One Aggressive Gecko: How much to feed?

[Cassandra Tweeks]

Alright, so, I've dealt with a little bit of aggression, one being with my Crested Gecko Goliath. it's food aggression, he's a sweety when you get him out and he's growing like a tiny flame weed. But he isn't the focus..

I've recently gotten myself a Leopard gecko, whom was called 'jumbo' by the man at a very small petshop in town about twenty minutes away. Now this wasn't planned, I called the shop first to see if ont he off chance he might have some red eyed skinks, it was a no, iw asn't surprised, but he did tell me about a leopard gecko he had. Now I wasn't expecting much... I went there first to see what kind of feeders I could get from him and to see what the gecko looked like. What caught my eye was this tank with sand in it and a little hide.

After inquiring further I found that that was the gecko tank and I couldn't see it well, but I kinda shrugged it off and went home after hearing the price, $50 for the gecko, $100 for the tank and gecko and $120 for the tank gecko and light.

I figured I would wait a little bit and called a week later and see if it was still there, it was, and I had the cash, come to find out things had changed.. he wanted $120 for tank and gecko and $140 with added light (I'm like WTF!?)

With a tiny bit of talking we got it to $125 for everything because he wanted it gone (AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN THAT WAY BEFORE DAMMIT..NO.. LESS THAN THAT DAMMIT..anyway...) I found that the moment he grabbed the leo, it chirped and about screamed (wasn't grabbed hard either) and once out he calmed and was put in my critter keeper with moist towel at the bottom and the tank in my car, I drove home.

He was fine, seemed like he acted like nothing happen, the guy told me he was an excellent eater and loved crickets and was handle-able. So I first let him (it's male) settle into the new home after cleaning out the tank (lots of poop) I put him in my room with a UTH to keep him toasty.

After a few hours I removed him (which he seemed fine with) and measured him and weighed him.

• 52 grams
• 8 inches long
• Seemingly underweight for his size
• 2 1/2 years old

Took a few pictures.



Rather cute.



Tail is not fully filled out.



Face.



Better look at the tail, rather fat toward the base but I don't like that it's so thin further up, I'd really like to fill that tail out.



Better picture, he looks rather thin toward the middle as well, again, this was when I first got him, I hope to improve this.



Him at the water bowl.

Anyway that was a bit of back history, he's been here about 1 week and 2-3 days and I've run into a little road block.. he's AGGRESSIVE! He attacks everything that moves without hesitation. Now once you get him out of the tank he's fine, but before that.. well...

YouTube - Jumbo Hannibal's Agressive Introduction.

Also how MUCH should I be feeding a gecko his size? He's been eating a LOT and this isn't one of those things where -if the gecko stops eating well, he's full duh- no, JH KEEPS eating. He has pooped every night for me (large poops) and is eating everything from black crickets (caught outside and inside my home and gut loaded for a week) to normal crickets to super worms to canned grasshoppers and meal worms.

He's had in one sitting...

• 8 meal worms, 4 supers -juvie-
• 9 meal worms 1 superworm -juvie-
• 13 meal worms, 4 superworms -juvie- 1 canned hopper
• 10 canned hoppers, 1 black cricket

Even after eating all of this he is STILL hungry. I cut him off when i think it's a bit much but I wanted to know what do you feed your adult leo's, especially one with insatiable appetite.

Sense JH has been here he has gained 16 grams and is currently 68 grams.

He has eating every day but is now being moved to every other day to be the same as my crestied's and to have a schedule. Any input would be nice.

Oh and YES he's on sand, small what looks like play sand and he's been on it sense he was a babe (so I'm told) XP

[Gecko Ranch]

First, I thought he looked a bit dehydrated and only the slightest bit underweight being over 50g to start with. I think folks stuff their herps within an inch of their life food-wise and this distorts our view of what a good weight should be. Here the adult leos eat about three times a week here at the HOTTEST time of the year, about once a week during the coolest. I would definitely stay away from anything in a can except for emergency food. Mine eat mostly supers at that age. Everything insect is supplemented with Repashy Calcium Plus. That's what has worked here for many years.

