Question about feeding leopard geckos

[shook1s]

So I picked up a pair of leopard geckos 2 days ago. Everything seems fine so far. They're eating normally and seem happy so far. My question is about their diet. I have been feeding small crickets and they seem to love them. My problem is they are a major pain (the crickets). they are hard to control and are the dumbest things I have ever seen, drowning in the water bowl, escaping the bag when I'm trying to dust them, etc. I always take them out and then add fresh water when they drown, but it's a PITA. I got frustrated today and went to get mealworms as I have read they can be the staple diet as well. The employee at my LPS said they should not be their staple diet as they are low in nutritional value and high in fat. From doing research, I saw this was true about waxworms, but never read this about mealworms. So I have 2 questions:

1. Can mealworms be the everyday diet without causing nutritional problems for the geckos?

2. If crickets are required, is there a way to prevent the drowning situation? I don't want to be morbid, but can they be hobbled in any way so they can't escape the food bowl? Or is there a more humane way to get this accomplished? Thanks!!

[darkcirca]

How big are the geckos, full grown adults? I feed mealworms and superworms to my leo's, but I gutload all my live food prior to feeding. I feed crickets as a treat about once a week when I purchase them for my cresteds and savannah monitor. I've never had a problem with this type of feeding.

Personally I hate crickets, so I tend to avoid them at all costs now. Plus I can bulk order worms and they last a long time.

[cam191919]

mine love pinkies, and my mice make a ton of them. but they are really only a treat. mine wont eat worms, so i feed them the canned stuff. theyll eat right out of them. they get live crickets too

[darkcirca]

I wouldn't go with feeding the can stuff, it isn't as healthy. Seldom, if ever, should they get pinkies as well. I see this as a treat for my breeding females, but I only feed F/T pinkies.

[shook1s]

How big are the geckos, full grown adults? I feed mealworms and superworms to my leo's, but I gutload all my live food prior to feeding. I feed crickets as a treat about once a week when I purchase them for my cresteds and savannah monitor. I've never had a problem with this type of feeding.

Personally I hate crickets, so I tend to avoid them at all costs now. Plus I can bulk order worms and they last a long time.

They are babies I'd say 3-4 inches in length. I had to get the small crickets, because the large looked bigger than their heads. I have been gut loading the crickets with flukers. That brings up another question though. The mealworms are packaged in what looks like saw dust, but it's some sort of oat or bran substrate. Is gutloading beyond this necessary with the mealworms. Thanks for the quick replies!!!!

p.s. I couldn't agree more about the crickets. I spent 20 mins chasing 2 escapees around my living room last night.

[shook1s]

mine love pinkies, and my mice make a ton of them. but they are really only a treat. mine wont eat worms, so i feed them the canned stuff. theyll eat right out of them. they get live crickets too

I'm pretty sure mine are still too young and small for pinkies right now

[darkcirca]

At least they are in your living room! My reptiles and I share a bedroom in the basement, and the crickets go in a container in the other room. When 3am rolls around you can hear them..just another reason to avoid them for me!

I gutload with vegetables (potatoes, carrots, mustard green, collard green, squash, etc). I have a bearded dragon, so I just use the food I feed her. I keep my superworms in rubbermaid containers with oats and bran mixed together, which gets replaced once a month (or when it becomes like sawdust). The mealworms
stay in the fridge and get gutloaded 24 hours prior in a separate container outside the fridge. Leaving them at room temp causes them to morph sooner, and often die off.

[shook1s]

last one....how many average sized mealworms are appropriate for two 3-4inch babies per day. and should their feeding be split into a morning and night feeding?

[cam191919]

i go easy on the pinkies. chickens love em too:devil:

[Dwarf Puffers]

From what I've read, although waxworms are higher in fat than mealworms, mealworms are still unhealthy as a constant diet. Dusted/loaded crickets should be a staple diet for a healthy gecko. Pinkies are bad enough for pacman frogs, but leopards? *shudder*

You can give the crickets very little water and a wet sponge for water, as well as potatos, carrots, and other water-laden plant matter. I think there are these liquid gel crystal/blob things out, too.

[shook1s]

From what I've read, although waxworms are higher in fat than mealworms, mealworms are still unhealthy as a constant diet. Dusted/loaded crickets should be a staple diet for a healthy gecko. Pinkies are bad enough for pacman frogs, but leopards? *shudder*

You can give the crickets very little water and a wet sponge for water, as well as potatos, carrots, and other water-laden plant matter. I think there are these liquid gel crystal/blob things out, too.

