4 Questions about keeping leos

[artgecko]

I am toying with the idea of adding 2-3 female leos to my collection. They were the first herp that got me into the hobby (I didn't keep any, but thought they were gorgeous and did research, etc.) and now that we'll be buying a house and I'll have more room for herps, they are on my list. That said, after getting used to how low-maintenance snakes are and having kept my crested geckos for a while, I want to make sure that they will work in my collection (maintenance-wise).

With that in mind, I have 4 questions for you guys that will help me decide if they would be a good addition for me.

1. Can leos be housed in a rack system with just UTH (if not, what do you prefer to house them)?
2. What would an average feeding schedule be for an adult leo (number of bugs and how often?)
3. Could leos be kept healthy on a diet of only meal/super worms or with the addition of dubia (no crickets)?
4. How plausible is it that female leos (if the same size) could live together without issues (or would it be better to do smaller individual tubs)?

Thanks for your time and help!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

1. Can leos be housed in a rack system with just UTH (if not, what do you prefer to house them)?

Yes this is how I use to keep my groups. I did 1.2 in a 32 quarts tub

2. What would an average feeding schedule be for an adult leo (number of bugs and how often?)

Daily I found it best to have food available at all time, I used to keep a dish with mealies at all time and replace them with new fresh gut loaded ones every other day.

3. Could leos be kept healthy on a diet of only meal/super worms or with the addition of dubia (no crickets)?

Yes I use to feed mealies exclusively

4. How plausible is it that female leos (if the same size) could live together without issues (or would it be better to do smaller individual tubs)?

You can house females together just fine if they are the same size.

[BenzieBox]

So meal worms can be used as a staple food source? I have a leopard gecko myself and feed him a mix of live crickets, wax worms(occasionally), and meal worms. I had always heard, and sometimes read, that the hard shells of meal worms can cause issues if fed too frequently. If this isn't ture then it's great news because crickets are a pain for me to keep.

[olstyn]

Individuals will vary, feeding schedule-wise. Mine slowed down bigtime when she reached adulthood. As a baby, she got fed twice daily, as many crickets as she would eat. As a juvenile, she slowed down to once a day, and once she reached adult size and stabilized at about 75 gr, she slowed down to every other, and then finally every third day. (This was based on my observations of her feeding response - she clearly was not hungry as often as when she was younger.) She's been on that schedule for 5+ years now, and there are even times when she refuses food; sometimes I accuse her of trying to emulate a ball python.

BenzieBox, regarding mealworms as a staple, my leo has been on large mealworms almost exclusively for several years now. Crickets became untenable for a while due to my living situation, plus she became a bit of a lazy hunter, so mealworms it was. While I occasionally think it'd be good to give her some crickets again, I really don't miss feeding the crickets or cleaning out the critter keeper they lived in, and she's doing just fine on mealworms, so it hasn't happened.

[olstyn]

You can house females together just fine if they are the same size.

True, but it's best to be prepared to house them separately in case one tries to dominate the other, one gets sick, etc. In the end, much like snakes, it tends to be easier to house them separately unless there's a need to house them together.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

So meal worms can be used as a staple food source? I have a leopard gecko myself and feed him a mix of live crickets, wax worms(occasionally), and meal worms. I had always heard, and sometimes read, that the hard shells of meal worms can cause issues if fed too frequently. If this isn't ture then it's great news because crickets are a pain for me to keep.

Yes they can be used as a staple diet for Leos.

What it is true that the hard shell can cause issues and should not be fed to certain species it is not the case with leos.

[artgecko]

Thanks for the great replies everyone!

I will really have to look into this... I may be getting a custom rack from Cserpents soon and had already planned on getting a couple shelves on a separate heat tape circuit so that I could house multiple species, so I could always just ask for another level and do the same to make room for a bin for a pair of females or 2 smaller bins to keep them singly.

I would love if mealies could be the only food source...The odds of me convincing my husband to let me grow a colony of roaches in a tub are slim to none... But I realize that supplemental feeding may be necessary.

For those that use meal worms / crickets, do you order yours online? Ideally I'd like to buy several months worth at a time (like I do with f/t) and keep them alive / feed off as I need to.

Thanks again for your input!