Gecko ate cricket cube??

[Peperomia]

I have one leopard gecko, who's just under five inches. She's in a ten gallon tank on paper towel.

My issue: I put five crickets in her tank, along with a small block of Fluker's Orange Cricket Cubes for them to snack on. She's not a very good hunter, I don't know if it's because she's a rainwater and has poor vision or if she's just inexperienced, but it takes her a while to catch her food and I want to make sure they have food available.

So about half an hour later I look back and the cube is gone. It was probably half an inch by a quarter inch, I'm not sure, but no way the crickets ate it and there's no where it could have been knocked to, her tank is pretty sparse. It was on top of a hide where she usually doesn't go, but maybe it fell and then she missed a cricket and accidentally ate the cube instead? I honestly can't think of anything else that could have happened to it.

She's walking around okay, but will she be able to digest it?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Maybe it would be a good idea to switch to mealworms since it's never a good idea to leave uneaten crickets loose with our gex. Crickets carry parasites from eating poop. They eat gecko poop. They will also snack on a gecko. Mealworms can be left in a dish for her and changed out daily with fresh ones. No need to put any food or water in for them. Just dust with supplements. It may take a few days for her to start eating them, but she will when she gets hungry. Be sure you have your warm side floor temps up above 90 so she can break down the cube as quickly as possible if she did indeed eat it. If she doesn't poop in the next couple days, give her a warm shallow bath and rub water on her lips to lick. Keep us updated, I've never heard of a gecko eating a cricket cube, and would like to know the outcome. Good luck

 

[Theinfidel]

It's probably the lighting in the tank bothering her from catching the crickets.

 

[Peperomia]

I've thought mealworms sound nice, but I also keep frogs that will only eat crickets (mealworms don't move enough to attract them) and I really don't want to have two different types of food to deal with.

I'm aware of the issues with crickets, I put them in and check in half an hour- 45 minutes to remove what she hasn't eaten. The cube went in so that during that time they wouldn't nibble on her. And there's never any poop for them to eat, since my gecko goes in one corner on a schedule, it's really easy to clean up. (Best pet ever when it comes to cleaning)

There's no lighting in her tank, I feed her at night and the only light in the room at all then is coming from the hall outside.

She definitely ate the cube. I was gone most of the day and when I got back she'd pooped twice. One looked normal, and the other was sort of mushy, and her urates on that one were probably three or four times the size they usually are and actually had an orange tint. She's hanging out in her moist hide now, as far as I can tell she's acting completely normally. Ugh. I hope that was the full extent of the problem.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

The cube would make poop look odd. Hopefully it's gone now.