Crickets vs Mealworms

[migdem]

Hi all,

I have 2 juveniles recently bought. For the 1st week I had to feed them mealworms because i did not find crickets locally. After that week I bought some small crickets. Yesterday I gave them 4 small ones but after 24 hours they are still in cage. In the meantime I also put some mealworms and these were eaten. What should I do? Should i continue feeding mealworms? In a month's time I am going to try and change everything to Dubia Roaches if I will have success in breeding.

thanks in advance for your advice

 

[Dog Shrink]

Meal worms or super worms are fine as a staple diet for a leopard gecko. Mine is on super worms as his staple and is growing just fine. A varied diet is of course best for optimum nutrition but many offer a single feeder with an alternate as a "treat" on occasion. I don't like crickets because they can possibly carry parasites, can nibble your gecko if left in with them overnight and are stinky and make a lot of noise. If your leo is young you might have a better chance getting it to eat a varied diet over an older leo who has been on a specific regimin for the majority of his life. Introducing new feeders might be problematic with an older leo. If you want to feed dubias you might want to get a few to try out before committing to a large quantity and starting a colony.

 

[migdem]

Ok thanks alot. So practicaly if I do not see that they ate crickets after 3-4 hrs i should remove. What about dubia's?

 

[Dog Shrink]

Yes crickets should not be left with your gecko for extended periods of time unattended, also tho for the time they are with yuor gecko you might want to keep a piece of food in the tank for teh crickets such as a carrot for them to nibble on just in case but make sure it's bigger than your gecko could accidentally eat. I don't know about Dubias I don't use them, sorry. Hopefully some one else can chime in on that one.

 

[Designer Geckos]

Dubias are great and have double the protein % of crickets.....but....few leos seem to want to eat them routinely and some just flat refuse them. They are a GREAT feeder though if you can get your leos to take them. We hold the dubia upside down and grab a rear leg with curved tip forceps, hold firmly, and feed them upside down via the forceps at the cave opening.
Dubias can crawl out of most dishes and are great escape artists, so tong feeding is the best method.
Good luck.

 

[migdem]

Ok thanks. I will try feeding normally the dubias to geckos (just tossing in the vivarium) If for any chance they do not eat them for the first few hours should I remove or not? I heard that i SHOULD remove crickets after a few hours but do not know about dubias maybe someone could give me a tip.

Thanks

 

[Dog Shrink]

In my opinion I don't feel it is wise to leave any feeder in the tank with your animal unless it is in an escape proof bowl because it's just inviting problems.

 

[ChickenChump]

I leave dubia roaches in with my girl, (I do mostly finger feeding, though) they usually don't last past midnight. I got mine at about 3 inches, maybe 2 months old. At that stage she tried to eat anything that moved, so it was easy to get her to take her first dubia. After that first roach, it was smooth sailing. It's been a little less than two months and she's already put on 2 1/2 inches!