Feeding schedule

[lycophidion]

I adopted a sub-adult Leo a couple of months ago. When I first got it, it fed regularly every day when I switched on a dim LED light, before turning on the basking/uv lamp. I had been accustoming the gecko to eat from a small dish in a set location. A few of weeks ago, it stopped feeding in the morning and switched to evenings, again when I simulated dusk. Now it has gone full-tilt nocturnal. It won't come out at all except much later, well after it's fully dark. The problem is I feed it frozen and thawed crickets because I have the lizard in a wooden enclosure and I don't want crickets running around in my apartment. I also don't want to leave thawed, dead crickets in the cage all night for the same reason we don't eat sandwiches sitting out for a day. I'm hoping for some suggestions for feeding strategies that will either shift the lizard back to feeding at dusk or dawn or some other way of getting a handle on its feeding schedule. One way might be to stop trying to feed the Leo altogether in the hope that it will get hungry enough to come out and look for food at dawn or dusk. Another might be to place it at the appropriate time in a separate feeding enclosure.

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

I don’t know what to tell you either wake their ass up of feed live but in my opinion dead insects aren’t good all together

 

[acpart]

If the gecko is eating dead prey and remains healthy, then I guess it's a plan, though I think live prey would be better. I think you should try some of your ideas. Give each a week or two and see what works best.

Aliza

 

[lycophidion]

@

acpart​

RiDaGeckoGuy​

Thank you for your responses. In over 50 years of keeping herps, the pros and cons of frozen vs live foods have always been a topic of lively discussion. Whichever choice you make, the food source should be as nutritionally sound and free of pathogens and parasites as possible (generally, as fresh as possible). These conditions can be met either way. Or they can fail either way. With insect prey, we can gut-load and calcium/vitamin-dust to assure nutrients and we can raise/keep prey items in clean conditions to control possible pathogens. These can be fed live or fresh-killed with the same benefits to the reptile. As noted, I don't want escapes and I don't want the risk of hungry crickets or other prey items chewing on my pets, so I go with freshly killed prey. In the end, I opted to first try to feed the gecko in a separate enclosure. As I rarely handle my reptile pets, it was a little freaked out when I placed it in the enclosure, but it took the crickets.

 

[Deano715]

Mealworms might be an option. They wont escape.

 

[lycophidion]

Mealworms might be an option. They wont escape.

Thanks!
Lower nutritional value, but I considered them as a possible supplement. I tried them, but the lizard won't take them. It will take waxworms and soldierfly larvae, and I use these as supplements.

 

[Kimyoonmi]

Thanks!
Lower nutritional value, but I considered them as a possible supplement. I tried them, but the lizard won't take them. It will take waxworms and soldierfly larvae, and I use these as supplements.

Waxworms and mealworms have lower nutrition values and are really fatty. If possible, you might want to consider dubia roaches. High protein, high calcium, and active enough that the reptile will take it on its own, but won't crawl out of the dish you put them in. They also die outside of the terrariums.