How fat is too fat?

[Sandra]

Coming from this thread: http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=5646

I have just weighed my female after some time of not-weighing because my scale broke and today I bought a new one. Well, I surprised when I saw she is 93 grams! I'm quite sure that she isn't a giant. Is that too fat for a female? :main_huh:

My vet told me that in his experience females that are too fat do not produce as many eggs as females that are of smaller size. I think 60-70grams is plenty large for egg laying. I would assume that 80+ grams is becoming obese unless it is a giant or super giant.

Here are some pictures of her.

These are older. I think she is thinner now than she was wen we took the pics, because she has been eating less since winter started:
http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=3316

This one is more recent, from christmas: http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/2438/gecka01th3.jpg

I don't think she looks unhealthy obese, and she doesn't have any problems moving. You can't see any of those fat pockets behind her legs either.

I don't think she is a giant because she isn't much bigger than my other gecko and because I bought her from some crappy breeders that I doubt they knew what a giant gecko was by that time (they only had normals and some Tremper albinos).

Do you think I should put her on diet?

 

[ReptileMan27]

She just needs to lay off the donuts lol . I dont think she is to fat, how often and how much do you feed her?

 

[Jeanne]

I don't think she looks too fat either. Maybe she is just "Big Boned"

 

[Sandra]

She just needs to lay off the donuts lol . I dont think she is to fat, how often and how much do you feed her?

I feed her on mealworms. I usually feed her everyday skipping one day a week to let her digestive system rest a bit, and give her all she wants (although she is chubby she doesn't eat like a pig, she usually doesn't eat more than ten). Now that she isn't eating much I feed her every other day and won't eat more than 3 or 4. In the last three days she hasn't eaten at all. I hope it's due to ovulation (luckily, she has more than enough reserves in that tail of hers, lol).

I was thinking that the difference in weight could be due to the fact than in America most geckos are smaller than in other countries because importing them from their habitat is much more complicated for you and there's more inbreeding. Hence the different standard for weight. Putting aside the fact that she actually is a bit chubby even for the natural standards, lol.

I don't think I'm overfeeding her, and she isn't a big eater herself. She is quite lazy so that must be it... She doesn't like to move unnecessarily. She even expects that I feed her in her hides most of the time! She only puts out the head and waits for the mealworm to magically fall in her mouth. Man, not so dumb for being a gecko, I also want them to bring the breakfast to my bed.

 

[ReptileMan27]

Everyday, thats to much, Adult geckos dont need to be fed everyday. I feed all my adults 2, 3 times tops a week.

 

[Jeanne]

I go through all my racks everyday, if there is an empty bowl, I fill it (Well, not FILL it, but they get more worms)

 

[Mel&Keith]

She looks fine to me.

 

[Stitch]

I'll say she doesn't look too fat and if she doesn't have fat pockets then I'd say she's fine. Some of my geckos are only 60-70 grams and they have fat pockets. So it may just be that she is a larger gecko overall.

I also feel that the fat pockets are more then just fat, I think they build up calcium and proteins as well.

My vet never told me an exact wieght in wich he would consider fat. But I would assume that 60-70 grams is avaerage. Anything more and NOT a giant is probably starting to become obese.