Leo questions

[bman123]

I will have to sign up for photobucket or whatever right? I will do that soon as I want to take some pics of him. He's a good looking boy his tail is really long lol. I will take pics now and post in a little bit. I gotta borrow $20 off the old lady and get his calcium and more feeders.
I only bought a dozen crickets and supermealworms. I just worry about the crickets dying fast since I have to keep them in the fridge. I know the mealworms will live for a long time. How many super mealworms should I get and how many crickets?? Let me know I plan on going to the pet shop within a hour, plus ingotta take pics for you guys lol..

 

[STUTFL]

By "super mealworms" do you mean giant mealworms, or superworms (another species, larger than mealworms and with dark markings).
Also, crickets definitely aren't going to last long in the fridge.

 

[STUTFL]

He took 3 supermealworms and a cricket so I should give him more now?
Say like 3-5 of each thing evry other day to every three days right. I was more concerned with him just getting something in his belly ya know.

What I usually do is snap my fingers (not loudly, just for the movement) right at the corner of my leo's vision. If he whips his head around, he's still hungry and in "hunt mode." If he ignores me, he's full.
Just make sure you're not too close too his mouth if you do that. :laugh:

 

[STUTFL]

I will have to sign up for photobucket or whatever right? I will do that soon as I want to take some pics of him. He's a good looking boy his tail is really long lol. I will take pics now and post in a little bit. I gotta borrow $20 off the old lady and get his calcium and more feeders.
I only bought a dozen crickets and supermealworms. I just worry about the crickets dying fast since I have to keep them in the fridge. I know the mealworms will live for a long time. How many super mealworms should I get and how many crickets?? Let me know I plan on going to the pet shop within a hour, plus ingotta take pics for you guys lol..

Yep, signup shouldn't take too long and if the pictures are small they don't take long to upload.
Feed the crickets off first if you don't have anywhere to keep them. Don't buy any more unless you have somewhere to put them or they'll just die off. A gecko can live fine on mealworms or superworms if the insects are properly gutloaded prior to feeding. Good way to get rid of veggie scraps.

 

[STUTFL]

Mealworms do live quite a while, as do superworms if you don't get them too cold, so I'd buy as much as you care to spend today and keep them around. You can buy feeders online as well, a bit pricey upfront but generally much less expensive in the long run.

 

[bman123]

By "super mealworms" do you mean giant mealworms, or superworms (another species, larger than mealworms and with dark markings).
Also, crickets definitely aren't going to last long in the fridge.

They were labeled as super worms at pet supplies plus. They look like real big mealworms. I'd say about 2 inches long but fat like a bic ink pen but a lil smaller. I hope I described it good enough that you understand what I mean.

I would prefer to feed him just super mealworms as the crickes are noisy. So with feeding the super mealworms how many how often is what I need to know.

I tried photobucket but it's hard to do on a cell phone. I can email the pics to someone if they can post them for me. The pics aren't great but there not terrible. You can't really see his color to well he looks like a washed out orange yellow in the pics but he is pretty bright in person. You should be able to tell in the pics tho if you seen a raptor before.

I couldn't get any eye pics but he has one solid red eye and the other is snake eyed. He wouldn't stay still for me to measure him either lol.

 

[bman123]

The superworms are $.13 cents a piece. I don't mind buying them it's cheaper then feeding my pitbull lol. I think a dozen are $1.25. How many should he eat every week? That would give me a rough idea of how many to buy today. I figure I would need a few dozen of them.

I have them in a big deli cup in the fridge, they have corn, a potato and a apple slice in the container for them to eat. Is that ok gutloading? I just wanna make sure I get this stuff right

 

[STUTFL]

Well, okay. If they're superworms, I would not keep them in the fridge. They're tropical - it won't necessarily kill them, but I sort of doubt they'll eat.
As I said, my leo (who is roughly the same size as yours) eats six or seven superworms per week, about three every third day.
Here's a leo eating a morio (superworm), which should be what you have

 

[STUTFL]

They shouldn't turn into beetles at room temp unless you separate them out. Keep an eye on the moist food, don't let it mold. They like some humidity, but the bedding they're in may not. :laugh:

 

[bman123]

Yeah that's what I have that's in that pic. Well 6or7 every 3 days ain't much lol. I thought he would eat more. I will get 2 or 3 dozen today then.

If I keep them in the fridge they get kinda lathargic, but would it be fine to keep them in the fridge then say every 2 days take them out of the fridge and feed them? That would be 24hours in advance of feeding that they would be gut loaded.

Also if he only eats every 2 or 3 days and only 3 super worms at a time bow often should I dust them? I'm getting more super worms and calcium today so I can dust them on his next feeding.

He looks slim so I wonder if I should let him eat until he stops? Is that ok if so what is the max # of super worms to feed at one time? Sorry for all the questions I just wanna understand everything

 

[bman123]

Well he ate the 3 super worms and a large cricket today so I shouldn't try to feed for 2 or 3 days. I didn't try to offer more food, I wonder if I should. I mean every leo is gonna be different maybe he will eat only 3 maybe he will eat 5or6 I don't know.

 

[bman123]

Hey stutfl if I email youhis pics can you post them for me? I can't get this to work on my iPhone for the life of me. I need to get a laptop or something the iPhone sucks at some stuff and I know it's me not being use to it yet.
Let me know stutfl and I can send you the pics..

 

[bman123]

The superworms come in a deli cup from the store that has oatmeal and corn in it. That's why I put the apple slice and potatoe slice in it so they can eat that also. The corn and oatmeal has no water in it but the apple and potatoe do.

I have seen him drink water once but not touch his calcium yet.

 

[STUTFL]

Often you won't see them eat from the calc dish, they're sneaky. :laugh:
I'd say feed until he won't eat anymore, it's unlikely he'll get obese on superworms.
Try him every other day or so, until you've got a feel for his feeding habits and can adjust accordingly.
Why do you want the superworms in the fridge? They shouldn't be too fast for your leo, they're pretty big and can be contained in a dish for at least a while.

 

[STUTFL]

There's a little button with a paperclip on it in the post editor - this allows you to upload pics directly and post them as attachments without going through PB.

 

[STUTFL]

I would dust with calcium every other feeding. Along with the dish, it should be fine.

 

[STUTFL]

Some general questions about feeders may be answered by checking the Feeders subforum or doing a search of the forums with your keyword ("superworm gutload," "raising superworms," etc.), as I'm not much of an authority on supers. My last batch was from a cheap place and they got mites bad, had to toss out the batch.

 

[bman123]

I keep the super worms in the fridge because it stays around 78degrees inside my place all the time. They came in a deli cup so I punched holes in it for more airflow. I thoght they wold die off quick if I left them at room temp, especially if I buy a couple dozen of them.

 

[bman123]

I wi try the pics now with the editor
IMG_0835.JPG
I don't know if this will work or not if so I will post more pics

 

[STUTFL]

They should actually live quite a while. Like I said, they're warm-climate insects, and they shouldn't pupate and turn to beetles if you keep them in a group. Mealworms live at room temp too, they just metamorphose. I had 100 superworms and they did fine except for the whole stupid mites thing.