Leopard Gecko feeding

[hairmetalspider]

I've raised leopard geckos for about 3 years now.

Even now, I feel I could learn more about them.

As of now, they eat about every two days, and get about 6 crickets each. (These are full grown geckos.)

Curios as to how many and how frequently everyone else feeds their leos?

Also, I'm getting sick of the substrate debate. Is Vitasand safe or not? Apparently, it is made so that it isn't dangerous if digested as where other sand product is not. True or false and what other types do you use?

 

[Nich]

I know Ill be "enlightened" by a leo guru...but I feed mine 12-15 crix a month. I caught her full grown at my old job (we only sold 3-4" ones), almost four years ago. Its pretty active and has good whieght to it. Ive had it on Eco earth from day one. A bit skinnier than some, but pretty fun to watch climb around.

Not heat lamp, no mat, just room temp in norther cali. Ive seen some pretty "elaborate" setups though for a leo. I like to utilize teh K.I.S.S. method....

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Apparently, it is made so that it isn't dangerous if digested as where other sand product is not.

I've never, ever heard of a sand product that made this claim and it was actually true. Sand is just not digestible - that's why it's a bad thing. Any sand product that makes this claim is to be avoided at all costs.

I remember long-ago threads in this very forum where veterinarian members were talking about doing autopsies and finding various lizards with guts full of fatal impactions made by supposedly edible sand products. The ONLY thing accomplished by Calcisand and its ilk is that the added calcium in the sand just makes the lizards even more likely to want to eat it.

The only 100% safe option is to use a substrate they are physically incapable of eating, like tile.

 

[mitchrobot]

the best substrate IMO is paper towels or news paper...cheap, easy to clean and replace...although not very attractive. tile sounds good too though, ive never tried it though

i have fresh (meaning new gutloaded ones) mealworms in with my geckos every day in a feeding dish. but offer them crickets and roaches every other day, sometimes they eat, sometimes not.

 

[Travis K]

I feed mine about three addult dubia roaches ever 6-14 days, and they are PHAT.

 

[Charoozz520]

I would rather play it safe and keep them on tile. I been doing that for almost 2 years now and they seem happy about it. I kept 4 leopard geckos; 1 female and 3 males. Tile is also good at holding heat . I usually feed them twice a week 8 crickets or 5 roaches each or some mealworms. Cleanup is easy since these geckos usually only pick one spot to poop I just leave a piece of papertowel in that corner and clean it up once a week.
Here is a picture of my 30gallon in which I keep my pair.

Sadly I have to sell them cause of space issues but if any of you guys want to buy them let me know

 

[Elapid]

I have 1.6 adults in my colony. i use paper towel substrate, have a dish with mealworms and calcium dust available at all times plus 30 crix once a week and occasional dubia or hisser nymphs. waxworms and phoenix worms as well go in the mealworm dish occasionally.

i'm breeding mine so i want to be certain the girls keep good weight during egg-laying season.

from reading ron tremper's site, if a leo doesn't have a 90F basking spot during the first year or so of its life, the color can darken considerably. while in a normal phase this is inconsequential, it might be important to you if you spend 300 bux on a high end gecko.

good luck!
rob

 

[kingfarvito]

I've raised leopard geckos for about 3 years now.

Even now, I feel I could learn more about them.

As of now, they eat about every two days, and get about 6 crickets each. (These are full grown geckos.)

Curios as to how many and how frequently everyone else feeds their leos?

Also, I'm getting sick of the substrate debate. Is Vitasand safe or not? Apparently, it is made so that it isn't dangerous if digested as where other sand product is not. True or false and what other types do you use?

if the animal is hydrated it will pass the sand

 

[Mushroom Spore]

if the animal is hydrated it will pass the sand

Proof? I'd be interested.

 

[Elapid]

the 'sand' they offer as being safe for geckos is not sand=SiO2, but calcium carbonate=CaCO3 instead. i wouldn't recommend using it for juvies, but for adults, i wouldn't worry too much. my geckos eat a LOT of vermiculite with no apparent ill-effects.

 

[rollinkansas]

Also, I'm getting sick of the substrate debate. Is Vitasand safe or not? Apparently, it is made so that it isn't dangerous if digested as where other sand product is not. True or false and what other types do you use?

