HELP WITH A BABY LEO

chazsgirl

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Jul 14, 2008
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Hi, at a recent trip to petco I spotted a tiny baby leo gecko, he was sooo cute and he was in a cage with ones that could easily eat him so, since he was within my price range ($17.99 on sale :thm:) I got him, BUT, he is so tiny and am not sure what to feed him. my only guess is pin head crickets, but is there anything else I can feed him till he gets bigger. is there a liquid I can give him? I have that appitite stimulant stuff, would that be ok? any help would be great. thx

(oh he is about this big ------------------- thAT's from head to tail!)
 
Nope, he's gotta eat bugs and vitamin dusted ones would be best, particularly calcium. It's easy to breed crickets. Put several in a tank with moist soil in it and you'll be breeding crickets. More pinheads than you'll know what to do with. Or you can try wingless fruit flies. Good luck with him.
 
Like mentioned live prey is the only thing they will take. Large flightless fruit flies or pinhead crickets are your only choice.
 
If your size line is accurate, it should be able to handle 1/8 or even 1/4 size crickets. I have baby viper geckos about 1/2 the size of that line that eat 1/4 size crickets. Dust is important, the make a leopard gecko dust, I would suggest that.
 
I can't believe they would sell a gecko that size. This is why I do my best to avoid buying reptiles from big name chain pet stores. Many of the Leopard Geckos I see at these place are not even a week old, haven't eaten anything and are extremely dehydrated. They are basically bred at gecko "Puppy Mills" for the pet trade. That's why they can sell them for $17.99. This is why I promote buying them from dedicated reptile breeders and from reptile shows. If we the consumer stop buying them then they will stop selling them.
 
I can't believe they would sell a gecko that size. This is why I do my best to avoid buying reptiles from big name chain pet stores. Many of the Leopard Geckos I see at these place are not even a week old, haven't eaten anything and are extremely dehydrated. They are basically bred at gecko "Puppy Mills" for the pet trade. That's why they can sell them for $17.99. This is why I promote buying them from dedicated reptile breeders and from reptile shows. If we the consumer stop buying them then they will stop selling them.

yes well that's all well and good that u feel that way but it was either buy him or watch him eaten bu another gecko, so I have him, if u would like to help then that would benefit him, if not please excuse urself and walk away!
 
How big of a cage do you have him in? Also they need belly heat to help digest what they eat. Pinheads are fine, also if you can find phoneix worms those are good and has alot of calcium to them.

You will also need a humid hide box. You can use a deli cup with a cut on the side for it to enter in. Just make sure you have a damp paper towel in there to keep the humidity. 80 to 85 on the hot side and 75 to 70 on cool side. Good luck with your leo.
 
yes well that's all well and good that u feel that way but it was either buy him or watch him eaten bu another gecko, so I have him, if u would like to help then that would benefit him, if not please excuse urself and walk away!

That's all nice and good but what are you going to do when you go back to the store next week and they have another sickly, tiny gecko in their tank to replace the one you bought? Are you going to buy that one too? My point is that all this does is continue the cycle. I'm not trying to call you I'm just pointing out how the system works.
 
chazesgirl I give you props for trying to save at least one of the geckos. But Vicious Fish does have a point about it being a cycle. Its even more sad that one of the distrubitors of the leopards geckos to big pet chain stores is a well known breeder in the leo world.
 
yes well that's all well and good that u feel that way but it was either buy him or watch him eaten bu another gecko, so I have him, if u would like to help then that would benefit him, if not please excuse urself and walk away!


How would this gecko have been eaten by another gecko? Most if not all pet stores keep similar size animals in the same habitat. I don't think it would have ever been eaten by a tank mate.
 
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