Hiding worms!?

[ohlalaliz]

I finally got my gecko the reptile carpet everyone reccomends, it works great! He loves it. He's been running around like a little maniac, I've never seen him so excited.:main_thumbsup:

There's a downside to it though, his meal worms hide in it!

Will this be a problem? Or will he naturally scavenge them out? :main_huh:

Opinions? Advice?

Thanks guys

 

[thegeckoguy23]

he may get them out i would say paper towl is the best cuz he can't get his finger nails stuck in it and easy cleaning

 

[ohlalaliz]

Thanks

By papertowel, do you mean just laying it down in there? Or shredding it and putting it in?

 

[marraeco8311]

Most of the time, if you leave food in there for the meal worms along with a small amount of calcium powder, the worms will come out from under it while you are sleeping and they will catch them then. The one's that don't you can pull out when you do a complete clean out of the tank at least once a week. They will generally still be alive and kicking you can dust them gut load them again and stick them back in the feed bowl. If you get a bit deeper feed bowl the worms may be stuck longer and unable to get under the carpet. Just don't forget to give them some moisture(potato or something). JUST FYI that is.

 

[TickoLucky]

I use a small metal kitten water bowl for my mealworm dish they haven't been able to escape yet. My little guy likes to get inside the bowl and just chomp down on them no work involved :main_laugh:

When I was using a manufactured "meal worm dish" they escaped every time I put them in I lifted the carpet to clean and there were 12 mealies underneath all still alive.

 

[ohlalaliz]

I think my leo is having a blast spooking them out of the carpet! Yesterday, before they could ll scurry away he ate about 3! I didn't know he could even eat that much! The metal bowl surely sounds like a good idea. I don't think their legs cling well to metal. Then they can't escape

I didn't know Meal Worms even needed to eat! Oh jeeeez. These little buggers are more expensive to keep than the Leo himself! Ohhh the things we do for our geckos!

 

[Remy]

Whatever your insects eat, your gecko ends up ingesting also. This is why it's important to gut load your insects 24hours prior to sending them to the slaughter.

I bought meal worm food from my pet store, it's simply a mix of grains really, a mix of crushed up non-sugary cereal could do the trick too I've been told (Cheerio's without the honey). I have a margarine container with about a inch of the meal worm food, I simply put my meal worms in there, their substrate is their food. Add a slice of potato or carrot for moisture, poke some holes in the lid and you've got yourself some easy to keep meal worms! Just change the slice of moisture every other day or so.

I'm also aware that you can keep them in the fridge so that they don't grow/morph as quickly. Here's a thread with some info I found useful.

Cheers! Hopes this helps out a little!

 

[GeckoNub]

Escaped mealies are a pain.

When i had my geckos on paper towel i would sometimes go to change the towel and find holes in it where the worms had escaped and eaten the paper towel!

They were always fed plenty of oats and carrots too the greedy little buggers.