Hatchlings on crix vs on mealworms

[LeopardGeckoMom52688]

I hatched a baby normal gecko on May 11th and the female I bought from JMG was born on may 15th. Mine has been here for about 3 months now and weighs 50 grams. The other one found a new home about 3 months ago and she only weighs about 30 grams, and they feed her on crix. And I feed mine on meal worms. Has anyone else seen something like this.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Yup. Geckos grow faster and bigger on mealworms!

 

[LeopardGeckoMom52688]

Is it bad. Because I kno jmg feeds on crix and I brought the female home at 23 grams and she is now 50 3 months later!

 

[mrcsk8ter44445]

Yup. Geckos grow faster and bigger on mealworms!

Wow i never knew this, good thing I feed mealworms

 

[Baysidegeckos]

Yes it is true, i found out my self when i first breed Leos, i feed only crickets and the geckos frew so slow, and this year i am feeding all my leos and baby leos mealies, and they grow like weeds!!!!!!

 

[MSMD]

Wow. Thanks for the tip, Marcia and Bret! I wasn't aware of that. Good thing I feed mealies! IMO they're a lot easier than crickets (and WAY less stinky). My little ones from JMG feed QUITE happily on mealies. They're little, fat mealie piglets, actually! lol

 

[acpart]

My JMG male that I bought last year will eat only mealworms even though he was housed with 3 females last season who ate primarily crickets. I raise all my hatchlings on mealies because I feel that if I sell them to new leo owners (which is most of my clientel) it's easier for them to deal with mealworms than with crickets. However, some of my holdbacks have lost all interest in mealworms and want only crickets. Go figure.

Aliza

 

[dprince]

I only feed mealworms to my babies, so they know no difference.

I've been able to get all of mine (from breeders who feed crickets) on mealies except for one holdout female.........she's two and apparently thinks that mealworms are icky. :main_rolleyes:

 

[LeopardGeckoMom52688]

All three of my jmg geckos have switched. I hope my aft n new one will!

 

[SanDiegoLeos]

yeah im still trying to get the few i purchased to switch over from crix...a couple are really being a pain though...

 

[eyelids]

Boo crickets! LOL!

 

[phalanx]

In my opinion mealworms are not a better type of food than criquets. my experiences are just the oposit. I mainly feed crix and for addtion they get some mealies and small roaches.

If the young geckos dont grow well on cricquets it must have something to do with the quality.. Nutrient value of crix is highly depending on the food you give them before presenting to your geckos (gutloading). Also the nutrient value of mealworms is not as high as crix but mealworms do contain 3 times as much fat as criquets!

variation in the diet is important.

 

[Bela]

It seems there is more volume with larger mealies than with crickets.

When the studies are done to see what has more content value, it's a fixed amount per study. Now take a large mealworm w/o chitin and compare it to a bigger sized cricket with it's lack of "meat." The gecko is filling up on useless material that will just be passed thru with crickets but getting the most benefit from the meatyness that comes from the mealworm. Is that not why gutloading crickets is a must? So I would assume that yes, crickets are more nutrious but I am getting more out of mealworms than crickets?

 

[Gecko]

Ideally, I'd like my babies on both. That way they won't reject either as foriegn. I'd want roaches in there too, but not enough time . . .