Fattening up Leopard Geckos

[Jonny Clarendon]

Hi was just wandering what is the best food to fatten up leopard geckos for breeding. My females are pretty fussy eaters and only seem to eat locusts. They love wax worms but aren't these un-healthy? Could i fatten them up on wax worms. They're are pretty big anyway (about 57grams) but wanna make sure they've got plenty of fat reserves.

Also another question: I've made a home made incubator out of a poly box, heat mat and thermostat etc. When i incubate the eggs, do i need a shelf to hold the egg incubation boxes just above the heatmat (if yes, how far?) or do i just place the boxes directly onto the heatmat?

Another question (might aswell get them all out while they're on my mind!): After the geckos have mated and you can see the eggs inside the gecko, do you get an incubation box ready and put it into the incubator so it's at the right temp for when the eggs are layed?

Sorry for all the questions, it's my first time breeding and want to get everything right!

Thanks alot,
Jonny

[boywonder]

try to get a really small frozen pinkie mouse, and get some long tweezers, hold the pinkie by the tail with the tweezers so your gecko can see that its food and not your fingers, if she doesn't eat it straight off then you could train her that "tweezers mean food" feed her the normal locusts then feed her a waxworm or two with the tweezers, she'll begin to associate the tweezers with a treat and after a few weeks she'll be eating anything you offer her with them

i have poly box incubators and i have a 1 inch deep layer of sand spread over the mat, it prevents hot spots, i also fill gaps around my egg tubs with bottles of water, it helps to keep temp fluctuations under control if you open the incubator cold air from outside floods into the box, but the water doesn't cool down as fast, maintaining the temp better,

usually you can see developing eggs through the belly of your gecko, but don't confuse the fat deposits that begin at the vent and end below the ribcage, these should look symmetrical whereas eggs are one slightly higher than the other,

[Grond]

Originally Posted by Jonny Clarendon

Hi was just wandering what is the best food to fatten up leopard geckos for breeding. My females are pretty fussy eaters and only seem to eat locusts. They love wax worms but aren't these un-healthy? Could i fatten them up on wax worms. They're are pretty big anyway (about 57grams) but wanna make sure they've got plenty of fat reserves.

Also another question: I've made a home made incubator out of a poly box, heat mat and thermostat etc. When i incubate the eggs, do i need a shelf to hold the egg incubation boxes just above the heatmat (if yes, how far?) or do i just place the boxes directly onto the heatmat?

Another question (might aswell get them all out while they're on my mind!): After the geckos have mated and you can see the eggs inside the gecko, do you get an incubation box ready and put it into the incubator so it's at the right temp for when the eggs are layed?

Sorry for all the questions, it's my first time breeding and want to get everything right!

Thanks alot,
Jonny

Hi

I just keep a supply of mealworms in the cage at all times, this way they can eat as much as they want/need. I never really give waxworms or pinky mice and my geckos always breed very well with no loss of weight in the season.

I don't use a home made incubator, but even with the probe directly on the heatmat, the mat will get hooter than the eggs need at times, so I'd raise them up a bit.

I have a box and the vermiculite handy, I do have some water at room temperature on hand so there is no temperature shock to the eggs.

Hope this helps.

[Jonny Clarendon]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions guys. Really helpful bits of information!
Thanks again,
Jonny

[SleepyD]

Originally Posted by Grond

I just keep a supply of mealworms in the cage at all times, this way they can eat as much as they want/need. I never really give waxworms or pinky mice and my geckos always breed very well with no loss of weight in the season.

*nods* I also prefer to keep my females in top condition all year as opposed to trying to 'fatten' them up just prior to breeding ~ this way I feel they maintain their weghts healthily as opposed to the need of boosting with fatty foods
Jonny - I use hovabators for incubation prefering them to home-made ~ I also start the incubator at the start of the breeding season complete with eggboxes part filled with medium (I use perlite) ~ this way all temps have stabilized well before needed and if anything should fail there's time to get replacements without a last minute panic

[Grond]

Originally Posted by SleepyD

Jonny - I use hovabators for incubation prefering them to home-made

I also use hovabators and have found them excellent, especially for the price.