New Leo Owner

[COOCOpUcHoo]

Hey guys, I recently got a leopard gecko named Faith. She is a rainwater albino enigma. On her second day, i hand fed her 6 small crickets. She is pretty small at the moment, probably a bit younger than juvenile. Today, I fed her 4 crickets and a piece of a nightcrawler. On a different forum, I was told that nightcrawlers are okay and I gave her one to see if she would like it. She walked up to it, licked it, and ate it. I tried to give her another nightcrawler after that, but she licked it then walked away. Maybe because she licked the guts that were hanging out rather than the skin of the worm.

All the feeding done was hand fed. Occasionally I dropped a cricket in front of her to see if she would go for it. I have some questions. How much should i feed her?. Also, is it possible for me to hand feed her vegetables if she would take them? Maybe lettuce and other soft vegetables? Maybe if i boiled them? This one will sound very stupid, but I was once eating bread and i felt like maybe i can feed it to my gecko, is that okay? My gecko has a very good feeding response and took from my hand the first time I tried.

So yeah, my gecko seems to be doing good and the urate is white, i believe that means she is hydrated.

Thanks for any help

 

[acpart]

Congratulations on your new gecko. Feed her as much as she'll eat in about 15-20 minutes. You an always put a certain amount of feeders in, say, 4 crickets, and if she eats that put another 2 in until you've figure out about how many she wants. If she'll eat nightcrawlers, fine, go ahead. It's not bad to try to feed other stuff like vegetables and bread but it's highly unlikely the gecko will do more than lick it or taste it and give up on it. They're just not vegetarians.

Aliza

 

[COOCOpUcHoo]

Congratulations on your new gecko. Feed her as much as she'll eat in about 15-20 minutes. You an always put a certain amount of feeders in, say, 4 crickets, and if she eats that put another 2 in until you've figure out about how many she wants. If she'll eat nightcrawlers, fine, go ahead. It's not bad to try to feed other stuff like vegetables and bread but it's highly unlikely the gecko will do more than lick it or taste it and give up on it. They're just not vegetarians.

Aliza

Hey, thanks for a quick reply. I was thinking, would bread swell up inside the gecko's stomach? just wondering. If she will eat bread then i will use small amounts. Also, I know that leopard geckos are carnivorous, I just thought, hey it's worth the try. What vegetable would you recommend me attempting to feed the gecko. And bread is safe correct?

Thank You

 

[COOCOpUcHoo]

Is there any way to get feeders in a cheaper fashion that does not require me to breed? It is kind of expensive to buy crickets and other feeders every week. Is it cheaper to buy bin fulls of crickets? I know it will last longer, but will the crickets grow out and become larger. I only have one gecko so you would imagine that i do not need a colony.

 

[LepoInc]

Some online shops sell in bulk and offer free shipping with bulk purchases. I got 1000 super worms for $28.99 even from smallpetfeeders.com and I feed 6 geckos and I still have a bunch left; not to mention I put a bunch aside to start breeding. Check out timberlinefisheries.com or smallpetfeeders.com

Sent via Tapatalk whilst caring for Eublepharis macularis'

 

[Phoenix1115]

leos are 100% insectivores so I wouldn't try to feed it anything else. You can feed the insects veggies though, and that's actually highly suggested.

 

[indyana]

I have the same problem with the crickets. Buying all the time from the pet store in small batches is expensive, but when I ordered in bulk, I could not keep most of them alive (cage probably too small for that many), and the ones that did survive eventually grew too big for my gecko.

Instead of breeding crickets, I would switch it up with other feeders, like dubia, mealworms, or phoenix worms. These are easier to maintain a lot of them without having them grow too big too fast. You can buy more of those to keep in stock and then just buy a small batch of crickets every so often to round out the gecko's diet.

 

[COOCOpUcHoo]

I don't really like dealing with meal worms that much. When I was little i caught a gecko, and the meal worms killed it. The gecko ate a mealie, then i don't know what happened i saw mealie eating him. So yeah. Also, how do I prevent from making meal worms not turn to beetles? When the meal worm is a pupae, can I feed it to my gecko still?

 

[indyana]

Yep, I feed mine the pupa stage and you can also feed them the beetles when they first change and are still white/tan. Some geckos don't like them, but I feed mine with tongs and he gobbles them right up.

You can put mealworms in the refrigerator to stop them from turning to pupae, but you have to take them out for a day or two every week to feed them or they will eventually die.

 

[COOCOpUcHoo]

leos are 100% insectivores so I wouldn't try to feed it anything else. You can feed the insects veggies though, and that's actually highly suggested.

I do feed my crickets carrots, is squash ok?

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Almost any vegetables are okay to feed crickets and mealworms. Make sure they are organic or washed really well or there may be pesticides on them that kill your feeder bugs. The only thing I can think of that I would not feed is avocado. Not sure about crickets and geckos but I know it contains toxins that humans can digest but many other species have problems with. Mealworms will hurt weak geckos that can't get away from them or eat them once they're dead. Other than that they are 100% safe - especially if you put them into a dish they can't escape from.

Not only are geckos insectivores and not made to digest bread, but bread in general contains very few vitamins and/or minerals and should be fed sparingly even to animals that can digest it. I would avoid feeding it or anything that is not an insect to your gecko at all costs.

 

[Chessie]

What frequency should the geckos be fed. Is it every day, or every other day?

 

[Phantom240]

Young geckos, typically every day. As for adults, most people say every 2 - 3 days. I feed mine whenever she'll eat.

 

[Chessie]

Okay, because I have one that is 2 and a half, and he doesn't seem as hungry so I switched him to every other day. I wanted to make sure I wasn't starving him. He's looking good, active and otherwise seems really healthy.

 

[Phantom240]

As long as they aren't dropping weight, then they're fine, from what I understand. I've only had my leo for about two weeks now, but reading in these forums has taught me a lot.