My leo used to be fed only mealworms which he's been getting away from lately. I still offer them to him every day in a dish so that he can have them whenever he wants to but I've been feeding mostly crickets to him. I've noticed that no matter how many crickets I throw in there he just keeps eating, he was a tiny bit on the thin side when I got him and now he's gaining weight like crazy. What I want to know is, is it possible to over feed them? Or should I just feed him as much as he wants till he starts to look like he's on the fat side?

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Obeisty is common in geckos, but i've never had a problem with it even though I let my girls eat as much as they want. The just get longer and their tails get fatter but it isn't giving them fat bellies.

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"What is now proven was once only imagined." - William Blake

~*~Lacey~*~

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i feed both of my adult Leopard Geckos 5-7 large crix 3x every week. Both are perfect sized. I doubt you could overfeed by much with crickets because they will eat all they want and then stop eating, the problem would be in having too many leftover crix in the enclosure to nibble on your leo while he/she is sleeping. Dont feed too many mealies at a time either..too big of an impaction risk. I'm obsessive about impaction risks and it may be ok to feed as many mealies as you want, but I wouldnt.

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"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

He's been cutting way back on the mealies and I haven't been putting as many in his dish as I used to. I wish I had a good pic of his tail when I first got him. It was a lot thinner than it is now. Here's a couple pics for comparison.

Almost a month ago 1/28/06


And today 2/23/06


I don't know if you can see a difference...oh, and he has NO problems with pooping...he poops like mad! I've ended up taking Lacey's advice and cutting a small piece of repti-carpet to put in his poop corner because cleaning is a mess.

P.S.
Now that I look at those pics you can't tell by them how much weight he's been gaining...oh well. I think he could use to fatten up a little more.

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I have never heard of meal worms causing impaction in a Leo and I know many upscale Leo breeders that feed meal worms in large amounts to their Leopard Geckos
A variety of bugs is always the best diet but I would not worry about feeding too many meal worms
Leopard Geckos generally do OK with letting them eat as much as they want but I have seen some lovely little porkers-LOL

I can post link's to the breeders and their animals if anyone wants to see them
Sandy

Beth, don't you keep track of their weight?

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Yeah to a point I do, I was just asking in general if they can get obese.

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Yup, they can, but yours is a long way off. Looks just nice and healthy to me, could maybe even gain a little more. In the pics I've seen of obese geckos, I noticed it most around the hind legs -- SUPER fat and chunky.

As for the question of impaction from mealies, it can happen, but it's usually not a problem. It's the exoskeleton or chiten that's a little harder to digest; most will just poop it out lol. I think the concern people have is mainly for smaller and younger geckos, i.e. hatchlings or very young juvies. However, we've been feeding mealies to all our leo hatchlings upon their first shed, and we haven't seen a problem yet.

Pretty l'il fella there Beth!

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I give up! I've officially lost count of the critters...

Thanks Dee! I have to get some updated pics of everyone, especially Tasuki my leo, he just keeps changing it's going to be interesting to see what he's going to end up looking like.

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