Help me get my Leo to hunt

[bman123]

He missed a couple more times and he gave up, he went into his hide lol so intook the crickets out and put 4 supers in his bowl. It was very cool to see him get those two crickets. I think only 3-4 in his cage at a time is the sweet spot.

The crickets have too many places to hide tho so I take his hides out to make it a little easier on him. Once he gets it down and starts to eat them regularly with good striking I will leave his hides and stuff in there.

I was so happy to see him chase the cricket down. He walked real slow like he was a leopard lol, when the cricket went to run away he ran and got em. I jumped up like yess finally he did it. Now if I can get him on a schedule that would be great.

I'm gonna leave mealworms or supers in his bowl everyday, then offer him crickets every 3-4 days since he seems hungry around then. I haven't seen him touch his food bowl, well not even look at it since he ate from it last.

 

[bman123]

For the most part the supers seem to stay in his clear bowl, I get the occasional smart one that gets out tho. He has 5 supers in his bowl and only one got out so that's not too bad. I don't want the bowl to be too big that he can't get into it without knocking it over but yet again it can't be shallow because the superw will get out.

Can you guys give me some ideas on a good food bowl to house supers and mealies in? The mealies can't get out of it but the supers can.

 

[bman123]

Well herea the deal. I went to pet supplies to get a bowl, I found one about 3inches deep and 3inches long. It was $5 but it looked like it would work, the only bigger bowls were like 7 inches and I don't have that much room to spare.

So I get home throw some supers in and they get out right away, I put them back and I out mealies in, they got out also. I honestly don't know what to do to keep them inside a bowl. They have gotten out of every container I put them in. When I dust them with calcium they don't get out, but when they aren't dusted they get out.

I obviously can't dust every meal so I have a problem lol. I talked to the petstore about a return and they said to bring it back and try another one. The thing is the only other ones are longer and they are all stone.

The worms really get some traction on that stone, it's not slippery either.

 

[TFerguson]

He missed a couple more times and he gave up, he went into his hide lol so intook the crickets out and put 4 supers in his bowl. It was very cool to see him get those two crickets. I think only 3-4 in his cage at a time is the sweet spot.

The crickets have too many places to hide tho so I take his hides out to make it a little easier on him. Once he gets it down and starts to eat them regularly with good striking I will leave his hides and stuff in there.

I was so happy to see him chase the cricket down. He walked real slow like he was a leopard lol, when the cricket went to run away he ran and got em. I jumped up like yess finally he did it. Now if I can get him on a schedule that would be great.

I'm gonna leave mealworms or supers in his bowl everyday, then offer him crickets every 3-4 days since he seems hungry around then. I haven't seen him touch his food bowl, well not even look at it since he ate from it last.

Congrats. I knew he could do it, and he'll just get better with practice.

Superworms are tough to keep in a bowl. I don't even try. I just keep mealies in a bowl and feed supers like I do crickets... just a few at feeding time. Best bet on a bowl to keep supers in, is something slick... like glass or glazed ceramic. Even then one or two always manage to find a way out.

T Ferguson

 

[bman123]

Yeah those super worms are something else. I should of just kept my $5 and used it for milk lol. I'm gonna hit the bowl tomorrow with some fine sandpaper and see if i can get it smooth as glass. I really like the way the bowl looks and it's a shame to not use it.

Hopefully i can find some sandpaper in the basement and smooth the bowl out. I don't know if I have any sandpaper or not. If I can smooth it out then they shouldNt be able to get out anymore due to the height of the bowl.

 

[bman123]

The only reason why I want to use the supers in the bowl is I can switch them out. One day supers next day mealies. That way I will always have fresh gut loaded food for him.

 

[TFerguson]

The only reason why I want to use the supers in the bowl is I can switch them out. One day supers next day mealies. That way I will always have fresh gut loaded food for him.

Keep gutload in the dish with the food item, super or mealie.... never have to take them out to reload them.

T Ferguson

 

[bman123]

I don't put the gutload in the dish because i don't want my Leo to accidentally eat it. I'm sure if I left some kind of oats or something in there then they would be more active. It's not a big deal to just swap them out everyday. I have 2 deli cups with mealworms in them. I just dump the uneaten mealies in one container and get new mealies from the other container. He's not really eating the mealies tho, maybe he will start to eat them I don't know.

 

[bman123]

Plus the darn supers get out of the food bowl so now I just wait til he looks and acts hungry and I just drop the supers in his tank one at a time.

I'm glad he's eating without the tongs now, you called it tferg once he got hungry he'd hunt. I got him to finally chase down crickets, it was funny tho as he missed so many times. He's new to crickets so he needs alot of practice lol..

 

[TFerguson]

I don't put the gutload in the dish because i don't want my Leo to accidentally eat it. I'm sure if I left some kind of oats or something in there then they would be more active. It's not a big deal to just swap them out everyday. I have 2 deli cups with mealworms in them. I just dump the uneaten mealies in one container and get new mealies from the other container. He's not really eating the mealies tho, maybe he will start to eat them I don't know.

yeah, any gutload accidentally ingested by your gecko won't hurt him... most likely the opposite, but however you want to handle it.

T Feguson

 

[bman123]

So I showed him the mealies twice today And he wouldn't touch them either time. He ate a dusted super around 6pm and he came out around 8:30 looking hungry. So I tried the mealie bowl again and nothing. He dis end up eating 3 more dusted supers tho around 8:45

today was the most he's ate in one day. 4 dusted supers, I'm suprised he ate that many lol. He does seem to prefer the supers over the mealies and I don't blame him. I'd rather have a triple cheese burger over a single. From the way it's looking he's gonna be on strictly supers and crickets.

I will just do his feeding one day supers the next feeding crickets. Tferg I am glad he's getting his own food now, what a relief. When he comes out his hide and looks straight up he's hungry so he let's me know now. Or when he pokes his head out the hide he will scan his tank floor. That's what he did at 8:45 I dropped a dusted super on the floor and he bolted out his hot hide and snatched it up. I dropped him 2 more dusted supers in and he gobbled them up to followed by a big drink of water lol..

 

[Toasty84]

The longer you hand feed him/drop food in front of him, the longer it's going to take to get him to eat out of the bowl on his own.

My guy slowed right down as far as eating went during the colder months.
Now that the weather has been warming up, he's been attacking the bowl.
A little something I'd do during the winter months when I noticed he hadn't been touching his food for some time was to put some wax worm guts in his mealie bowl. The sweet scent was enough to entice him into chomping a few mealies down.

 

[thegeckoguy23]

I would just leave mealies in his dish all the time. If he is healthy, he isnt going to starve himself to death. I have quite a few that refuse to hunt their food. They do eat out of dishes now but if a cricket wonders off forget going to get it,lol

+1

 

[bman123]

He's all good now I caught him twice now eating mealies out of the bowl.
I just had to let him figure out that if he's hungry he just needs to go to the bowl and chomp em up. He's been hunting his crickets too.

It was by far the hardest to get him to hunt the crickets. I have switched him tho from crickets to super worms. I just wait til he comes out his hide and I drop a super worm in there. Either he goes after it and eats it or I just take it out and offer food the next day. He is due to eat tomorrow since it will be the fourth day since he's ate alot.

When he eats the mealies it's not alot only a couple. He normally eats between 3-5 superworms every 3-4 days. He finally got the hang of it lol and he's been doing real good.