gut loading?

[GothicGurrrl]

Hey everyone,

I'm a newbie leopard gecko keeper.. and I will be bringing my first leo home on Friday soo her viv has a while to heat up.
I don't really know much about feeding leos, except they like crickets, meal-worms and the occasional wax-worm. I've decided to feed her on brown crickets as her main diet, and give her black crickets or meal-worms as a treat monthly. is that okay?

Soo.. I know gut loading is feeding your insects nutritional foods so that they will be full of nutrients when you feed them to your leo. I was just wondering what I could feed to my crickets?

I can't get any special cricket feeder for a while.. soo what else can I feed them? for the last few days, I've given them some bread, some lettuce and some apple peel.

 

[Dog Shrink]

I've kept crickets for a toad, but I feed my leo super worms and here's a couple reasons why. Crickets are NOISY, they chirp and it can be heard from the end of the hall in a room with a closed door. They STINK... man do they, they require frequent cleanings of the tub. Crickets can carry parasites to your leo. Crickets can nibble and stress your leo if you leave them in with your leo overnight with out (and even with) leaving an apple or potato wedge in the tank for them insted. If your leo is a bad hunter for some reason you'll have to likely pull the legs off the crickets. There are several other reasons but those are the majors.

What I like about feeding super worms is that you only need 1-4 supers per feeding if you feed every other day (depending on how old your leo is, mine is almost 8 mos old and I feed mon wed fri 4 supers sunday I sneak him a couple mealies). Many leos do great on a diet of mealies or supers. They are non-smelling, non-noise making, can't escape, easy to keep healthy in several different beddings ranging from wheat germ to rolled oats. Gutloading, a bit of carrot, apple and potato is how I do it. Some crushed up dog food or fish food flakes for added nutrition. Only thing I don't like is picking the boogers up. I use tweezers and these things act like scorpions ino. They swish about when you pick them up. I worried about my leo getting bitten so I kinda squish their heads a little with the tweezers to stun them so when Eros eats them they don't lash about. Oddly enough tho they do still move enough to grab his stalker sides attention So honestly maybe do a little more comparing before making a final decision. Of course I'm sure availability will play a certain amount in your decision but I think read a bit more about it. I'd rather go with supers honestly.

 

[Jgreen909]

Pro Gutload from Pro Geckos. Works for all feeders and they all seem to love it from crickets to supers and everything in between. They also sell water crystals there you can use for water source for all feeders as well. the smallest amounts they sell will last months if you only have 1 or 2 geckos and it's very good and very cheap.

EDIT: Crickets can smell but to be honest if kept in a clean plastic container is small numbers, 50 or less, I have never really noticed a smell unless my face in the container. Actually the smell of the Pro Gutload smells good to me and overpowers 90% of the cricket smell. Also, small and medium crickets are pretty quiet only the large ones chirp(personally it helps me to sleep lol).

Just some info below about how good all the feeders are . As seen by the chart superworms are only a little bit better than waxworms, and only because of the slightly lower fat content and slightly higher protein. Everyone knows how bad they(waxworms) are as a staple diet for leos. Actually they(waxworms) have the best Cal to Phos ratio of all the main feeders. I did not include roaches in this because most new leo owners and a lot of people in general hate the idea of roaches of any kind in their house.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON

CRICKETS........................MEALWORMS.....................SUPERWORMS................................WAXWORMS
FAT 6.0%........................FAT 12.7%........................FAT 17.9%.....................................FAT 20.12%
PROTEIN 21.3%................PROTEIN 20.3%..................PROTEIN 17.4%...............................PROTEIN 15.5%
CALCIUM PPM 345.............CALCIUM PPM 133...............CALCIUM PPM 124...........................CALCIUM PPM 283
PHOSPHOROUS PPM 4328....PHOSPHOROUS PPM 3345.....PHOSPHOROUS PPM 2320.................PHOSPHOROUS PPM 2320
RATIO 0.08.......................RATIO 0.04.......................RATIO 0.05....................................RATIO 0.13

 

[GothicGurrrl]

Thankyou for your help!
sooo.. I still don't know what to feed my crickets ( I mentioned that I couldnt get any cricket feed right now, no money)... sooo I ask what else they can be fed??
I think after all these crickets are gone, I'm going to use mealworms more often, but I'm worried,, my teacher told me that they have a mineral or vitamin in them that can cause problems for your gecko if they eat alot of it. ( it begins with 'k' i don't remember what its called).

I bought brown crickets that are supposed to be silent but they are not lol. plus I hate them because they jump all over the place!

 

[Daedric1]

Commercial gutload and "cricket water" are the best thing, but until you get some...

Feed carrots or apples to your crickets and mealworms. Most fruits and veggies are okay but never go with citrus, as it can be harmful to some geckos.

Mealworms contain chitin (from their hard shells), which can cause impaction due to being harder to digest. This is only rarely a problem, and leos tend to do great with them (beardies and cresties have more problems with mealworms). Many breeders feed only mealworms because of convenience and their animals do just fine. Just make sure to gutload them first, since they are essentially junk food and nutritionless otherwise, so remember to gutload rather than just grabbing them straight out of the fridge.

 

[GothicGurrrl]

Thankyouu very much! I'm going to cut some carrots up now

 

[GothicGurrrl]

Mealworms contain chitin (from their hard shells), which can cause impaction due to being harder to digest. This is only rarely a problem, and leos tend to do great with them (beardies and cresties have more problems with mealworms). Many breeders feed only mealworms because of convenience and their animals do just fine. Just make sure to gutload them first, since they are essentially junk food and nutritionless otherwise, so remember to gutload rather than just grabbing them straight out of the fridge.

That's it.. chitin Okay, and thankyou I'm not worried about using mealworms as a stable diet now