I do feed the crickets with gutload, the problem is that they die in the water bowl for the geckos. I don't know how to keep them outta there. I can't sit and watch all day to make sure they don't drown or harrass the geckos. That and they're impossible to keep from jumping everywhere. That's my only problems with the crickets.

[Notophthalmus]

Do you have any bioballs (filter media)? You can put a few of these in the water dish to keep the crickets from drowning until they've all been eaten. If you arrange them well, your lizards and even the crickets should still be able to get a drink.

[Vicious_Fish]

I do feed the crickets with gutload, the problem is that they die in the water bowl for the geckos. I don't know how to keep them outta there. I can't sit and watch all day to make sure they don't drown or harrass the geckos. That and they're impossible to keep from jumping everywhere. That's my only problems with the crickets.

Well in that case, go pick up a rubbermaid tub and put your gecko in it with the crickets. You can watcht them eat and then not have to worry about the crickets drowning or biting your geckos in their tank.

[shook1s]

Do you have any bioballs (filter media)? You can put a few of these in the water dish to keep the crickets from drowning until they've all been eaten. If you arrange them well, your lizards and even the crickets should still be able to get a drink.

I've never heard of that before. Is it something that floats in the water dish?

[shook1s]

Well in that case, go pick up a rubbermaid tub and put your gecko in it with the crickets. You can watcht them eat and then not have to worry about the crickets drowning or biting your geckos in their tank.


I probably will do this is the future, but because they're so new they seem to still get startled when I have any activity in the cage. I haven't even handled them yet, because I've read not to really play with them for a couple weeks after introducing them. Is this incorrect?

[Vicious_Fish]

Yes you shouldn't handle them the first few weeks. You can slowly get them use to you by putting your hand in the tank and let them check it out and climb on it. But if you want to move them into the tub to feed for now, you can just shoe them into a cup and then carefully place thim into the tub.

[cam191919]

they sell "cricket savers" at pet stores which are really just bioballs. i just have a rock that i use

[shook1s]

Ok got another question...I'm probably just being paranoid, but 1 of my geckos has some skin remaining from his/her shed on their head right near their left eye. It has been there a couple days now and I assumed it would come off with use of the humid hide. Now I'm starting to get concerned because I've read that shed near the eye can cause complication. I know you can put warm water on a q-tip to ease it off, but as I've stated in previous posts I have had them less than a week. I'm afraid to startle him and cause undo stress. Should I be proactive and remove the shed or let nature take it's course? Thanks again for all the insightful advice!!!

[Vicious_Fish]

Hmmm....good question. I've always helped my geckos out if they had any shedding issues. Because it's near the eye you might have to break the no touch rule for now to remove it. Besides it's not going to get better with age. I would try to loosen the dead skin like you said with the tip of a wet q-tip and then try to carefully remove it with tweezers.

[shook1s]

Hmmm....good question. I've always helped my geckos out if they had any shedding issues. Because it's near the eye you might have to break the no touch rule for now to remove it. Besides it's not going to get better with age. I would try to loosen the dead skin like you said with the tip of a wet q-tip and then try to carefully remove it with tweezers.

I will definitely do that. Should I do this at night when he/she is active or daytime? The other thing I've noticed is the other gecko always seems to be in the humid hide, should there be one humid hide for each of them?

[Vicious_Fish]

I will definitely do that. Should I do this at night when he/she is active or daytime? The other thing I've noticed is the other gecko always seems to be in the humid hide, should there be one humid hide for each of them?

I would probably wait toward the evening when your gecko is more relaxed. Wait until your gecko is active and walking around. Waking your gecko can stress it and makes you seem like a giant predator about to eat it.

You can have multiple humid hides if you want to. But mine don't seem to care and will gladly share one hide even though I provide two.

[shook1s]

I would probably wait toward the evening when your gecko is more relaxed. Wait until your gecko is active and walking around. Waking your gecko can stress it and makes you seem like a giant predator about to eat it.

You can have multiple humid hides if you want to. But mine don't seem to care and will gladly share one hide even though I provide two.

I will try tonight and see what happens. It's possible they're both using the hide I just never catch him/her in there.