Eating but....

[Troy L]

I recently aquired 2 female geckos. Both are healthy and seem to have settled in. I have been trying to keep track of how much each eat. The previous owner fed them mealies in a bowl so they never really had to hunt ther food items. I have been just tossing in the mealworms and other food items. I have noticed that neither one seems to really know how to hunt there food. they seem to have no idea hot to catch a cricket. My question is how do you teach them to hunt? I have no clue how in the world to teach them. Do I just toss the prey items in and watch and see what happens? If so how long do I leave them in before I should remove. I feed crickets, mealworms and have recently started a b.dubia colony. Any suggestions would be great.


Troy

 

[electrofelt]

This may be a little bit of a different situation, but when I got my gecko she had been fed from a dish, but either the mealworms were dead or she never knew they were there so she was not eating. I tried feeding her crickets but she was horrible at catching them and always missed or was too slow. What I did to help her catch her food was to take off the back legs on the crickets, just so that they could not jump away from her. Then I emptied out her tank so she could see everything. I found that if the crickets hid behind something my leo would forget about them or give up. After all of that, I would just stand there and wait until she finally caught it. She was actively trying to catch them though. If yours are just not interested in catching the food then this might not work, but that's how it worked for me. Good luck

 

[Troy L]

electrofelt,
Its funny you posted this. This is exactly what I have been doing and they seem to enjoy the mealworm hunt now. I have not tired crickets as they smell so bad to try to keep for a week. I no longer feed them from a feeding bowl. I will take and drop them in the habitat. I tried a small dubia but they just seem to move way to fast for them to track and hunt. My male on the other hand has been hunting since we got him. He has never been fed from a bowl. I feel making them hunt for the food makes for a healthy animal.


Troy

 

[bbleifus]

When I feed my leos dubia I give them a little pinch and lay them on their backs. After the pinch they play dead for awhile giving the leos time to see them.

 

[Troy L]

I never thought about doing that. Actually I never realized that they would play dead either.Thanks for that usefull info. My Male leo will eat anything offered to him. I offered him adult male Dubia tonight. I wish I had gone with my gut and got the camera prior to feeding. I held it by the butt/wings and dangled it in front of him. He was striking all over the place trying to rip it out of the tweezers. He hasn't been fed in 2 days. I feed every other day. He acted like he had not eaten in a week. One female I got to eat worms from tweezers. She ate 4 of them. The other wont eat from tweezers yet. She only ate 1 off the floor. Will try giving her more later. It was still a bit early to feed the females. Male will eat any time.

Troy

 

[electrofelt]

electrofelt,
Its funny you posted this. This is exactly what I have been doing and they seem to enjoy the mealworm hunt now. I have not tired crickets as they smell so bad to try to keep for a week. I no longer feed them from a feeding bowl. I will take and drop them in the habitat. I tried a small dubia but they just seem to move way to fast for them to track and hunt. My male on the other hand has been hunting since we got him. He has never been fed from a bowl. I feel making them hunt for the food makes for a healthy animal.


Troy

I agree that making them hunt help them stay healthy. My gecko sits around 99% of the time, so the little bit of exercise she gets while eating is important for her. Also, I just like to watch reptiles eat. Hopefully with the pinch trick you can get the females to eat consistently. Good luck

 

[Troy L]

How many mealworms should an adult gecko eat in each setting? I feed every other day. My females eat 3-4 worms at a setting. Is that enough to sustain them?

Troy