Gecko size and feeder size

[hds1492]

My leo weighs ~45 grams. He currently eats medium sized crickets and large mealworms (not giant). I was wondering if he is big enough to eat supers, or if I should just stick with the large mealies for now. Also, would hornworms be ok? I found a place where I can order hornworms with enough food to grow them to about 1.5", which this company considers an appropriate size for a leo. Thoughts?

 

[mcwendle]

My leos that size eat supers in their bug mix.

 

[Dinosaur!]

I heard that hornworms are a great source of nutrients when they are captive raised super worms should be okay, but I would stick with large mealworms until he is just a little bigger... Say 50 grams. (I'm paranoid about feeder size lol) Just keep his diet varied, and you should have a good healthy gecko for years to come!

 

[Olympus]

He can eat anything so long as the width of the feeder is not wider than the space between his eyes, with a little more leniency for soft-bodied worms like silks, horns, butters, etc. But in general that's a goodrule to follow.

Mine would be eating superworms by now in addition to all that other stuff

 

[hds1492]

Thanks everyone for your input! I bought him some supers last night. How can I prevent them from biting him? I tried crushing one's head, and it didn't seem too phased by it. I know that people have said that their geckos go for the head first and crunch down on it-how can I make sure that he does this?

 

[DrCarrotTail]

At 45g I feed my geckos whatever. A general rule is the prey item shouldn't be wider than the space between the geckos eyes.

I was paranoid when I started feeding supers. They do bite but I don't think it's anything to worry about a lot. I've seen a couple of mine get the sides of their faces nipped when they didn't eat them quickly enough and a couple have shaken their heads when they didn't chomp the head but nothing worse than that. They learned to eat them faster and chomp them...haha. I honestly don't think there's much you can do to prevent it other than crushing heads and making sure your gecko is hungry before feeding. Crushing pretty much kills the super which is a waste if the gecko doesn't eat it right away. I 100% don't believe the hype all over the internet about them hurting a reptile once swallowed. Their stomachs are smooth hard muscle and acidic enough that the worm can't survive for more than a couple of minutes.

 

[hds1492]

Ok good! So he should learn pretty quickly how he should eat them. Good to know! I'll give him 1 or 2 tonight


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