I would keep an eye on his poops, if they look the least big funky after he has been with you for a while then seek a fecal. Dehydration sometime is a sign of parasites.

Play sand from Home Depot killed quite a few of my terrestrial geckos that were ok on sand as a substrate, likely due to silica. I would not use it under any circumstances. In your case I would not use sand until I was certain this gecko was clean parasite-wise beyond a shadow of a doubt. Sand harbors parasites and make it difficult for you to monitor poops as things can get buried. Buried poop harbors non-good things, and tends to contaminate substrate. If he decides he does not feel good at some point he will start eating the sand like candy, so another case in point for having a non-ingestible substrate until a routine has been well established along with the gecko's health being good and solid. As a breeder I recommend against sand period with leopard geckos in particular for these reasons, and also to keep things simple. Simple set-ups are easier to monitor and address potential problems before they get out of hand.

Good luck!

[Cassandra Tweeks]

So it could be a dehydration issue then? Darn I was just at pet supplies and I could have gotten the drops for the water..

I don't plan to keep him on the sand, I figure I will be using eco earth or something else like that instead, is there any other appealing looking substrates that can be used for leo's that isn't harmful?

*knowing she is saying this now and prolly just use paper towels later XP*

The canned food was mostly because I actually ran out of supers for the first time in a year XD I'm trying to start my own farm so I've been using most of them for that and my Cuban anole tends to eat a lot of them. He just acts so hungry ALL the time, he even stalks my cat's tails when they wander by AFTER he's been feed a certainly decent amount. (it's rather cute)

I've been watching all the poops, all decently sized, clumped together nice, not runny. So far so good on that. I spot clean a lot so I try and keep it clean.

[Gecko Ranch]

Dehydration could be due to a simple deprivation of proper water source at the pet shop, or a parasite. Don't bother with any "drops," just practice good husbandry and the gecko will either show to have a parasite or not eventually.

Eco earth has killed leopard geckos, probably the worst thing you could put them on. I will always recommend folks use non-ingestible substrates entirely with them, especially when they are not "established." Tile looks nice; I like the Repti-cage carpet too, comes in different colors. If you are going to use sand, use a fine grade sand only that is reptile-specific like Jurassic Sand or ReptiSand. Calcium sands have been shown to be problematic with impactions due to particle size.

Forgot to address the aggression concern, I overlooked it as it does not phase me with over 120 breeders. I find this type of leopard gecko to be aggressive by nature. Also many of my tangerines/sunglows/etc. are also pretty testy. My personal theory is that it is inbreeding-related somehow that had to be done to produce these morphs at some level.

[Cassandra Tweeks]

When I went to pick him up he didn't have any water in his bowl, I don't know what kind of care the man offered in that pet shop, but I keep water full and cleaned out for him at all times, the bowl is big enough for him to lay in if he wanted too.

Really? Eco earth? Wow, I thought that was a safe substrate to use. I know calisands are a huge no no, I don't want him eating it, but maybe I'll go down and see what the have, I've seen them have coco husk types and aspen. (the coco husk was like in cubes and looked like it couldn't be eaten, I wonder on how clean up is with them though.)

If I did sand, repti sand or Jurrassic I'll keep that in mind.

So he's just aggressive to be aggressive? I have no idea about his breeding, once you get him out of the tank he'll calm down, but other wise he'll try and get his mouth on you any chance he can get. I wondered if it was just being territorial or what.

When I do get him out (which is rare it's been 2 times so far) I try and distract with my hand on the glass while the other slips under his belly to lift him, he jerks but he dosen't seem to make a sound. He'll settle, and once I put him back it's back to him stalking and trying to bite again. I didn't know if it was because he wasn't held or if he was just like that. It's a little comforting to know that he's just 'that way' and it's not something his previous owner did to him.