weight dilemma

Hi everyone, a bit of background first. I got addicted to leos couple years ago, started with one, then slowly growing to 8 now (9 actually, but one died in May due to parasites ). I always thought the average, healthy weight of leos should be around 60-70g; but my leos are HEAVY. I don't know why, I have 3 adult males weigh 88, 88, and 91g. One of my female (Whitie) is also 88g; I posted about this one on KS. She had been on diet for almost 3 weeks, but actually gained 1g during the diet period. They don't eat much, I feed them 3 times a week. Marly and Gel (both males) eat about 5-6 crickets per feeding, Bubu (male too) eats about 8 mealies per feeding. Whitie, I admit that I'm responsible for her overweight, because I fed her a staple of skinless supers for 2 months after she was dewormed. I'm trying to switch her to crix which has less fat, but she hates it, and will only eat 1 max per session. Her weekly intake now is only 2 crix + 8 mealies; but she's still not losing any weight.

On the other hand, the new juvi that I got has stayed in 17g for 3 weeks. He can only get 3 small crix into him one night, anymore than that he'll regurgitate. He'd been to the vet, got dewormed too (actually, I'm starting to not trust my vet, but that's another story), I'd also up the temperature on the warm end to 92*, and I'd also mixed a bit of Reptoboost (nutrients, energy, probiotics) in his water dish, I also try not to let it see me except feeding and cleaning, so he's not stressed. So, I hope he'll gain some weight soon.

By the way, Overton and Shannon, I read the thread on "book mites" (I call those grain mites), how's that going, all cleared? My mealworm colony got infested early last year, I dumped everything and cleaned the whole area with bleach water. Then everything seems fine. I moved house last December, then 3 months later when I went back to do the final cleaning, that empty shelf where I used to put the mealworm colony was completely covered with these 'moving dust', horrific sight :Puke: . Don't know what they live on, there were no food, no grains, no nothing, just plain empty open shelf. So, be very careful cleaning, don't give them a chance to come back.

Hello Bonnie, your leos are probally not over weight. They will continue to grow as they age. I have atleast ten adults ( over one and a half years old) that are over the 75 gram mark. One male averages out around 120g. My biggest female is around 85g. I feed my adults cricket every other day and leave a dish of meal worms in their enclosure at all times. If their fat pockets start to become very obvious I will skip a feeding or remove the meal worms. I wouldn't be to worried. If they are not active at all you could regulate their diet more. If they are out and active, I say let them eat.

Bonnie,

I put the cricket cage outside one night to clean it out in anticipation of a new shipment. The next morning there were no moving dust particles. They haven't been back since. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though as I have no idea where they came from originally. They were around the mealworms as well but now those are gone.Maybe me cleaning worked!

And as far as overweight Leos. I have three that, no matter how I reduce their bug intake, just keep getting wider. I am about to put a mouse wheel in there and encourage them to exercise!

Good Luck

Shannan

Bonnie, Your geckos are just probably thru breeding and laying and will gain weight back pretty fast! They sound fine to me!

My dust mite problem went away ....basicaly on it's own. I would scoop them out of the bin when I saw them, I disinfected the floors shelves....everywhere...but I did'nt mess with the worms...I have way to many! And they just went away.