Confused on feeding young leo

[RCPgecko]

Cinnamon is approximately 8 weeks old, weighed 6g on Sunday. He had been fed on mealworms when we got him, with an occasional cricket. We got mealworms and Cinnamon pretty much ignored them. We got some small crickets and he goes to town on them. Since he is a small guy, we got small crickets and he ate 8 of them in short order.

I am confused on which is the better food for him. Reading various care sheets and websites is little help, I see conflicting reports. Some feed all mealworms, some say mealworms alone are not good.

I am thinking he ignores the mealworms because the mealworms we have are fairly sluggish and he just doesn't recognize them as food. When I put some carrot in with the worms, they got more active and he did eat a few of them. I am considering ordering some mealworms rather than getting some from the local pet supply store.

Am I reading correctly, the way to store mealworms in the fridge is just to put them in a dry container with air holes? It puts them into a dormant state? It looks like about 500 is the smallest amount I could order and with one small leo, I will have to store them because it will be more than a few days for him to go through them. I was thinking the medium sized mealworms, 1/2" - 3/4" size would be correct for him.

I am hesitant to bring in roaches because I seriously don't want any potential escapees setting up housekeeping.

I just want to be sure that Cinnamon is getting what he needs. Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

 

[lisa127]

Lots of us feed mealworms as the main diet, though it is pretty much agreed on that variety is best. Ordering online for one leo may not be even worth it. I have two leo's and I just buy them from the petstore instead of ordering online. I usually buy 2 or 3 containers at a time. I leave one out for the week and gutload with whole oats, carrots, and sometimes I throw in a little cricket gutload diet. I put the rest of the mealworms in the fridge until I use up the ones I'm gutloading. What type of dish/container are you using to feed the baby his mealworms? He may not be able to notice them enough. When mine was that young I made a mealworm dish for him. I cut out a clear dish from one of those disposable food containers that are see through. I made the rim just high enough to keep the mealworms in but low enough for him to get into. And since the container was clear he could actually see the worms while they were in the bowl. For juvies/adults I use those low rimmed but smooth kidney shaped dishes they sell in the reptile department. Make sure the dish you're using is not one of those small but deep ones.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

In the UK I believe mealworms are not considered to be the best food choice but in the US they're widely accepted and used. In my opinion feeding 100% of anything is a bad choice. Variety helps to compensate for any deficiency in a particular insect species. I feed about mealworms, superworms and dubia to my geckos. Juveniles get about 75% mealworms, adults about 25-50%. I hate crickets with a passion but they may be an acceptable choice for you. Like Lisa127 said, gutloading and dusting your feeders is also important. "You are what you eat" goes for geckos as well as the feeders they consume

 

[Some87]

I am still new but from what I have read was that crickets were better than mealworms because they have less fat and more protein. I have 1 leo and just get a 50 pack of crickets at a time from the store. I feed about 5 to 8 crickets a day and maybe 3 to 4 mealworms also. I really like mealworms for when I have to leave home for a few days too. I won't leave crickets in the cage because I have heard if them eating the toes, tips of the tail and even eyes of sleeping Leo's.

 

[Tongue Flicker]

Dubias and other roach feeder fare as the best feeder for most reptiles as well as leopard geckos as they the highest protein content of all readily available feeders and the lowest fat content. They also produce the lowest percentage of ash.

Downside is that they are illegal in many countries and some US states. But everyone will agree that feeding a variety of prey will yield a healthier animal