Sand is fine. This will be a never-ending debate though. But I would like you to ask the people who are so against sand if they've ever used it themselves, or if they are simply regurgitating information they read online.

If you want to use sand, use it...Ive used it for 10+ years without problems, as well as all the people I know who keep animals. If you want to use tiles or paper towels then that is fine as well.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

But I would like you to ask the people who are so against sand if they've ever used it themselves, or if they are simply regurgitating information they read online.

I don't think we need to join the ranks of owners with dead pets just so we can have the "street cred" to pass along that information. We've heard from both the owners of those dead pets and the veterinarians who have directly spoken about finding gutloads of calci-sand in the internal organs of dead animals. It's not a conspiracy if it really does happen.

 

[rollinkansas]

I don't think we need to join the ranks of owners with dead pets just so we can have the "street cred" to pass along that information. We've heard from both the owners of those dead pets and the veterinarians who have directly spoken about finding gutloads of calci-sand in the internal organs of dead animals. It's not a conspiracy if it really does happen.

All Im saying is preach information you have experience with. You have no experience using sand (as evident by your posts) so why say it? If you have the experience, then I can understand, but what I dont understand is when people use other peoples experiences as their own. You obviously dont know about keeping animals on sand, so dont talk about it like you do.

You dont know the circumstances of every case of impaction, such as weather or not the animal was in good health to begin with, or how else it was being kept, temp wise,etc.

I dont want to make it seem like I think sand is the only way, but if you plan on giving information to people, and trying to help them, use your own info, not someone elses. Its as simple as "Ive never used sand before, but I hear tile works great".

 

[Mushroom Spore]

if you plan on giving information to people, and trying to help them, use your own info, not someone elses. Its as simple as "Ive never used sand before, but I hear tile works great".

"I've never used sand or calci-sand before, but I hear it kills some animals kept on it. Tile doesn't kill any of them." Am I allowed to post that? Because that's pretty much what I *do* post on the subject, and I think I'll stick with that if it's all the same to you. :}

 

[Alakdan]

I'm really interested to keep a leopard gecko. I've been reading a lot in the past month. In its natural habitat, do they live on semi-arid conditions? Are they on sand, soil or combination of both? I'm intrigued if they suffer impaction in the wild.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

In its natural habitat, do they live on semi-arid conditions? Are they on sand, soil or combination of both? I'm intrigued if they suffer impaction in the wild.

According to the wiki, their natural environment is "rocky, dry grassland regions." Some probably do get impacted even there, if they're sloppy hunters or just unlucky, but obviously not a high enough percentage that it's hurt the species as a whole.

It's kinda like the question of "if tarantulas die so easily from falls, how do they survive in the wild?" The answer being "not every single tarantula climbs too high and falls (or is killed by some other means), so a few still breed and have thousands of babies and the species goes on." Doesn't mean tarantula keepers can afford to have too-tall enclosures for their own Ts and assume nothing bad could ever possibly happen to their individual pet because of it.

 

[Nich]

Common sense peeps....lol. They may live on grains of glass and minerals, but that doesnt makle it ideal. Though I wouldnt go as far as putting em on freakin towels for "ease of maintenance" and lack of risk. People literally "care sheet thier pets to death" imho.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Though I wouldnt go as far as putting em on freakin towels for "ease of maintenance" and lack of risk. People literally "care sheet thier pets to death" imho.

Paper towels are harmful? They definitely are easy maintenance, that's for sure.

 

[mitchrobot]

i have used sand in the past with no ill effects, but sand, even when kept dry and regularly spot cleans retains a lot of dirty stuff and is dusty.

whether or not it (loose substrates, sand, calci sand, crushed walnut shells, etc...) can cause impaction if ingested is not a question or me, i have no hard evidence to prove it can, but i have heard that it is a very real possibility. and when dealing with $400 geckos i dont really see the point in risking losing any of my breeding stock to that even if the possibility is remote

paper towels are cheap, easy to clean and not easily ingested. i do not see any downside to using them. my humid hides are big, so if the geckos feel the need to dig around, they do it in there. i havnt had any issues with my leos living on them what so ever, theyre all chunky productive and active.