Notice the Meal Worm Bowl?

[Haligren]

I'm having trouble getting my gecko to notice the meal worm bowl. I bought an exo terra one because the plastic container I was using was too high for her. I figured that once she could comfortably access the the top of the bowl she'd notice that there were meal worms inside.

Well she just uses it as leverage to get into her moist hide opening. There is a thin layer of calcium and vitamins in the bowl as well to coat the meal worms. I'm not sure if she's partaking of the calcium in the bowl and whether or not she is, I still coat whatever insect I give her just to make sure, but how can I make her take notice of the bowl and that there's goodies inside?

She seems to really like her mealies and will usually only eat one or two crickets a day and like...ten to twenty mealies at every feeding so I know she likes them....

 

[Jenn]

I got a little glass ashtray from walmart it was 2 dollars not to high, mealies cant climb it and geckos can see in it.

 

[Haligren]

That's a good idea. I didn't think about that. But I just checked her worm bowl before I fed her just now and realized that some of them were missing. After making sure they hadn't escaped I came to the conclusion that she must be eating them. So I guess she does eat out of it, but it must be at night. Sneaky gecko. :main_laugh:

 

[Jenn]

haha yes they can be very sneaky. Glad she is eatng them for you.

 

[LizMarie]

Good to see that she ate! I personal kept mealworms in a stainless steel bowl the perfect size but little miss thing was too clueless to look in it. The minute I put in a glass ash tray she gobbled them up like a pig!

 

[nats]

Just get one that they can see through.

The problem with serving mealies in a bowl is, after a few minutes,
they stop moving, and your leo will ignore them.

To help them find it, just drop a mealy on the floor an inch or so from
the dish, so your leo can see it.
When he comes over to nail the mealy, he will notice the dish.
You can tilt it a bit so he can see whats inside.
Once he gets the hang of the dish, make sure you always put it in
the same spot.
If you use something like a glass petri dish, you dont even need to
do that, because they can see the mealies in there.

 

[SLB1989]

I had the same problem, I didn't think my gecko could see her food in her bowl.
Turns out she did know and was eating at night.

 

[nats]

petri dish "feeder bowls"

I have posted this before. This is what I use, and they are great.
I even put the roaches in them. The walls are high enough, and straight
so they have a hard time getting out of it.
By the time the roach figures out how to escape, its usually to late! :main_laugh:

 

[Haligren]

Pyrex Covers? Huh. I'll bet Wal-Mart has some.

Thanks, everyone!

I think she has discovered it though. I came home today to see a lot of meal worms missing and her face covered in calcium dust so I'm pretty sure she's partaking of the meal worm bowl now.