Great info on invert nutrition content

[ForTozs]

I found this page that gives excellent details on the nutritional content of various feeder inverts...

http://www.nagonline.net/Technical%20Papers/NAGFS00397Insects-JONIFEB24,2002MODIFIED.pdf

One thing I noticed is that earthworms have a nice Ca/P ratio along with a good amount of protein. I am new to leos and just got my first pair this week. I have also heard that mealworm and cricket exoskeletons are less than ideal in terms of digestibility. Granted that there could be toxicity issues with pesticides and herbicides, are there any other reasons earthworms are not used as a common food source for leos? I imagine parasites could be an issue as well, but it seems like there must be a source of parasite-free, organic earthworms somewhere.

 

[jemjdragon]

I've never heard of a leopard gecko eating an eathworm, but when I see earthworms they seem to be a little big for the gecko to eat. If you could find small ones then maybe, but other than that I'm not sure. Though if you plan on digging in your yard for them, then I'd worry about pesticides and herbicides. I'm sure if you found someone that breeds and/or sells them you should find them pesticide free and herbicide free or you could ask them.

 

[Northstar Herp]

I've fed my leos earthworms before, they ate them like nobody's business.

 

[ForTozs]

Thanks. Maybe the "red wigglers" would be more appropriately sized? I see alot of people talk about prey size. What's funny is I have Mediterranean geckos all over my house and I'll see them take down roaches half their size. Not that I would want to push the envelope on my leos, but I always wonder how much of an issue it really is.

 

[Northstar Herp]

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has actually had problems because of the feeder being too big. I don't know if I buy it... it may be one of those "good rule of thumb" ideas. If you don't feed anything bigger than the distance between the geckos eyes, they won't choke. But if you feed something big, they might.

Early on in my leo owning experience, I fed my first leo earthworms off and on, and i'm talking 5 inch ones. She didn't have any trouble at all. That's not to say that some gecko somewhere might have trouble with one and choke, you just have to keep that in mind when deciding whether or not to try it.

 

[jemjdragon]

Too big of a bug can make the gecko puke and if they have hard exoskeletons (this might also be true for soft bodied insects but I'm not sure), it might cause impaction. A gecko eating too much at once might also puke.
I kinda view it as if I try to swallow a whole hamburger, I most likely will not feel very good after.
Those two things are just some things to think about. I'm sure not everyone experiences these problem, just like its not uncommon for someone to experience them. =]

I think it might be difficult for them to eat something too big. When I had a frog, it couldn't swallow mealies because they were too big so I gave him fruit flies. =]