Feeding questions

[Moppel]

Okay, so I've looked all over this site, and did a bunch of research, but there are still a few questions about feeding my leos that I need help with.

I was feeding just crickets, medium sized, dusted with calcium twice a week. But I guess, after looking around this site, I am going to switch to mealworms and Dubias now. Does that sound good? I just spent an hour reading and my head is spinning from all the information.

So, Dubias. What is the best way to house them? Do they need a water dish? And how many should I feed at a time? My geckos are roughly a year old, one male, one female, not housed together.

Mealworms. We fed them before, and they were in a little plastic tub in the fridge. I'm a bit confused on that one. I'm not sure how to gutload them that way, since they're kinda "paralyzed" in the fridge, and don't start moving until they come out. Should they be housed differently? And what is the best way to gutload them? The petstore said that the stuff they're in in the tub is for gutloading them, but I don't even know if they were eating while in the fridge in that half comatose state.
How many of those should I feed? And a lot of the pictures on here I looked at had dishes with mealworms in the tank. Is that something that should always be available, or on a schedule?

They are both really good eaters, and I want them to get the best nutrition possible. The male is a bit on the smaller side, and I'd like for him to gain some weight. I think the female is good.

Thank you for any and all advice, this site is so awesome!

 

[OnlineGeckos]

You can keep dubias in any containers with smooth walls, tall enough that they can't reach out. I use rubbermaid 45 gallon containers to keep my dubia colony in. You just place some egg-crates in there so they have places to hide and crawl on, I wouldn't recommend water dish as they can drown so use either water crystals or fresh fruit & veggies. I use strictly carrots to provide moisture, and whole grain cereals.

For mealworms you are to refrigerate them for a few days, then take them out to gutload them for a day by placing slices of carrots in there along with oats/wheat bran. Let them feed for 24 hours, then place them back inside the fridge for another few days.

As for how much to feed, this will depend on your gecko. Dubias are more meaty than crickets, so your gecko will likely not eat as many dubias before they get full. 1 dubia = roughly 3-4 crickets if we're judging size appropriate feeders. Mealworms, I tend to just leave 10 in a mealworm dish to allow my geckos to free feed on. They like to snack on them overnight, sometimes they'll finish it, sometimes they won't. They'll know how much they want to eat.

 

[Moppel]

Perfect, exactly what I needed to know. Thanks!!