed a slowdown in behavior last year, and again this year. I think it probably makes sense to encourage this, rather than try to prevent it. It never got to be too severe last year, they did still eat, just a bit less than they did all summer.

Todd

 

[CWilson13]

Ok good, that was something that did cross my mind, but quickly was forgotten. Thanks Todd. Helps having others in New England

 

[JessJohnson87]

Winter is SLOWLY coming here but I have noticed that Ziggy is less active on the nights that it's in the 50's. Today it was about 80 so he was out and about before the sun went down. I really hope winter stays away a little longer....enjoying this nice weather.


But it is nice having these little reminders about them going into a semi-brumation. I'll likely forget the closer it gets to my boo coming home. So thanks guys!

 

[CWilson13]

I am kinda surprised it didn't stick in my head that they would slow down for winter. Drake (my red tail from 10yrs ago) had the same cold-blooded reaction.
Plus winter means lay-off/vacation from work for me lol Just hoping this winter is not like last year...

 

[JessJohnson87]

about the lay-off

 

[amsdadtodd]

hopefully, your layoff/vacation won't be too extended, Cory. At least you have some new pets to help you pass that time!

 

[CWilson13]

To be honest, I am starting to look forward to my winter break. It has been a long season and everybody is getting tired. I am sure after a week, maybe two I will grow stir-crazy though.
Back to Apollo though, he has started venturing out a little more again. I think the recent warmer temps helped with that. He has gotten over his big bad boy attitude when I first acknowledge him though. Now it is more of a bored glance lol
I also noticed something different about him, he has some orange coloration coming through recently that either I never noticed or is just showing. I have yet to get a clear picture to show an example. The two most prominent markings are the first two stripes near the base of his tail. Before I just thought they were yellow. Now I am starting to wonder if this new color means I was wrong about both age and morph... Age because i know color develops with maturity, and morph just because a regular Bell Albino doesn't typically have orange too.

Anyhow sorry for the long drawn out ramblings, just sharing in Apollo growing up

 

[JessJohnson87]

His bad boy attitude was cute. Would love to see a picture if he will stay still long enough for one. Seems like everyone's Leo's are going through behavior changes lately, Ziggy has decided he wants to use his warm dry hide after it has been in there for a few weeks.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

How about before and current Apollo photos to show the color change?

 

[CWilson13]

I did enjoy his tough guy attitude too, but this new one is even more arrogant, which is also funny. Kind of a "Oh, it's just you again." Until I pick him up, then he turns into a sweetheart lol Thanks for the reminder about hides Jess! Apollo now actually uses and hangs out around and on top of his cool side hide now. The only thing that I changed in the tank was switching the water from the front corner to the back. I noticed a super worm had escaped and wedged itself in, the back corner is a tighter fit.
It really seems like he knows what the camera is, as soon as he sees it he gets more active. Between that, poor lighting for pictures, and my reluctance to use flash around him, getting a quality photo is very difficult. I will, of course, keep trying though.