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Gravel1 View Profile |
Feeding
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| 08/23/09 04:26pm |
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Froogies View Profile |
Message To: Gravel1 In reference to Message Id: 2062440 Feeding
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| 08/23/09 05:22pm |
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Gravel1 View Profile |
Message To: Froogies In reference to Message Id: 2062473
It�s a long post, but it�s worth the read. Please sit down and enjoy it. I�ve seen this frequently in the year: people with obese golden geckos. And it�s not just in the goldie world, sadly; there have been people stuffing the crap out of their leopard geckos and lizards outside the gecko world as well. I�m only posting one thread, and that�s here. Why? Because you guys will probably understand me better and not argue the point. I don�t want to see rebuking such as, "A fat goldie is a healthy goldie!" Many living things in this world can get fat. We all know that human obesity is serious enough to cause health concerns and that humans will overfeed their dogs and cats until these pets, as well, are fat with serious health risks. I believe this is all part of human psychology brought to us by the Depression many years ago when we lacked serious food resources. However now that food is plentiful, our opinion on our weight has shifted from "If you�re fed, you�re wealthy and healthy." to "thin is sickly, fat is ok, and obese is a disease". This same view to our own pets has been just as well shifted. Once upon a time feeding the dog was enough. Now with new rules, the dogs and cats need to be fed every day, sheltered, etc. The same has happened with reptiles, which is what brings me to them and this thread. Back in the day, reptiles were fed once a week except by breeders. It was just how things went. Now we�ve developed new guidelines for lizards apart from snakes and other reptiles. Some say we need to feed them every other day, others insist every day, and then there are those who state �feed them as many as they�ll eat for 30 minutes�. Instead of one species of insect or �insects caught on the porch�, people now insist that we need to give our lizards a variety from the stores and to expand their diets. So that�s not just feeding the gecko as much as it�ll eat in a sitting, once a day, but also spoiling it with fat bugs as well as healthy ones. This all leads to the lizards getting fat. Because in the lizard world, there is no longer a �moderate weight is ok�. It�s either, "Your gecko is thin and therefore sick - which means you�re a terrible owner" or "your gecko is glopping out the sides with a huge tail and fat-sacks in the arm pits - which means you�re a good owner." I have no idea what happened to the middle ground in the last few years, but now the trend is to feed the geckos as much as they want and make them as fat as they want. If you are in the middle ground, I can almost promise you that someone will come by and go, "Your gecko is a little thin, fatten it up!" This is especially the case in the leopard gecko world. But people forget that a fat lizard is still an unhealthy one just like a fat human has a bigger risk of catching some nasty internal clogging and disease issues. Fatty Liver Disease can still happen, even if you don�t feed 20 waxworms in a day. The gecko can also experience walking issues, climbing issues, and bone problems from the two. Fat can clog up the inside of the lizard as well as the outside. And this, while some think is the healthiest thing in the world for a lizard, will shorten the life of the lizard drastically. "So where is the line? How do I keep my goldie from getting fat? What do I do if my goldie is already fat?" Probably questions one of you will ask. I find the line between a fat golden gecko and a moderate one lies in not only visual appearences, but what you feed it. Remember that lizards are coldblooded and have a much slower metabolism than mammals. If your goldie looks in good weight, don�t give it fatty bugs like waxworms or butterworms, even as a treat. The only reason to give your goldie fatty bugs is if your golden gecko is emaciated or underweight, and that�s only until the gecko is in proper weight again. Don�t feed your goldie as much as it�ll eat in a given time, feed it how much you think it should eat. For example, if the goldie can scarf down 4 superworms, 12 large crickets, or 30 mealworms in a sitting, cut it in half. Cut it in a third if the goldie is usually sleeping alot or doesn�t move much from one area for most of the 24 hour period - or is overweight. Feed it every other day or, if your goldie is overweight, every three days. You can give variety, but make sure you�re giving variety in the proper order. Don�t give it 6 large crickets one day, then attempt to stuff 4 to 6 superworms in it the next. If you shift it between 6 large crickts and 10 mealworms during the week, don�t feed it both together in a single day. Sometimes it�s good if you don�t feed it for two days and switch from every two days to every three days sporatically so the goldie has time to clean out its system as well as not fall into a schedual. Do research on more than one caresheet to get a jist of the nutritional value in insects. For example, superworms have more nutrition and less chitin than mealies and crickets, but due to the fact that there�s so much in them your goldie can get overweight on them if you give too many, too frequently. As for visual appearences, keep an eye on your goldie and compair it to goldies on the net. It should be slim with minimal bones showing (sometimes the ribcage will show just barely, but that�s alright.) The tail should be thick, but if the neck gets to be out to the shoulders or as thick as the head, it�s overweight. If you see fat sacks in the armpits at ALL for a goldie, it�s overweight. If there�s fat around the ribcage to the point that you can see the underbelly stick out from both sides when it lays flat, it�s overweight (or dehydrated.) I will show some pictures to give an example. Here Link This is an underweight goldie. You can see the ribcage prominantly, the tail is slender, and you can see clear definition of the bones in the back legs. Link This goldie is lean to moderate. Overall it�s a healthy goldie weight. You can see the ribcage a little if you look closely and nitpickily, however it�s not protruding or emaciated. The tail is ok, the body is fine, and if your goldie looks like this, you�re doing a good job. Disregarding the toes on the one foot, that is. =P Link A famous golden gecko picture. This golden gecko is in prime weight, healthy, and beautiful. You can see how the tail has a nice thickness to it, the body is straight with no ribs showing, but it�s in a good definition; the legs are nice and not indented; and the neck is also not too big, but also not too narrow. Link And an over-weight golden gecko. You can clearly see in this picture that the goldie is bulking out at the sides, it�s tail is thicker than the pelvis, the neck is as thick as the head to the point that it�s hard to tell where the head begins, and overall there is no definition at all in the body. It basically looks like the gecko was blown up like a balloon. You want to prevent this from happening. |
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| 08/23/09 06:37pm |
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Lovetheleo View Profile |
Message To: Gravel1 In reference to Message Id: 2062512 Feeding
you dont ever have to feed bugs they do not need them but the diet you cant really measure out how much you will give them crestis have small stomachs and cant eat very much at a time feed babies every night and adults every other day just put some food in there they will not over eat pretty much everyone will tell you this on this forum and on forums specifically for cresties it will say to put a dish of the food in there there is no set amount, especially for babies i dont even know how you would give a set amount but i would guess they eat 1/2 a tables spoon every other day? approximatly |
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| 08/23/09 08:02pm |
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Gravel1 View Profile |
Message To: Lovetheleo In reference to Message Id: 2062554 Feeding
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| 08/23/09 08:40pm |
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Lovetheleo View Profile |
Message To: Gravel1 In reference to Message Id: 2062575 Feeding
not sure about vorax though i know they are called the "poor mans lechie" but i dont know if that is care or just by looks let me see if i can find any info ok from what i have found cgd is the main part of their diet as well but yes they will eat much more b/c they are larger geckos i dont own either of those species though so i cannot give you an estimate on how much they eat |
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| 08/23/09 09:41pm |
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Feeding