How do I get them to eat superworms?

[AntMan612]

Since superworms are more nutritious, anyway, and mealworms are in short supply:

What is the best method to wean my leos away from regular mealworms to superworms? They sometimes look interested, lick them, and then walk away. Is it safe to deprive them of regular mealworms (the diminishing supply I have) until they get hungry enough to eat a superworm?

Or, do picky eaters just stay picky eaters forever?

 

[tsavage]

how old are your leos.....its harder the older they are sometimes

 

[GECKOFREAK]

Many of my leos will only eat supers if I use feeding tongs, otherwise they don't seem interested.

 

[AntMan612]

Tylor,
They are about 1-1/2 years old, which I'm sure is part of the difficulty.

Has anyone successfully introduced any new feeder to an adult leo, and how did you do it?

 

[tsavage]

i've done it one time but i had to smash some waxworms and spread it on the supers

 

[cwazy]

Has anyone successfully introduced any new feeder to an adult leo, and how did you do it?

we "rescued" a leo a while back that fed on mealies only... the people we got him from said they dropped a cricket in now and then but he wouldnt chase it... infact they said he was lazy and would just wait for the mealies to be put into the bowl... well i decided i would give him a super worm and see what happens... PHEW!!! HE WAS ON IT LIKE BLUE BONNET!! :main_laugh: he will chase that thing around untill he gets it... then wait for more :main_laugh: so all i did was just dropped it in... *shrug*

same deal when we got our "rescued" tokay... they said crickets only... he is a lil lazier though... he waits for them to come with in strikeing range... but he still loves em... and again just droped it in...

heck we even gave our anole a super worm once... now that was fun! and he did get it... and ate it... took em a lil while but he sure seemed full after!


so best i can say is make sure they see it when you put it in... ive never had one not go after a super worm unless they are not hungry... :main_rolleyes:

 

[Halley]

Two words “survival instinct”

If anything gets hungry enough they will eat. If you starved me for a week I would eat the next thing you put in front of me. This is how I would do it, don’t starve your gecko. But cut the food down, whatever you feed him feed him 1/3 to ½ of what you normal give, and have that in his cage, for ½ the day, then for the other half give him the new food item. I don’t know if this works for loes, but it works for birds.

Try goggling “leaning birds off of seeds” or something like “my bird will not eat food veggies and fruit”

Best bet would be “training birds to eat vegetables, and fruit”

 

[AntMan612]

But cut the food down, whatever you feed him feed him 1/3 to ½ of what you normal give, and have that in his cage, for ½ the day, then for the other half give him the new food item.

This sounds promising... But since they only eat at night, I'll try a variation of this. I'll reduce their mealworms to about 1/2, and then every other night swap from mealworms to superworms. I hope it works!