Feeding mealworms to your leopard gecko.

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joneh

Guest
im not really surprised with those stats to be honest. Personnally i beleive that leos should have a mixed diet between crickets and mealworms. If you have skinny leos then feed more mealworms then crickets and the opposite way around for fat geckos. I personally like mealworms more just cause they dont stink up my display tank in my living room :D
 
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Gonser

Guest
Ron Tremper feeds mealworms to his colony, exclusively. Since his geckos are amazing and live to a ripe old age, I'd say the man knows what he is doing or he'd do something else....

A well fed gecko will be more colorful and grow larger than a skinny gecko, and size rules! A fat gecko on the other hand is not good, so YOU need to control how much you feed. Juvies will eat like pigs so don't overfeed them just because they will eat eat and eat and eat. More is not better. Watch their waistlines!

I prefer superworms now that you can buy "small" superworms from Mulberry. Those big superwoms are too huge for most leos, plus they DO bite. I have a leo with two chunks taken out of its face by a mean large super, so be careful. The small supers are great and don't have the ton of fat that the large ones have.

I also think some crickets in the diet are good, but they are a pain to feed, house, and chase around your house when they escape. A varied diet is good, with small supers as the staple IMO. I also like that you can easily gutload supers and keep them at room temp so they are always eating. I feed them fresh greens, carrots, and have a small dish in their box with herptivite, rep cal, etc. so they are very healthy and nutritious for my leos.
 
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gitrdone0420

Gotta catch 'em all!
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Jacksonville, Fl
I feed mine a balanced mixture between mealies and crickets. I would feed supers, but my leos wont eat them?! It is actually kind of annoying, lol. My water dragon wont even eat the supers unless I dont feed him crickets for a day. Looks like Fly Larvae isnt too bad? Does anyone feed Fly Larvae? I would think that doing a big mix of mealies, crickets, supers, wax (For fiber) and Fly Larvae would be the way to go... Any opinions?
 
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Pickles457

Guest
i feed strictlty mealworms/supers with rep-cal, or use the leopard gecko multi vitamen by t-rex. my geckos are healthy and breeding so i guess its all up to what you want to do. Personally, crickets are a pain. The only thing that gets crickets is my gargoyle:)
 

LizMarie

New Member
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NYC
I feed watever I feel like ordering at the time but my leos diet is mainly made up of Roaches and Supers at the moment. I too like a little variety in her diet from time too time.
 

Syris71

New Member
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242
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Seabrook,NH
I feed my gecko babies small mealies but by the time they are ~15g I start to feed them small-medium supers. My feeders are all gut loaded with veggies ( I like to use high calcium veggies like collard greens)
I cant stand crickets and roaches are just gross...lol
 
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Gonser

Guest
For those feeding supers...if you have a lot of leos it can be pretty expensive, so you can dilute the supers by adding in some mealies to cut costs. Or you can feed mealies one day and supers the next.

I agree crickets are a pain, but they are good for a varied diet, plus some leos that were raised on crickets (some breeders use only crickets) will only eat crickets, so you may be stuck with them.
 

Chewbecca

www.ellaslead.com
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60 miles south of Chicago
I agree crickets are a pain, but they are good for a varied diet, plus some leos that were raised on crickets (some breeders use only crickets) will only eat crickets, so you may be stuck with them.

This is EXACTLY WHY I think it's important for breeders to feed a variety of feeders so that when a gecko goes to a new home, they new owner has plenty of feeder options.

If purchasing a leo, I try to purchase from a breeder who is already feeding what I intend to feed.
 

Haligren

is behind you.
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Prince George, BC
I like to feed my leos a variety as well although they both eat predominantly supers. (Well, when Tiamat was eating.) I know that the supers can bite quite hard as I've had them latch onto me a few times, but my leos usually eat them before the even have a chance. And well, Mandarin is a pig and seems more determined to eat it when it puts up a fight. lol That being said, I think Mandarin's getting a little fat so I've been feeding her some canned insects as well. She seems to really like the grasshoppers.
 

mynewturtle

New Member
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559
Location
Canada
The stats I figured you were all already aware of. Why I posted this was to point out a very experienced herper recomends mealworms to only be 10 PRECENT of reptiles diets, yet a lot of us feed them exclusivly. Then we wonder why geckos have fatty livers. He also mentions how it is not uncommon for the mealworms skins to cause impaction, due to the hard skins and that it could be avoided by feeding freshly shed ones. But really how many of us pick out only freshly shed ones?

I don't know about you guys but personally I would put my geckos health before cost ect. I am now going to feed less mealworms. I was always under the impression that mealworms skins couldn't cause impaction.
 
G

Gonser

Guest
The stats I figured you were all already aware of. Why I posted this was to point out a very experienced herper recomends mealworms to only be 10 PRECENT of reptiles diets, yet a lot of us feed them exclusivly. Then we wonder why geckos have fatty livers. He also mentions how it is not uncommon for the mealworms skins to cause impaction, due to the hard skins and that it could be avoided by feeding freshly shed ones. But really how many of us pick out only freshly shed ones?

I don't know about you guys but personally I would put my geckos health before cost ect. I am now going to feed less mealworms. I was always under the impression that mealworms skins couldn't cause impaction.

I hear ya. But...remember again, that I've heard Tremper only feeds mealies and he has among the best leos in the world. I think he as a male 28 years old that is still breeding, so mealies can't be all bad, hmmm?

Of course, he has thousands of leos, so catering to a varied diet would be tough for him. But you can't knock his success!
 
G

Gonser

Guest
Does he not also feed roaches? I don't know if he does, but assuming he does because under his homepage *Ronalds Roaches*.

He may use roaches on other species but I believe he has said a few times that he only feeds mealies for his leos.
 

Molicka Molko

New Member
Messages
282
Location
Asia
I Starve My Adult Male For 2 Weeks..
He Is Spoil On Crickets Only..
But After His Super Hungry,He Ate The Superworms..HAH..
Finally I Get Ride Of The Crickets,The Are A Hassle To Take Care..
As For My 2 Young Female,Lucky The Breeder Been Feeding them Mealworm..
So They Oways Feed On Mealies No Problem..
 

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