I want to provide my Geckos variety! Suggestions?

Herpluver

New Member
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46
Location
Kansas
Hello Everyone! Thanks for checking out my thread. So currently I own 16 geckos. That includes 3 baby cresteds, 1 baby leo and 12 adult leos. My average mealworm usage per month is around 2000 mealies. As well as one nymph dubia once a week for everyone.

Now, while i feed my Crested's Repashy CGD and really only supplement with dusted (Repashy Cal + ICB) dubia once per week, I want to provide my Leo's more variety so they flourish and have a slightly more exciting diet. Not saying they aren't flourishing, but I honestly just want to provide them variety. Honestly, my idol in the reptile world is Matt from Sasobek's, and I know he only uses mealies and his animals are fantastic. But since I am a smaller time guy, it would't be much for me to have something else to breed. I hear they can be a bit rough for the first week or so but then grow like weeds. I am confident I could handle their husbandry.

I was looking at picking up 1000 Silkworm eggs and starting to breed them. I found a few websites, as well as one site that sells starter kits.

My question is, am I overdoing it? Would silkworms go well with the mealies and dubias? The way it goes now, they have mealworms available 24/7(almost, I top them up once every 2 days). I then provide all of my leo's a dusted nymph dubia about once per week. I provide egg-laying females with larger nymphs by tweezer during breeding season to help keep their weights up. I use the tweezers cause every single one of my geckos goes insane if the dubia climb on them. So to avoid the stress I just hand it to them on a silver(ish) platter! lol

Suggestions?

Also, where do you guys buy your silkworms from?
OH, and do any of you know anybody that sells Adult pairs of Dubia? I'd like to bolster my colony some and am having a tough time finding anyone that will sell them individually. Most people want to sell them with a larger purchase, and I don't need that as I have well over 200 dubia right now.

Thanks for your help
 

OnlineGeckos

New Member
Messages
1,407
Location
SoCal
Are you overdoing it? Probably not, there's nothing wrong with variety and as long as you have the means and knowledge to introduce new feeders. Go for it. Just know that not all geckos take to nutrient rich silkworms and phoenix worms. So before starting a colony I would recommend test them and see how your geckos take to them. When I tried them with my geckos, it was a 50/50 thing, half of them took to them, half of them didn't. So for me personally I went with dubia roaches, superworms, and mealworms for hatchlings.

As for suggestion for feeding method, many geckos will eat out of the dish just fine. So get yourself those plastic escape-proof dishes that most breeders use, and you can drop dubias in there along with mealworms.

And I'm not sure of any that sell individual adult dubias anymore, buydubiaroaches.com used to but I see they don't have them listed. You could contact them and arrange something, they were quite easy to work with when I used to buy from them before I established my colony.
 

Herpluver

New Member
Messages
46
Location
Kansas
Just know that not all geckos take to nutrient rich silkworms and phoenix worms.

As for suggestion for feeding method, many geckos will eat out of the dish just fine. So get yourself those plastic escape-proof dishes that most breeders use, and you can drop dubias in there along with mealworms..

Very true, some might not take to them. For those that do, though. Do you think only a couple a month? Or a few every other feeding?

As for the Dubia, I prefer to tweezer feed that way I know for sure they were eaten and have not magically somehow made it out of the tub and into my home. Yes I know Dubia do not climb the walls of smooth enclosures. BUT, they do climb geckos, and my wife would kill me! LOL
 

OnlineGeckos

New Member
Messages
1,407
Location
SoCal
Very true, some might not take to them. For those that do, though. Do you think only a couple a month? Or a few every other feeding?

As for the Dubia, I prefer to tweezer feed that way I know for sure they were eaten and have not magically somehow made it out of the tub and into my home. Yes I know Dubia do not climb the walls of smooth enclosures. BUT, they do climb geckos, and my wife would kill me! LOL

A few every week or every other week would be fine. You're just supplementing them with variety, so you've got your staples in mealworms already, your geckos got plenty to eat.
 

Herpluver

New Member
Messages
46
Location
Kansas
I found a place that sells individual Adult Dubias now! They are $2 for a female and $1 for a Male but you have to buy them with a mixed lot of some sort. He sells colonies, mixed batches, etc... The man is really knowledgeable and helpful!

The site is southtexasdragons.com Just click on the Dubia button at the top. You have to call or email to place an order, but he's fairly prompt with his responses.

As for the silk worms I have found a great place to get them from too. So I'm all set now!

Thanks everyone for the responses :)
 

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