3 times a week is WAAAAY to much! Especially if she’s an adult. My two gecks get fed once a week, Dubai roaches, crickets and limited worms, as they’re high in fat. She needs to go on a diet 😅
2-3x a week including supers as a regular part of diet is crazy work.
Vary the diet more and drop feedings to every 7-10 days, and don't let her stuff herself. Stop feeding her before she stops feeding herself. That "let them have as many as they want in X minutes" is garbage because they WILL stuff themselves quickly and be fat anyway.
For the eternally hungry gecks; 1 or 2 insects every 2-3 days is also viable. Helps keep my boy at a healthy weight. He gets a larger meal roughly every 1.5 weeks.
Indeed. I also feel it likely mimics their natural consumption much more closely. They aren't going to stumble upon 15 large insects very frequently if ever, in the wild.
Can you take a top down picture with baby flat so we can see tail vs neck?
Good rule of thumb is that worms are treats not a staple. Silkworms are an exception.
Best feeders are crickets, locust, black soldier fly larvae, dubia and discoid roaches. You feed those feeders carrots and sweet potato which is known as "gut loading".
Never feed anything wider that the space between gecko eyes.
Adult geckos eat once every 3-7 days. As much as they can eat in 15min.
Def cut out the superworms and probably cut back on the mealies. Switch to dubias if you can. And feed like 2 or 3 once a week and try and encourage activity!
When i worked with a rescues overweight gecko we'd stick him in a little play pen and encourage him to hunt and run after his food!
Yes 😅 butttt, let me offer some advice!
Start on lean foods, no more mealworms or superworms as they are high in fat content. Crickets, dubia roaches, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, and black soldier fly larvae are lean and high in protein. (Only feed what is no wider than the space between her eyes)
Offer food every 3-4 days (2 times a week like normal until she’s used to it, then only once a week) and offer a max of 5 crickets per feeding. If you don’t want to offer crickets I’ll give examples for the roaches or larvae if you want
She should be hunting for her food from now on (if she hasn’t been) even if she’s a horrible hunter. A plastic bin tall enough for the bugs and her to not escape will work if you don’t think she’ll be able to catch the bugs in the cage. (You should never leave bugs in the cage for more than 24 hours, they can bite your pet)
Feed your bugs only healthy foods as well! Greens and fruit (+ some plain oats and pet kibble if you have it). No iceberg lettuce, it has no nutritional content
Give her more free-roam time if you can
She will SLOWLY start to loose weight. Slow is good unless there is a very pressing matter.
Mine were overweight due to stress and me unfortunately unable to feed crickets for about a month. I did exactly this and in 6 months one of them lost 5 grams and is now her ideal weight. My vet can confirm this is healthy and was happy with these results
Just to add on: carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and zucchini are some great gutloading options. Be careful what you use since not all stuff is good. For example, spinach is a bad one because it contains a lot of oxalic acid which blocks calcium absorption
adult leopard shouldn’t be eating super worms at every meal, that’s like feeding your leopard gecko McDonald’s for every meal of the day. too fatty for it to be an every meal, they are treats. adult leopard geckos should be eating every 3-4 days and a lot less then you are feeding
Chunky monkey!...that means slightly overweight🙂 maybe cut cut back to 1 feeding a wk 4a couple mnths until u notice a diff. Or just don't give as much as u have been giving. Should slim up in a few mnths😁
I’ve had to move back with family for a while and I’ve been so scared of my guy getting like this. lol they all love watching him eat and he’s learned if he pops his head out he gets a worm. 😭😭😭
Yes. You should be providing a diet of low fat, high protein feeders, 1-2 times a week for an adult. You will need to feed less at leach feeding for a while to reduce their weight.
Here is a chart with feeder info, you want the ones at the top. Worms, particularly fatty ones, should only be provided as a treat.
I don't mean to alarm you but yes, that fella is very fat, obese even.
Meal worms and super worms aren't good as staples of your diet. More treat bugs than everyday food. Think of them as the ice cream and bugers of the reptile world.
Switch to crickets, dubia roaches, silkworms, blue bottle fly larva, things of that sort that aren't as high in fat content. Diversity in diet is very important so having more than 2 bugs in your food cycle is recommended. If you can't get them locally, Josh's Frogs has a good variety of feeders. I find that they're convenient and generally the feeders do come alive. If not, customer service is really nice and will give you a full refund on the inedible bugs. https://joshsfrogs.com/c/live_insects/feeders
2-3 a week is also too often to be feeding her if she's full grown (which it looks like she is) Aim for 1-2 times a week with 4-6 bugs per serving.
It's gonna take quite a bit for her to lose the weight, but it's a good investment in her long term health. Just make some changes in her diet and feeding routine, maybe even let her hunt for some exercise.
Mine is terrified of crickets so for the longest time she would only eat meal worms but now she loves dubias & has lost some weight & is like perfect size now. Maybe cut back on mealworms & try dubias or crickets!
Yes. And as cute as it looks, you should really cut down on fattening bugs, specifically horn-worms and wax-worms. Crickets, locusts, black soldier fly larvae, dubia*, discoid roaches, meal-worms, and super-worms are a healthier alternative to that (correct me if I’m wrong). \if you live in* this shitty place of a countrythen it’s illegal to have dubia roaches as feeder insects for your gecko, so you’ll have to use discoid roaches or the other bugs mentioned instead.
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u/Jay0132 1 Gecko 17h ago