"Old" mealies

[T&KBrouse]

Does anyone have issues with their leos refusing to eat mealies that have been in their food dish over night?

Both my boys would just soon soon gnaw off their own foot than to eat a day old mealie bug and I was just wondering if this is a normal leo thing, or if I have yet another couple of quirky 'zards.

 

[Tony C]

I stopped using a dish because the mealies would quickly become inactive, resulting in zero interest from the geckos.

 

[T&KBrouse]

Ah! So do you just feed them by hand a certain time of day, then?

 

[Tony C]

I feed almost every night, whatever bug I'm using that night I just dust and drop in. I feed mostly crickets, followed by roaches and the various worms as a supplement. In an average week I probably feed crickets three times, roaches twice, and the other night or two is meal, super, or waxworms.

 

[T-ReXx]

I had the same issue with mealworms as I pretty much leave them in a dish available 24/7. I found putting a small piece of carrot or potato in the dish causes the worms to feed, becoming more active and attracting the geckos' attention. That being said, I still replace all worms in the dish ever other day with fresh ones, because I want them to always be gut loaded.

 

[StatikStepz]

That being said, I still replace all worms in the dish ever other day with fresh ones, because I want them to always be gut loaded.

I try to do the same thing, but i have also noticed that as long as you have a good dish that they cannot crawl out of, and having a good amount of mealies/supers in there at any given time, that the worms will usually keep moving around because they keep getting "bumped into" or walked over by other worms, keeping them constantly active from the stimulation of others nearby. For example, in my dishes, i usually keep about 10-15 supers in each one at any given time, and after my gecko eats, and i notice the numbers start to go down, them i just add a few more, and the new "fresh" worms will "wake up" the ones from the day before. Then after about 2 days, i will replace them all with new ones, and put the olds back in the tub to get gutloaded.

 

[Cornman21]

I need to monitor the amount of worms in my dish because my geckos are really young so, i only keep around 10 in a time. I might switch to a clear dish so my geckos can see them moving around

 

[cryptid_hunter]

I tried mealies in a dish with my AFT's, but that was just a waste of time, lol.

If I try to feed my AFT's anything other than crickets, they just stare at it with disgust then turn away like I tried to feed them a turd or something.

 

[T-ReXx]

I tried mealies in a dish with my AFT's, but that was just a waste of time, lol.

If I try to feed my AFT's anything other than crickets, they just stare at it with disgust then turn away like I tried to feed them a turd or something.

AFTs rarely "like" worms. Mine do however, absolutely love roaches, both dubia and turks(Blatta lateralis).