Is my leo fat?

[Atrocity]

I have a male leo who is about 6 months old. He is about 7.5 inches long and he eats a few mealworms everyday. To me, his stomach looks bloated but I'm not sure if this is normal? He has no armpit bubbles which is a good sign, but I'm still concerned about his stomach. What do you guys think? (pics attached)

 

[IHaveNoIdea]

He doesn't look fat from above. Armpits are neither good nor a bad sign, some geckos have them, some don't. Take a picture of him from the bottom - put him on something transparent, ideally glass. What substrate do you use? Do you feed him exclusively mealworms?

 

[Atrocity]

Yes, I feed him exclusively mealworms and I use tile for his substrate. I'll attach a picture shortly

 

[Atrocity]

This is what his belly looks like under the glass:

 

[Geopard Lecko]

you sure he is not a she? lol, he he he looka lika girl to me.

 

[Atrocity]

I'm not too sure, when are you usually able to tell? He/she has two little bulges where the testes (should be), I think it just might be because of my low quality pic

 

[Geopard Lecko]

That pic isnt working

 

[Atrocity]

try this one

 

[Geopard Lecko]

Hmm still hard to tell im leaning towards female tho.. Umm may i ask what happend to the stomach? Looks like a burn or some skin got pulled off?

 

[Geopard Lecko]

After i zoomed in an had my wife look we are saying female, the pores are smaller and almost in arch shape where males are in more of a \/ shape. So the going off food maybe due to ovulation if its a female tho i have a male being real picky right now so it may work both ways but none of my ovulating females have gone off food so ya never know.

 

[Atrocity]

I'm not too sure what happened, but the first time he shed (after I got him/her) it appeared. I noticed it the day after he/she shed and I didn't know what happened. Luckily, it doesn't seem to bother him/her too much so I just leave it alone.

 

[Atrocity]

thank you, does ovulation cause bloating? Also, is there anything different that I need to do while she is ovulating?

 

[Geopard Lecko]

they go thru cycles where they start producing eggs then re-absorb them if unfertilized, tho in some cases females can also lay the unfertile eggs but seems less common.

 

[Atrocity]

If I remember correctly, infertile eggs usually develop fungus right? Is there a proper way to dispose of them?

 

[Geopard Lecko]

Ive seen people freeze them

 

[Atrocity]

Really? That's interesting. Thank you for the tips!

 

[IHaveNoIdea]

It's a male. Make sure he has enough things to climb on in his terrarium and don't feed him just mealworms. Buy some crickets, those are really high in protein and very low in fat. If you wanna deal with those jumpy a*shol*s, buy some roaches, dubias are great if they are legal in your country. I would feed him crickets and/or roaches on work days and mealworms on weekends. Variety is always good.

 

[Atrocity]

I was having a hard time sexing him because many people are saying different things. I might have to wait until he's a little older just to be sure. I used to feed him crickets and he wasn't having the bloating problem, but I switched to mealworms because they don't jump lol. I'll get him some crickets the next time I stop at the store though. Thank you for your help!

 

[Sg612]

I'm not too sure what happened, but the first time he shed (after I got him/her) it appeared. I noticed it the day after he/she shed and I didn't know what happened. Luckily, it doesn't seem to bother him/her too much so I just leave it alone.

Is your UTH controlled by a thermostat?

 

[Atrocity]

I don't use a UTH, i use halogen light bulbs, one for day and one for night