For the best and quickest responses to your questions, it is always a good idea to include a COMPLETE run-down of your set-up. We are not vets, and therefore if you feel this is a life or death situation, you do not have time to be posting on this site, as your gecko needs urgent medical attention. For a vet near you, visit www.herpvetconnection.com. A common question that people ask is eating problems. Some of the time, this can be rectified by a couple of husbandry adjustments, so it's always good to answer the following questions in your post.

1. What substrate are you using?
2. What sized enclosure do you have your leo in?
3. What is your warm side substrate temperature?
4. How are the temperatures measured?
5. What are you using as your heat source?
6. Do you have any method of regulating the temperatures?
7. How many hides do you have for your leo? What are they?
8. What food have you offered?
9. How often do you offer food?
10. Are you supplementing the food? If so, with what and how often?
11. How old is your leo?
12. How long have you had your leo?
13. Give a little detail about the behaviour of the Leo also

This post has been edited by 00luke00: Jun 10 2008, 05:26 PM

You forgot to mention:

Please include cookies or chocolate with your request.

i found a one stop shop vet for me!! they seem awesome they take all my crazy animals! haha thanks luke!! i didnt know where to find a vet for coors!

Hi, Ive just recently purchased a leo for my 10 year old son, unfortunatley I didnt' know the first thing about the reptile when I got it. the pet store lady made it seem like it would be a good starter pet for him. I'm a little concerned about the little guy though (the leo not my son). I have placed our guy in a 10 gallon aquarium, he at first had coarse sand for his substrate but I quickly realized that that was not ok so I have since changed to paper. We have had our leo since june 28 and he has only pooped one time that was last tuesday, I believe that was july 1. At first he wasn't getting enough heat so we changed the size of our heat lamp and the bulb that we are using. sorry I'm not sure what the size for either one is. My main concern is the lack of poop, and he seems to have gotten darker. Please Help!!! One of the reasons we choose a leo was because of the longevity of the animal. I'm afraid that I am going to kill the poor thing. We have been feeding him crickets. he eats about 4 a night. but he didn't really start eating regularly until july 5. well thnx for the help.

Hi muse, welcome to the forum

You will get more responses if you start your own topic as people will notice the new title pop up!

In the mean time here is some basic husbandry advice to get you started. (I have copied most of it from my response to another member who had similar problem recently so don't feel guilty as a lot of people are given bad advice at first.)

The recommended tank size for one leo is a 29gal long. This is needed to provide a suitable heat gradient, to fit all the necessary equipment in and to give your leo space to move! You can use a heat bulb but it is better for leos to have a heat mat as they need belly heat to digest their food.This could be a reason behind the lack of poop. The heat mat should be big enough to cover 1/3 to 1/2 of the base of the tank. The heat mat should always be controlled with a thermostat as too low a temperature can lead to your leo having trouble digesting its food, and too high a temp can lead to your leo being burnt. You will also need a digital thermometer with a probe to lie on the surface of the substrate. This will help to ensure that the vital temps are correct- 88-90f on the warm side and about 10deg lower on the cool side.

You will need at least three hides. These do not have to be expensive, empty spread tubs or similar with a hole cut and smoothed down for a door are perfect. For the humid hide, just put some damp paper towels into one of the tubs on the warm side. Your leo will use this to help it shed.

Good job on switching out the sand. Other good substrates are, paper towel, shelf liner, repti-carpet or ceramic or slate tiles. My personal favourite is ceramic tiles as they distribute the heat evenly, come in some natural looking colours and patterns, they're easy to clean and you don't have to replace them unless you drop one!

For food, you can offer crickets, meal worms, super worms, butter worms, phoenix worms, locusts or roaches. Offer your leo as many feeders as it will eat in a 20min period every day. After the 20 mins, remove any leftovers to prevent them annoying or chewing on your leo. All feeders should be gutloaded for at least 24 hours before feeding them to your leo to make sure they are full of the nutrients your leo needs. You will also need to supplement the feeders to help your leo to maintain strong bones and generally keep it healthy. A good supplementing schedule for a leo under a year old is to dust the food 6x a week with pure calcium and 1x a week with multi-vitamins with D3. You should also have a small tub (a bottle top is sufficient) of pure calcium in the tank at all times so your leo can use it when needed.

You will also need a small bowl of water but don't be surprised if you don't see your leo drinking as they get much of their water from their food.

I hope this helps to give you an idea of the changes you will need to make. I know it's a lot at first but once you've got your set-up right owning your leo will get a lot easier and less stressful.

Please feel free to ask any other questions you have (preferably in a new thread) as we are always happy to help.

This post has been edited by Bex190: Jul 9 2008, 05:39 PM

Hello again! thnx so much fo the help. I've started to make the neccessary changes to our guys home. I'm sure I'll have more questions!