First-time owner of a baby

TexAg91

Member
Messages
30
Location
Central Texas
So, I bought a tangerine morph from Snakes After Sunset. Had it just over 4 weeks. I think it was 4-5 weeks old when shipped.
Was 6.5g when weighed the day after I got it (don't yet know if male or female and I am using a sex-specific name).
Yesterday it weighed in at 15g.
I keep it in an 18"w x 12"d faunarium, until its 20-25g. A hot hide and a humid hide. Plus a little water dish but I have never seen it drink from it.

Some observations after a month of ownership:
  • When you lift the humid hide, and your gecko is still in there, and you decide to spritz the sphagnum moss to moisten it a bit, DO NOT ACCIDENTALLY HIT YOUR GECKO WITH THE SPRAY! Good Lord, it was M-A-D, mad! It let out a full throated leo hiss thing and was rigid at attention. It stared right at me for about 30 seconds. Then walked away. I never was totally sure if it associated me with the indignity or was like, "Hey! Did you see that?! Magic water from nowhere attacked me!" It ate a few minutes later and seemed to take it out on the feeders!
  • If you can catch your Leo yawning after a big meal, you are likely to be reminded of what it last ate, especially if its a roach, because there it is, right in the gullet. I mean, you can plainly see it just sitting there. Probably believing for a split second, "I'm free! I can just crawl out of this hole and...nope, it closed again. Crap!"
  • They really do cycle through popular feeders. For the first couple of weeks, the bsfl were the bees knees. And meal worms were ok, too. Then, pretty much over a couple of feedings, it went from "Yeah, buddy! BSFL!!" to "Oh, BSFL..." to "WTF! BSFL??? What hell am I trapped in!" Thankfully I had the mealworms, plus dubias. Currently we're at:
    • Dubias: A+++ #1,
    • Mealworms: Solid runner up (always has been).
    • BSFL: Meh. I'll eat a couple if that'll get you off my back, and me on to better feeders...
  • They do grow quickly. If the rate continues, a solid 3-3.5g each week, I have about 3 weeks to get its "forever" enclosure set up. At the time I bought it, Petsmart had a sale on 24"x18"x18" and 36"x18"x18" enclosures. And the larger was the same price as the smaller, so I thought, "Why not go big!" now that I'm starting to outfit it, the smaller one is looking a little more attractive. Oh well, I can keep adding things over time.
Thanks for reading my rambling.
 

TexAg91

Member
Messages
30
Location
Central Texas
I just have to report that today completes 5 weeks with my little dude(ette). And starting this Monday its been a lot more confident in coming out of the haba-hut to eat. The first week it slept in the haba-hut (hot hide) and would let bugs come in to it to eat. Weeks 2-3 it would come only about 1/2 way out to eat. Week four it would come all the way out of the hot hide (it sleeps in its cool/humid hide and eats/digests in the hot hide) but just in front. If a feeder went around the corner, too bad. The Leo was not following. First half of week 5 it was willing to move to either side of the hot hide, but still not go around the corner. Starting Monday, it began to feel confident enough to turn the corner to keep after the runaway feeders!
Tomorrow is my weekly "deep" clean and I'm hoping it will feel confident enough to hop on board the scary monster hand. We'll soon find out.
 

Wyspie

New Member
Messages
24
I just about fell out of my chair laughing as I read this! My leo, Hali, is almost six months old now, and she goes through phases with her food, too. She loved her BSFL when I first got them for her. She would eat as many of those as I was willing to give her. Now, she'll grab one, chew on it for a few seconds, and then spit it out and look at me as if she believes that I am trying to poison her. Crickets? Forget about that trash! She won't touch them, even though that was what she ate when I first got her. I wonder if she thinks those are baby food, and that she is now a big girl who has outgrown them. lol She changes where she hangs out, too. She'll spend a day or two in her big hide, then I'll find her napping in her "sauna" (moist hide), and she's even been known to lounge right in her water dish! Silly girl!
 

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