Mealworm vs. Crickets?

[Bluside]

Hi!

Since I got my gecko 7 months ago he was eating only mealworms. About 4 a night and doing fine (I use a calcium dust).


Well, about 2 weeks ago I found the beetles in my cage. Aside from freaking out over how beetles got in my cage and disposing of them (guh) a bit of googling told me they were the final end stage of the mealworms Might sound simple but I didn't even realize that! Needless to say that was a sign to me he hadn't been eating his worms - it might seem careless of me but I feed right before bed so I generally do not watch him eating. In the morning the worms are gone, but I guess they just crawled out and away. So I decided to clean his cage the next day and I found a writhing nest of mealworms and pupa stages. He hadn't been eating basically anything I'd been giving him for a month (he didn't seem /that/ skinny and wasn't overly lethargic).

I was concerned and upped his temp some more and threw out the remaining mealworms. I just wanted him to eat so for the first time I bought some crickets, 4 large ones and a container of waxworms since I knew they were high and fat and wanted to put some weight back on him. He ate the crickets immediately and the worms. He's been eating good since, on a cricket and wazworm diet (1.5 weeks or so now)

I was reading up more on waxworms though and some people are saying they're 'addictive' I only feed him every other day now as is, and only about 2 wax worms, and then a couple crickets about once a week =/ will he get addicted on that and can he even in the first place? I don't intend to keep feeding waxworms but I wanted to finish off this container but there's a lot left. Also any thoughts on why he quit his mealworms? I prefer them over crickets because I don't have to gutload them and worry about them nibbling on my gecko if he doesn't eat them!

He seems to really like the crickets though, and I was wondering how to go about gutloading them. I'm going to try another batch of mealworms once the waxworms are gone and see if he'll eat them again, maybe he was just tired of them or it was a bad batch?

Thanks and sorry for the long post D:

 

[Photog]

Yes he's addicted to the waxworms now.

 

[Eric1969]

I just recently started introducing mine to super worms after he lost his tail and was not eating, I wanted to give her something high in fat. Before that, she never ate meal worms or superworms, never was interested when I tried. Now she takes turns, some times she will eat the worms, other times she is not interested, same with the crickets, so I just have to keep alternating.... I feed my crickets Flukers calcium yellow gel, acts as their water, and I feed them fish flakes or the flukers cricket food. at least 24 hours before you feed them to your lizard.

 

[Inferno33]

My Leo is about 7 weeks old, and I've had him for about 2 weeks. So far I've fed him nothing but dusted meal worms. I plan on feeding him crickets after about 6 months, as I feel he is currently too small to be eating something as large as a cricket. Any suggestions?

 

[Blacksupra94]

If you can tolerate the nasty crickets then by all means feed those as much as you want, even roaches if you have more money to invest in a quality feeder. I stopped feeding my leo mealworms and I noticed she is defecating more often with a staple of superworms , I guess due to less chitin.

 

[Taquiq]

Crickets are healthier but they are harder to care and maintain.
Mealworms are Ok as many breeders and keepers use them (including me) and they are easy to maintain.