Is this normal behaviour??

[Snake_Griffin]

I just have a few questions.

Just yesterday I picked up my leo from the breeders, I'm pretty sure everything is going normal but I just want to make sure. When I first put it in the tank it was very curious, looking and going around everywhere until it finally got comfortable and decided to stay in one hide on the hot end. After that he or she seems to be acting normal, every once and a while I see it getting a drink. Last night I stuck a buch of those tiny crickets( I think pinheads is the name) in their as recomended by the breeder... I think I put in about 10 to a dozen, he said to put them all in, but he gave me like a couple dozen of them so I put half, and they all seem to gone today, unless their hiding, but I think it ate all of them since I could hear some brief fast movements in the tank last night. I haven't seen any poop yet but I'm looking hard, they don't poop in their hides do they? The temp changes seem to be going well, high 80's during the day and around mid to high 70's at night.

Anyway right now it just seems to be hiding in its favorite hide during the day. I just have a few questions.

1) The leo is about 3wks old when should I expect a shed, and on the shed date I shouldn't feed it right?

2) Out of all the info I have given you, do you people think everything is going well?

3) It doesn't seem to want to eat the mealworms I put in there, but I blame it on the worms not moving around too much... they're alive but they don't move much or at all. I want it to switch it over to mealworms because my dad and I had problems with crickets escaping with previous lizards. What can I do to try and make it switch or a least try eating mealworms

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, I will also probably be posting pics in the near future.

[knight45]

i am not expert so if i am wrong plz dont anybody jump all over me. i have read that mealworms have very hard exoskelton that is hard to digest and that crickets at the best food source.

[peterm15]

your absoutly right...

and by the sounds of it its normal behavior... i feed no matter what.. wether in shed or not... t mine will always eat.. everything seems fine to me.. except about the 3 week thing,.,, isnt that a little yound to be selling... isnt the minimum 6 weeks..

[Snake_Griffin]

I have no idea about any age requirement, though the breeders seem to to know what they are doing so I'm not too worried about any problems arising. They are very professional, answered all my question in full detail and even gave me some free food and knocked off a few bucks of the final total. they where also recomended by some people in this forum who live in their area.

If any of you also have heard of this age factor let me know. I don't know, you may be right 3wks is very young, but it seems to be doing fairly well right now.

[peterm15]

well if the breeder was very helpful then i dont see a prob... i just know for most animals most perfer 6 weeks.. and if they were recomended by ppl on this site then i really wouldnt worry...

[Snake_Griffin]

thanks a lot for all your help.

[Snake_Griffin]

I just wanted to add a few things and questions, maybe its not a problem.

Every time I get close to the tank to look in when the gecko is out and about, it always seems to go back into its hide. Does it just need to get used to me or should I just try not to look in there when I don't need to. And would a t.v. being on at night be bad for it, cause the lizard is in my room and my t.v. is usually on at night until I go to sleep.

Thanks again for all your help.

[peterm15]

i dont find a prob with my tv.. and you BIG compared to him.. so hes a little scared...

[DragnDrop]

He's going to be scared for a few days or week until he settles in to the new home, so don't worry too much if he runs away everytime he sees you. Don't handle him until he's at least 10 weeks old, he'll be too fragile before that (only handle if needed, not for holding and petting until then).

[Snake_Griffin]

Wow you must have esp, cause my next question was how long I should wait before handling it lol. Thanks a lot for aswering my question before I asked it though lol.

Thanks again everyone for your help.

[Snake_Griffin]

Just thought I'd post here again so I don't start a new thread.

I've seen it hunting at night, but the leo seems to be a bit slugish or slow when trying to strike. And I haven't notice any fecal matter anywhere. Sometimes it looks like there's a couple cricks left over but at night they seem to all come out to eat, and there are about 6 of them right now (don't worry they're the med to sml pinheads) And now I'm worried that he/she is probably not eating at all, or too slow to cach them. And I've tried slower things like mealworms but maybe because its 3.5wks to a mnt old it doesn't seem to want to eat them... maybe cause they can't digest them properly. Any suggestions or tips.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.