Feeding and habitat issues

[TheWulf]

I have a few feeding issues with my two leos, hopefully someone can help out a bit.

I feed them in a seperate empty 10gal tank.

The first issue is that half the time during feeding, they spend their time looking at their reflections in the glass. They never do that in their tank, no idea why they're doing it there.

Second issue is they eat like pigs! One of the reasons I went with leos is that they were supposedly low-maintenance cricket wise, most references were quoting me about 6-10 crix every other day each. They're eating about 30 between them at each feeding... this is getting expensive; I need some options! Heck for this amount of crickets I would've gotten a bearded dragon -- not that I don't like the geckos however they're simply a lot more maintenance than expected.

The last issue is that they don't seem to use the humid hide unless i put their head in it when putting them back in the tank. They'll stay there for an hour or so them move out. They started to shed so I've just been humidifying one of their other hides as well.

Any ideas welcome.

[clint545]

How old are they.? Younger leos tend to eat like pigs because they are growing and they'll eat fewer as they get older.

They may only be staying in their hide for limited times maybe because it's too cool for them or they don't feel secure in it.

Hope that was of some help. Good luck!

[Bartman]

I noticed mine dont use humid hides at any time unless gravid.

Feeding wise, babies should be eating a dozen a day at most. 30 in a sitting is more then they need. Between them you could even get a dozen and a half. Ive seen babies and read of babies thriving off a dozen every other day or 6 every day. I feed my adults 3 dozen a week at most. If I feed more they get obese and if I feed less they tend to start getting thinner.

[Tim and Julie B]

Perhaps, instead of 30 every other day, you could just offer 10 to each leo and feed them seperately. This will ensure that they both get 10 each. Plus you could offer a shallow dish of mealies, which are much cheaper, maybe 10 each or so. Just be sure to gut load them well, which I am sure you already know :). Maybe try ordering your crickets/mealies on line so that you aren't buying them at a pet store that charges an arm and a leg! lol May I also ask why you feed them in a seperate tank? I just have never heard of anyone doing this :confused:

Julie

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

I feed mine in a 15 gallon also. I mainly do it to help keep my leos as stress free in their enclosures as possible and to keep the main enclosures as clean and low-maintanence as possible.

I put a few plants high up in the tank and I have 2 low, wide hides in the tank so that they have something to climb/hide in. Try it, and see if they are calmer. You may want to try putting black construction paper around the outside of the tank, on three side and back panels. The Leos may not be used to the tank and are trying to figure out its size???

As for eating? I had 2 Leos that were absolute pigs as small, and they are nice and big and healthy and do not eat too much now that they are adults.

Mine will use humid hides when they want, but clint545 could be right, it may be too cool, take a temp reading in the humid hide :)

Hope this helps ya! Clint.

[Slannesh]

15 each sounds a bit high to me as well. How big are the crickets you're feeding compared to the leos? General rule for leos is no wider than how far apart their eyes are and no longer than their head. I suspect you're feeding crickets much smaller than they could be eating.

As for the humid hides, I keep mine on the warm side and they use them much more often than the cool/dry hides on the other end of the tub. But really unless they're having trouble shedding it's not a big deal how often they use the hides. I don't bother feeding in a seperate tank, moving them every other day would be more stressful in my opinion than feeding them in their normal tank. Of course if you're using an impaction prone substrate (sand) then it's a good idea to not feed them on it since if i'm reading that correctly they're youngish leos.

Mealies or superworms are another option as well. Both are fairly easy and inexpensive to raise. I find mealies don't move around enough for many of my leos to be really interested in them but they all like the supers. Might be too much trouble for just a couple of leos though.

[Gregg M]

Not to sound harsh, but, When buying any new pet especially reptiles you should consider the fact that they will cost you money..... The over all care and maintainance will cost you much more than your reptile is worth as far as money goes....... The thing that troubles me here is that you said you could have gotten a bearded dragon with the money you put into crickets...... Yeah well with the money I have dropped on feeders, caging and othere supplies, I could have bought a couple of new cars by now...... The only thing is, I knew this going in and have no complaints about it....... Maybe reptiles are not for you...... You do not buy a living creature based on its money value or how much it might wind up costing you...... I would hate to see what might happen if yours ever gets sick..... Will you not take it to the vet because you can buy 3 video games with the money the vet will charge you?????

[Tim and Julie B]

I think he just went with what people were saying about low cost maintenence, but now his leos are being pigs and he wants a solution. Hope that's right, cause that's how I read the post.:) Just a member looking for some advice, which we've all done (or should have) at some point.

Anyways, I agree with using paper on the outside of the tank to make them feel safer while in it. However, it would seem to me that it would be more stressful to move them from one tank into another for feeding, than to just add a few crickets into the original tank. They are not messy animals and maintenence is minimul anyways. If the insects you feed are able to stress the leos or make the tank dirty then there are probably too many in there in the first place. Plus with using worms they can go in escape proof bowls:)

Julie

[TheWulf]

I'll try to respond to everyone at once here:

The humid hide is on the warm side of the tank, almost right under a spotlight. One thing though is theres a lot more substrate in that part so the UTH woudnt be as hot. I'll remove some substrate and see what happens.

I feed them in a seperate tank for a few reasons. First, it lets me monitor how much each are eating. Second, it prevents them from eating substrate while grabbing at the prey. It would also save me hunting for crickets for hours as they find new places to hide and forgetting some, leaving them to eat away at the geckos in the night. I would feed them seperately, but I don't really see a point. They never fight for food or bug each other. I also wouldn't want to limit them to 10 if their bodies need more, I'd rather feed them what they need.

As far as the feeding tank goes, the black paper would have to be on the inside as black makes the best mirror when covered with glass so they'd see themselves even better. I was using newspaper lately to help with this.

I'm not sure how good works would as they don't seem to go after anything which isnt moving.

As far as Gregg's concerns, I can totally understand what you're saying, however most of your arguments are unfounded. You're talking to someone who took his cat to the ER on a Sunday and paid a $115 Vet bill instead of waiting a day and seeing a regular vet for a free followup because he was in pain. I also recall spending about an hour and a half sitting on the floor hand-feeding him food pellets and water from a seringe when he couldn't move very much. Care and maintenance is not something that I ever question putting into my pets, it will always get done. However, the reason I got leopard geckos were that they were supposedly lower maintenance and now I'm trying to figure out a way to get them "normal". It's not just about cost, it's about keeping them at a healthy level instead of letting them over-eat and ending up like the guy from Super-Size me.

Thanks for all your advice.

[TheWulf]

Thanks Julie,

I'll try to make the tank a little less full (more simple) by removing some stuff, would make cricket chasing easier for them. I use forest bedding anyways so it should be safe. It should also help with the humid hide temperature. I'll look into the worms too, i may have something i can use for these.

[Gregg M]

Ok, I guess I had you pinned wrong then..... My bad and I oplogize..... That was pretty much what I got from your original post and I am sure you can see why I came to that conclusion.... Sorry for the misunderstanding....

[TheWulf]

No problem =)