Leo losing weight...

[miffikins]

One of my leos, Leo has lost some weight in the last month or so. He is fine in himself but is visably thinner. His tail is still chubby its just his body that seems to have dropped the weight. I have been at uni the last 2 months so hes been with my OH, who has been feeding him as normal (crix and mealies). We did change the heat source to a lamp and the rock beneath the lamp was getting to about 89/90F so it was warm enough.

Before goin back in his old viv he was in my 'experiment' viv which was tiled with a heat mat underneath. So we have put a tile in the corner of his viv with a heatmat under (statted) in the hope that he wasn't using the rock for thigmothermy, but he will use the tile.

Would we be ok to give him a pinkie to give him a little boost?? As I said, he's his normal happy self but I would really like to see him put some weight back on.

I seem to have all my trouble with leos!

Cheers

[BG-Gecko]

Do you know how much he lost exactly and how old is he??
I' d give him a few waxies first honestly not going for the pinkies immediatle since they can do fine without, especially males.
None of mine ever ate a pinkie and still some of my females reached 80 grams and none ever lost a dramatic amount of weight during breeding season.
(max 8 grams)

[miffikins]

He's lost around 10g, which doesn't seem that much but he isn't a big lad. I got him and my 2 adult females at 6 months old and have given them pure calcium and nutrabol ever since but they are all small so I can only think they were under-supplemented in the first 6 months. All of them are light but not skinny, very happy and healthy but due to them being small they are just pets and won't be used for breeding.

But I am just a bit worried about Leo loosing so much so quick.

I have waxies on order for him, he didn't seem interested in food yesterday, just happy digging up all the kitchen roll in his viv

[miffikins]

Forgot, he is 2 years old

[BG-Gecko]

Thankfully they can lose a little weight without it being deadly.
How much does he weigh now?
Undersupplementation is rarely the cause of being too small, they will then still grow but will get mbd or weaker limb etc. this usually is because the're not being fed enough.
Thats sad we also have a female like that that now tops at 43-46 grams and is really tiny.
What did you try feeding him? And 'how' do you feed him? I mean do ou put something in front of him wait for him to eat him and give him some more (like some people do give them everything the can eat in 20 mins) or do you leave the food in there for a couple of hours/overnight?

[miffikins]

My females are around 45-50g and they eat and eat, but just don't seem to grow. I dust crickets, usually browns which are gutloaded and put them in. I sit and watch them eat and if they do not eat I leave them in over night and go in and see if the crix are there in the morning. I also feed mealies, but not all of them like them, with these I leave them on the floor of the viv and watch them eat. Waxies usually get eaten in a second.

I have tried feeding them in a seperate tub, but they won't eat out of the viv. Sometimes a few of them don't seem to interested in the food while I'm there, more interested in watching me, but the food is gone in the morning.

I am goin to try roaches soon as I have heard these are better nutritionally than crickets.

I feed every other day generally, but I am thinking of feeding everyday now. The males are housed alone, 3 females together and one of my yearlings is by herself as she wasn't getting her fair share of food as shes not a fantastic 'hunter'.

Aside from those 3 being smaller than usual, they are fine, shed well, no signs of MBD or anything.

Is there anything that you can see that I am doing wrong or can improve??

Thanks

[BG-Gecko]

are the females adults as well? If so they probably wont grow too much in length anymore if they had a 'slow start' the first 6 months of their lives. (same for the male)
Has the male ever been with the females while he was an adult? Could be because of the breeding season some male's minds are on mating 24/7 during breeding season. :P and some can lose quite some weight. You could indeed start feeding daily. Mine are fed daily as well even the adults there's no harm in it and you always make sure the have fresh foods whenever they want it.
And with mine that only eat crickets I leave the crickets in overnight as well because they won't eat them while Im standing there waiting for them to eat it
Right now all I can think of is the male thinking of mating thing. Just tell me if he's been with the females ever or lately? If not I' ll think a bit harder if I can think of something that might cause it or that you could try to make him eat

[miffikins]

He has been with the 2 females I got him with from the age of 6 months and one female laid a clutch at about 12 months of age (I was informed poorly, being told they would not mate until full grown, my bad really for not researching fully). He has been housed alone now for 12 months, my other male has also slowed down eating, but not dropped as much weight, so I think it may be due to breeding season.

Obviously because my females (who are also about 2, I think them and the male loosing weight are from the same clutch) are small also, I won't use them for breeding, they are just pets.

I will start feeding them daily, last night all of them had a mix of mealies and crickets. I know what you mean about them not eating while you are there, mine are the same Much more interested in me, I know people say you shouldn't leave crickets in over night, but browns do not tend to bite in my experience.

Leo seems very intent on digging at the front of his viv at the moment. There is a young female housed next to him so I wondered if her was trying to get to her He seems fine in himself, but I do worry as he isn't very chunky. He hasn't lost much tail weight, just around his body.

Thanks for your help!

[BG-Gecko]

well let's hope the waxies you ordered wl ' start him up' again.
And males can even sense the females when they're in the same room sometimes, dont necessarily have to be in the same viv so it could very well be the problem. One of my males stopped eating for about 3 weeks when he was first introduced to a female. But I understand it van be pretty worring, especially if he wasnt a very chunky leo from the start. (don't know if ou ever feed locusts but mine can refuse to eat crickets or mealies for days but once they spot a locust they immediately go for it) maybe he's just fed up with all the 'usual' stuff. Good luck experimenting with the different livefoods I hope he' ll gain some weight again soon

[miffikins]

Thanks! I hope it is just breeding season weight loss. I do feed them locusts usually once every fortnight but not all of them eat them. I'll hopefully be getting some Dubia roaches soon too so with any luck they'll like them!

Thanks for your help, I'll keep an eye on him and see how he goes, hes happy enough so hopefully its just breeding season excitement!