Hello, There is an odd situation with my leopard gecko. She is about a year and a half old and I have had her since she was about a month old. Over the last 2 or 3 months she has gained quite a bit of weight and has bubbles under her armpits. I have tried various methods of getting her to lose weight and nothing has worked. Initially I tried to feed her half of what I normally did before. I was feeding her 12-14 insects every other day and I cut it down to 6 or 7 every other day. I also stopped putting her insects in a bowl and instead let here chase them in her enclosure (120 gallons) so that she would get exercise. When that didn't work I started feeding her 2 or 3 insects every day. She still didn't lose weight. I then decreased her feedings to about 14 or 15 insects twice a week, and then once a week. She still has not lost weight, and she still has bubbles under her armpits. The feeder insects I give her are black soldier fly larvae, crickets, dubia roaches, adult black soldier flies, and adult mealworm beetles. I took her to 3 different vets and none of them knew what is going on. I am wondering if her metabolism has slowed down due to brumation. My blue tongue skink is already in brumation. Also I should mention my geckos behavior has changed. She now spends all of her time in one of her 3 hides, and before she would spend alot of time basking under her deep heat projector. I am now preparing her for brumation. I have not fed her in about a week in a half and am planning to shut off her heat sources and reduce the time her lights are on to 6 hours a day at the beginning of December. Do you guys think her weight gain and change in behavior is due to brumation or something else? Should I go ahead and initiate brumation, or us there something else I need to do?
Brumation and gecko gaining weight questions
- Thread starter linkj154
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AndyBunn
Active Member
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- 158
i would say you have been over feeding your gecko. I feed my adult gecko every other week day and nothing at weekends with a combination of
3 Crickets 3 Locusts
3 Crickets 1 Dubia roach
3 Locusts 1 Morrio worm
1 Dubia roach 1 or Morrio worm and 2 Crickets or Locusts.
The bubbles in the leg pits are from to much Calcium. i stopped putting a dish of calcium etc in my geckos home due to this problem. i now dust the food and he has two days with no calcium or nutrobal supplements.
I think your gecko is inactive because its over weight. How much does she weigh?
i have had my leopard gecko for 4 years and he has never brominated.
Does she poop etc ok?
i think what you need to do is cut down on the amount of food she's having.
Check the temperature and humidity of the areas of her enclosure as to hot or to cold can reduce activity.
she isn't getting ready to lay eggs is she? that's a possibility.
once or twice a week i coax my gecko out of his home and he has a twenty minute play with me. He runs, climbs and jumps all over me. its great fun and he gets plenty of exercise. perhaps you can could do that if you don't already.
i hope this has been helpful.
Just keep trying various things and read as much as you can on gecko care and importantly their behaviour.
keep us informed on how things go for you both.
good luck
3 Crickets 3 Locusts
3 Crickets 1 Dubia roach
3 Locusts 1 Morrio worm
1 Dubia roach 1 or Morrio worm and 2 Crickets or Locusts.
The bubbles in the leg pits are from to much Calcium. i stopped putting a dish of calcium etc in my geckos home due to this problem. i now dust the food and he has two days with no calcium or nutrobal supplements.
I think your gecko is inactive because its over weight. How much does she weigh?
i have had my leopard gecko for 4 years and he has never brominated.
Does she poop etc ok?
i think what you need to do is cut down on the amount of food she's having.
Check the temperature and humidity of the areas of her enclosure as to hot or to cold can reduce activity.
she isn't getting ready to lay eggs is she? that's a possibility.
once or twice a week i coax my gecko out of his home and he has a twenty minute play with me. He runs, climbs and jumps all over me. its great fun and he gets plenty of exercise. perhaps you can could do that if you don't already.
i hope this has been helpful.
Just keep trying various things and read as much as you can on gecko care and importantly their behaviour.
keep us informed on how things go for you both.
good luck
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- Somerville, MA
I feed my leopard geckos twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. I don't particularly prepare them for brumation. Most of them don't brumate and a few will. I continue to offer food twice a week through the winter and the ones who are seeming to brumate just don't eat. I don't really worry too much about their weight. I have some geckos that have a slender body type (head is slender as well) and others who have a chunkier body type (head is larger and chunkier as well).
Aliza
Aliza
Thank you both for your responses. I have been feeding my gecko around 14 insects a week for a month now as you suggested. I will definitely stop dusting the feeder insects with calcium until her armpit bubbles disappear. I take her out for handling every night, about 20 minutes on week days and an hour on weekends, but she prefers to just sit in my lap calmly, she has never been very active. I do have alot of enrichment in her enclosure and it's a big enclosure, so she gets alot of exercise while hunting. She weighs 69 grams. She poops just fine, there is never a problem with that. She has never been around a male gecko, but I know sometimes female geckos lay non viable eggs without mating. There is a dig box in her enclosure in case that happens. I always keep an eye on the temperature and humidity and keep them in the recommended ranges. Based on your responses I would say 2 possibilities is that she might be about to lay nonviable eggs or just developed a chunkier body as she aged. The weight gain started about 2 or 3 months ago. Would she have already laid eggs if that were the case? Thank you both for your help.
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