Leopard Gecko and Eating

[Jolenels]

How much should my baby gecko be eating? I'm not sure of how old it is, but it's tiny. I'm getting alot of mixed advice. And when should I feed it? The lady at the pet store said they were feeding them at lunch time, so I did that the first day it was with us and it ate like a porker! Probably 10-15 2 week old crickets! I didn't give it more food, even though it was looking, because I've heard that you can over feed babies as they don't know when to quit. But I was also told to free feed until they stop.

Plus, today when I fed it it had no intrest in the crickets at all. I know they are nocturnal so should I be feeding it at night instead? Also, do you dust with calcium at every feeding and D3 only twice a week? Or at this age is it both each meal? Or do I have those two amounts mixed up?

And, how do you get the uneaten crickets out? I'm not fast enough to catch them by hand! And there are a few hopping around in there now....I put a small tub of water in the middle of the tank hoping most of them would crawl into it and die so I can just get them that way. Someone suggested putting the gecko in a holding tank and sucking them up in the vaccuum! How do you guys catch the live ones?

Thanks!

 

[Rylee]

Your baby gecko should eat as much as it wants! Just be careful when its an adult, you don't want it to get over weight. Leopard geckos can eat at any time of day, but they are generally more active at night. It is probably full from its feast yesterday, and didn't want to eat today. For babies, dust a meal twice a week. I also wouldn't recomend D3, they have plenty of calcium powder without D3. They can live without D3 and some stories have been reported that D3 can make a gecko sick if used (for long periods of time, dont worry ). When he becomes an adult, dust once a month. I just scoop uneaten crickets out with my hands, you could use a sheet of paper like a scoop if you want though.

 

[Caleb C]

Some geckos will only eat every other day, and some eat every day. I rarely feed mine crickets, because they tend to start smelling. Mine will eat 3-4 medium mealworms a day, just make sure they poop daily as well.

 

[Jolenels]

I tried again tonight but no such luck so maybe he's an every other day eater. Where I live there isn't a ready supply of meal worms. Not live ones. I found out one of the local pet stores gets thier live ones in on Wednesdays. So I'm going to try to make it thier tomorrow or Thursday to buy a few. He enjoyed the crickets when I put them in, it was great fun to watch. He stalked them, and his tail would twitch like a cats, and every lunge he made he snagged a bug, there was no lunges where he came up empty.

Oh he's pooping, I was sort of shocked at the size that comes out of such a little creature!

 

[Caleb C]

There are online vendors that sell around 1,000 for $10 shipped. You can try breeding the mealworms yourself, that's what I do. It will give your kid something to do, or you can wait until she's bigger. It's like a caterpillar to butterfly project, but instead of a pretty butterfly, it's a beetle.

 

[LeoLover1]

Sounds like a great baby. It looks like a snow... so whats the name??

I usually feed babies every day or two, at night, and a variety of foods. I like the convenience of mealworms: you can get bowls with curved up edges, so they don't escape and have to be caught. But I also raise dubia roaches and superworms in addition to store-bought crickets. Be sure to gut-load those!

You need to have calcium powder always available to them. I keep it in a milk cap. And I agree, avoid the D3 for the most part. I only use it once a month.

 

[Jolenels]

the powders that came with her are a multivitamin and a calcium AND D3 supplement in 1. They are both exoterra brand.

 

[Amanda1]

Most of the ones they sell in pet stores have vitamin D included. You may have to get one online. I've heard Miner-All is good (the "outdoor" formula doesn't have vitD), but have never tried it myself.

 

[Jolenels]

I have a cricket keeper, a small one, and bought 100 crickets. Now that I know she's only going to eat every other day or so I'll knock my next order down to 50. I can't breed anything as I run an inhome business that will falter if anyone discovers I'm breeding bugs lol. I do want to buy some worms, but for us crickets are the easiest to get ahold of, keep, and feed.

 

[Amanda1]

Be careful with the crickets, they are very good at excaping those critter keepers. I used to find them all over the house until I bought a bigger keeper for them. And free-roaming crickets attract spiders and house centipedes and all kinds of other icky things. Just another reason I HATE crickets and am starting a colony of dubia roaches so I don't have to deal with them anymore.

 

[Jolenels]

Im pretty sure roaches are a no go here . Roaches are not something that I have access to in pet stores. Ive kept cricket keepers before with no escapees lol its just when Im catching them from her tank they get away.

 

[Caleb C]

You can easily keep them in the garage, that's what my mom makes me do. They don't smell at all, and there's little to no cannibalism.

 

[Jolenels]

Won't they freeze to death in the garage? Where I live there are no roaches, free or not lol. No rats, no roaches . It's actually illegal to own a pet rat, so I don't know how roaches would go over!

Today I fed Dora twice, on accident actually. My spouse fed her, I didn't know, and I refed her. She ate five crickets each time, with more relish then if we had given her ten at one go. Is that okay? Does anyone feed their leos twice in a day as babies?

 

[Caleb C]

Don't think so, they just wouldn't breed, but I live in California, so I guess my garage doesn't get too cold.

 

[Jolenels]

Yea, I live in Canada....it's already snowed a few times lol my garage turns into an ice box

 

[Caleb C]

Turns out they're illegal in Canada :\
Only allowed as scientific specimens for study.

 

[Jolenels]

Yea, we have alot of rules lol to prevent spreading of things I think. I have only seen a roach at a dinosaur museum lol

 

[Amanda1]

That sucks that dubias are illegal in Canada. They're actually pretty harmless even if they do escape. They don't thrive in temps below 80F, they can't fly, they mature very slowly. I think they're awesome, even if it still grosses me out to touch them. Can't wait for mine to start breeding.

 

[Jolenels]

lol Yea, I'm pretty much limited to crickets, meal worms and pinkies. Though I don't think I will ever feed her a pinky mouse.

 

[Eve Saint]

Your baby gecko should eat as much as it wants! Just be careful when its an adult, you don't want it to get over weight. Leopard geckos can eat at any time of day, but they are generally more active at night. It is probably full from its feast yesterday, and didn't want to eat today. For babies, dust a meal twice a week. I also wouldn't recomend D3, they have plenty of calcium powder without D3. They can live without D3 and some stories have been reported that D3 can make a gecko sick if used (for long periods of time, dont worry ). When he becomes an adult, dust once a month. I just scoop uneaten crickets out with my hands, you could use a sheet of paper like a scoop if you want though.

--I knew knew that it wasnt good to have overweight geckos, I figured the reserve fat would just go to the tail? Im Confused.