Overweight female leo

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Silverfire

New member
So, my big female Firefly has recently developed armpit bubbles, and after weighing her recently, she’s come out to 101 grams, and while she is a big gecko (she’s like. 9 inches long), I’ve noticed that her belly is barely off the ground when she walks.

I’ve completely cut her occasional waxworm treat, and have been giving her a lot less food, but she’s still gaining weight. I don’t want to starve her, but even getting ten medium crickets three times a week is causing her to gain weight. This may be because she refuses to hunt (she just sits in her cave and waits for the crickets to come to her and if I try to remove the decor so the crickets don’t have a cave to crawl into, she just waves her tail at me). Is there anything I can do? I’ve tried taking her out more to let her explore my bed but she’s... not very nice. Aka she likes to bite me and tries to escape off of my bed so I’m worried that she’ll take off and disappear.

I know she’s overweight and I know that’s bad for her, but I’m sort of at a loss of what to do rn. Any suggestions?
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Please share a photo of Firefly. Perhaps even a video of her walking around! That really helps. :) How old is she?

Instead of ten medium crickets three times a week, try reducing feedings to two times weekly.

I've heard that waxworms contain some vitamin C. Offering a waxworm or two only a couple times per month is really all that's desirable.
 
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DaGeckoMan0260

New member
I've had lots of problems with overweight leos in the past:biggrin:. 10 med crickets three times a week is still a lot. I used to feed them as much as they could eat but they got too chubby. Now I feed them either around four adult super worms every three days, or 4-5 large crickets every three days. A pic would help. It's pretty easy for leos to get fat in captivity just due to their lazy nature. I only give waxworms to my geckos around once a month.
 
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Silverfire

New member
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She’s about 8 1/2-9 inches. She’s a big girl. A big squirmy girl so getting her to stay still is... a challenge.
 
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Geopard Lecko

Geopard Lecko

New member
yeah i'd def just cut the feedings down, like already been suggested offer less less often, she has enough fat reserves she could probably go months without eating lmao. i have a couple that started putting on weight too and i'm now in the same situation with having to cut back with them. luckily breeding season is right around the corner an they'll prob stop eating so much on their own and egg production will shave some weight off too :p
 
S

Silverfire

New member
Yeah. I’ve cut her feeding down by a lot- she’s only getting fed twice a week now with the occasional freshly molted superworm treat. She’s getting no more than 5 crickets twice a week. It’s hard to balance it because out of all of them, she has the best “feed me” face so it’s a bit hard for me not to give in. Doesn’t help that I’m a sucker for the leos in the first place haha.

As for the fat reserves? I actually once joked to my mom that she could probably go half a year without food and still be perfectly fine. She’s a big girl. I do find it interesting that she packed on so many grams in the past few months though. Every since breeding season ended shes been eating everything, but this time last year she was at about 80 grams (which seems to be her average weight)
 
Geopard Lecko

Geopard Lecko

New member
I have 3 girls at 80 grams right now they each habe slightly different builds tho.. One is longer then the other 2 an one has a fatter tail then the other 2 but ya totally after the breeding season ended they plumped up. Sounds like you got a good game plan and ya I'm totally a sucker for the feed me face too lol
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Silverfire said:
Yeah. I’ve cut her feeding down by a lot- she’s only getting fed twice a week now with the occasional freshly molted superworm treat. She’s getting no more than 5 crickets twice a week. It’s hard to balance it because out of all of them, she has the best “feed me” face so it’s a bit hard for me not to give in. Doesn’t help that I’m a sucker for the leos in the first place haha.

As for the fat reserves? I actually once joked to my mom that she could probably go half a year without food and still be perfectly fine. She’s a big girl. I do find it interesting that she packed on so many grams in the past few months though. Every since breeding season ended shes been eating everything, but this time last year she was at about 80 grams (which seems to be her average weight)
Click to expand...

80 grams seems quite adequate for a 9 inch leopard gecko.
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Silverfire said:
Yeah. I’ve cut her feeding down by a lot- she’s only getting fed twice a week now with the occasional freshly molted superworm treat. She’s getting no more than 5 crickets twice a week. It’s hard to balance it because out of all of them, she has the best “feed me” face so it’s a bit hard for me not to give in. Doesn’t help that I’m a sucker for the leos in the first place haha.

As for the fat reserves? I actually once joked to my mom that she could probably go half a year without food and still be perfectly fine. She’s a big girl. I do find it interesting that she packed on so many grams in the past few months though. Every since breeding season ended shes been eating everything, but this time last year she was at about 80 grams (which seems to be her average weight)
Click to expand...

80 grams seems quite adequate for a 9 inch leopard gecko.
 
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