I want my gecko to eat better than I do

[phantom12321]

Not that that is saying all that much sometimes.

Regardless. I owned a female leopard for 15 years and she passed recently. I'm starting a fresh and trying to do even more research than I have in the past. I want to make the experience for me and for my new forthcoming leopard gecko to be as close to paradise for him or her, and reasonable on me.

The diet element.

Satchmo (I didn't know she was a female until way later) was always fed crickets with powdered supplement here entire life. I had been leery of any other food options after a stern warning to stay away from wax worms. Now I come to find out the majority of those polled feed mealworms. I've had one reptile shop owner insist mealworms are too fatty, and a book I just finished reading by a bunch of PHD's stating that mealworms were the way to go with crickets being a footnote.

Now I want to have a long happy life with my forthcoming new gecko so I'll probably be purchasing a baby of around 6 months old or less. With their sizable bodies and rough shells are mealworms appropriate for hatchling/babies? Or should I stick with pinheads? If so when is it appropriate to move to mealworms.

On the other end, when it comes to MY experience as a pet owner, I abhoar crickets, bouncy little drones are noisy, smelly, cannibalistic cretins. If a gutloaded mealworm diet (with an eye to portion control) is a totally acceptable diet. That would be fantastic. I was worried I was going to have to colony crickets. I'll build the mealworms a 4 star hotel first! I remember them from school, quiet and they just sort of smell like oats.

I'd probably still purchase crickets from time to time to keep my pet hunting, but running to the petstore each friday and trying to keep the other 10 crickets alive for the forthcoming days was just, miserable.

Insight on this whole issue would be great. I tried to search the forums but most of the discussions were too specific.

 

[Dimelius]

Mealworms are really easy to breed, just write mealworms breeding on google and ull find a lot of info.(i feed em with flour, corn flakes, rabbit food, dried dog/cat food dusted, old bread pieces and dusted, then can add others and for water carrots)

Crickets usually doing cannibalism because missing water so prolly u forgot to put into their box a piece of carrot or a slick of apple. Then use dried dog food dusted and pieces like food and for water can add a pot with cotton full of water. If u get crickets time by time they will live longer...
My mealworms dont smell almost and by the way i keep em covered.

 

[Desdemona]

If you don't mind keeping a colony (since they don't seem to be popular in pet stores) Dubai crickets seem to be the "best" feeder from what I've read. It's only a educated guess, but their protein ratio is suppose to be good. They move more than mealworms (my gecko decided not to eat them) and still fit in the smell free bug group.

 

[RAlbrecht]

For a leopard gecko, when "sizing" up the cricket or roach, usually you want to make sure its no larger then the width of the geckos head. So Pinheads for Leo's would never actually be needed. Meal worms are a really good staple diet for your Leo and are available pretty much all the time. You can start a colony yourself and then you never really have to worry about running to the store. Dubia Roaches are another feeder that breeders use, they are a tropical roach that can not climb glass or fly. Fairly prolific and really easy to keep in a small tank or tub, just need to provide some heat/humidity and food/water sources. They also can be gut-loaded in the same sense as crickets, but they don't smell and aren't noisy. I've tried other feeders with my geckos, but prefer using roaches and meal worms. Good Luck on your research

 

[roger]

Not that that is saying all that much sometimes.

Regardless. I owned a female leopard for 15 years and she passed recently. I'm starting a fresh and trying to do even more research than I have in the past. I want to make the experience for me and for my new forthcoming leopard gecko to be as close to paradise for him or her, and reasonable on me.

The diet element.

Satchmo (I didn't know she was a female until way later) was always fed crickets with powdered supplement here entire life. I had been leery of any other food options after a stern warning to stay away from wax worms. Now I come to find out the majority of those polled feed mealworms. I've had one reptile shop owner insist mealworms are too fatty, and a book I just finished reading by a bunch of PHD's stating that mealworms were the way to go with crickets being a footnote.

Now I want to have a long happy life with my forthcoming new gecko so I'll probably be purchasing a baby of around 6 months old or less. With their sizable bodies and rough shells are mealworms appropriate for hatchling/babies? Or should I stick with pinheads? If so when is it appropriate to move to mealworms.

On the other end, when it comes to MY experience as a pet owner, I abhoar crickets, bouncy little drones are noisy, smelly, cannibalistic cretins. If a gutloaded mealworm diet (with an eye to portion control) is a totally acceptable diet. That would be fantastic. I was worried I was going to have to colony crickets. I'll build the mealworms a 4 star hotel first! I remember them from school, quiet and they just sort of smell like oats.

I'd probably still purchase crickets from time to time to keep my pet hunting, but running to the petstore each friday and trying to keep the other 10 crickets alive for the forthcoming days was just, miserable.

Insight on this whole issue would be great. I tried to search the forums but most of the discussions were too specific.

whatever the main staple u choose.Try to mix it up a little.My leos that eat a variety of feeders are huge compared to the leos that eat one kind of prey.if u dont like crickets maybe buy enough for one or two feedings maybe every 3 months or so