Elizabeth - Thanks for your input. Enzo may be an unusual leopard gecko, but he seems to be doing a lot better since I changed his habitat. I know about the sand impaction debate, but that's evidently what he's used to, and a lot of people say they've never had any problems keeping their leos on sand, so I'm just going to hope for the best on that score, since he seems to like it better.
On the heat issue, I put a heat emitter on top of his cage to see if he'd like it warmer, and he left the warm side of the cage and squeezed himself between the water tower and the tank glass on the cool side! He doesn't actually look like he's lost much weight, if any. He still looks a little chubby and his tail is fat, so I guess he is eating as much as he needs. Those giant mealworms are humongous, so I suppose he doesn't need many of them. Diane On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:34:55 EDT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: > Diane ~ > > The temps you report are way too cool for leopard geckos unless you are > getting some highs in the upper 80s. I also question the use of > calci-sand, though > I'm not a leopard gecko breeder. I keep my only mature leopard on sand. > Because of the known risk of sand impaction, I only feed my leopard > crickets in > an 8 oz ceramic bowl with curved sides. To prevent the crickets from > escaping > I amputate their back legs right below the "knees" and the front legs > right > below the "elbows". I usually dust the crickets with Rep Cal with D3. > If you > have breeding animals you could leave a small dish of the calcium powder > in the > cage. I just don't like to encourage geckos to eat any sand. Almost all > sands, even beach sands, are composed of silica crystals. Those are the > crystals > that accumulate and cause impaction. > > Do you think Enzo has lost weight? > > Elizabeth > > > > Subj:[gecko]New gecko questions > > Date:9/25/07 3:17:22 PM Pacific Daylight Time > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Diane Rudesal) > > Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Reply-to: <A > > HREF="mailto:[email protected]";>[email protected]</A> > > To: [email protected] > > > > Got a new gecko back in June from a breeder in Eastern Washington. He > > was almost a year old when we got him and seemed healthy and chubby, > > nice fat tail. Cute little guy! I named him Enzo. However, he did not > > seem to want to eat. The breeder had been feeding him giant mealworms, > > but I've been raising regular mealworms so presented those to him > > instead. When he hadn't eaten any in a couple of weeks, I went out and > > bought him giant mealworms, but he didn't eat any of those, either. > > > > So I talked to the breeder who told me he raises his geckos on > > calci-sand substrate with only undertank heating, no heat or light above > > the tank. I at that point had the gecko on repti-carpet with a light > > above during the day and heat emitter above at night. Well, I thought > > that was worth a shot at least, so I went out and got calci-sand > > substrate and an undertank heater. Also ended up getting him a larger > > tank than he was in. Now he does eat a worm every once in a while but I > > can't help but feel he should be eating more. Plus, I don't see how he > > can possibly be warm enough with just the undertank heater. The > > temperature on the sand on the heated side is only 80 degrees and the > > other side is only 70. > > > > However, he is definitely eating now; I discovered he is using the house > > at the other end of the tank, where I thought he never went, as his > > latrine! > > > > Any ideas about this situation? > > > > Diane > > > > -- > > Diane Rudesal > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > -- > > http://www.fastmail.fm - Or how I learned to stop worrying and > > love email again > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Global Gecko Association > > http://www.gekkota.com > > Classifieds > > http://www.gekkota.com/cgi-gekkota/classifieds.cgi > > gecko mailing list > > [email protected] > > > > > Elizabeth > ~~~geckos make my heart sing (and dance)~~~ > > l l l > ^^ /..\ ^^ /..\ ^^ ^^ /..\ ^^ > l l ^^ llll \\\ > l l llll /// > l l llll \\\ > l l ~~ llll /// > ~~ ( ~~ ) ~~ ~~ ( ~~ > ) ( ) > ( ) ( > ) ( ) > lappert(a) robert(a) hubert(a) > 17.50 yo r.i.p. > r.i.p. > > (All Lepidodactylus lugubris!) > > > > > > > > > > <BR><BR>**************************************<BR> See what's new at > http://www.aol.com</HTML> -- Diane Rudesal [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- http://www.fastmail.fm - mmm... Fastmail... _______________________________________________ Global Gecko Association http://www.gekkota.com Classifieds http://www.gekkota.com/cgi-gekkota/classifieds.cgi gecko mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gekkota.com/mailman/listinfo/gecko
