all about hatchlings + questions

[ADEE]

What do you feed your hatchlings?
How do you house them? (individual, together as a group, in what, exc)
Offer water, food and calcium from hatch day?
Keep them on moist papertowels?
Any information you can add will be VERY helpful!

We have two clutches right now, one is due August 16th (or there abouts) and the other is due Sept 8th (or so, they were just layed two days ago)

Last night I candled all four eggs and when I did so you could actually see the little babies moving inside the older eggs, the smaller eggs are doing well also, have growing little cherios in them!!! Of course I was totally overcome with excitment. This is the first clutch that we think will actually make it. The last clutch had one nonfertilized egg and the other stopped growing at about 20 days. So were very excited!

We also picked up a baby, 6 grams mack snow (het tremper albino) from our breeder and we cant wait for her to get some size on her so we can introduce her to our male normal. (we will eventually get another het tremper albino) Our male has developed like fat deposits behind his arms and according to the breeder introducing more females will help him slim down some.. any thoughts on that?

TIA

[dalvers63]

Most people I know set the babies up in their own little cage/tub from the time they hatch. They use papertowels that are a bit damp and always have water available and calcium available.

Good luck with your babies!

[darkangel]

That's so funny that you have an expected hatch date of 8/16, because my first ever four leo eggies are expected on the same date. From what I've read, they can be housed together until they're old enough to be sexed, so you can separate males (to keep them from fighting) or earlier if you see some babies being aggressive. I believe you can feed small mealworms from day one. Calcium is fine. I was actually gonna put some calcium and vitamin powder on my finger and get them to lick it a couple times; I do this with my females occasionally just because I wanna make sure they're getting plenty. I also put vitamin powder on my mealworms prior to feeding.

All I know about slimming down is that those females are PIGLETS! I hardly ever see my males get to eat unless I feed crickets. If that doesn't slim him down I don't know what will

[mlededee]

Feed small mealworms and small crickets starting 3-4 days after hatch (they won't be hungry right away because they are still getting nutrition from the absorption of their yolk sack). Mealworms can be left in the enclosure at all times and supplemented with crickets or other insects several times per week. Also keep calcium and fresh water available at all times.

You can house clutchmates or pairs together until 4-5 months of age (females of course can stay together indefinitely depending on the enclosure space). Leos are sexable at about 4 weeks, so you will be able to tell males from females, but you don't have to separate males at that time.

Keep hatchlings on moist paper towels and mist once or twice per day for several months. In a shoebox rack system you will not have space for a humid hide as they grow, so you can substitute for this by misting once or twice per day as needed. When the geckos are older and moved up to larger enclosures with humid hides misting is no longer needed.

Fat deposits behind the arms are normal and a good thing. There is no reason to want your male to slim down. It is not likely that you have an overweight male unless you are feeding excessive amounts of pinkies (males don't need pinkies at all and females don't require them, they are just a good way for females to put weight back on after each clutch--one pinky fed after each clutch is laid).

[ADEE]

Thats the thing... I dont feed pinkies at all and we hand feed both of them super worms every other day. Female gets about 4 and male sometimes eats 7 depending on the mood. We keep offering until they turn away. We used to have a small container with feeders in them but neither gecko would eat out of the bowl...

[mlededee]

What I'm saying is that your geckos don't need to slim down. You want them to have nice fat tails and fat pockets in their armpits--that is normal and healthy.

[ADEE]

What I'm saying is that your geckos don't need to slim down. You want them to have nice fat tails and fat pockets in their armpits--that is normal and healthy.

Thanks! Glad to hear it

[Larry Suttles]

Thats some great info thanks for posting it Emily