Picky Gecko (gecko feeding issues).

[subjectivereality]

My Juvenile is 6 months old, and a bit of a pain to feed. For one, he won't touch mealworms (he will only eat crickets and waxworms). He also will only feed on things directly outside of his hide while he is in his hide. What I mean by the second part is that if he is wandering around outside of his hide, he will ignore crickets that are right in front of him .This pretty much means I need to drop 'offerings' right outside his hide while he is in there in order for him to eat. I really don't know what to do about this, it's quite aggravating.

Also, is it normal for a juvenile to only eat 3-4 medium-large sized crickets a day? That is literally the most that he will eat. My first gecko (who is currently the same age) will actively hunt 8 at a time.

He has been like this since I purchased him about a month ago. I'm fairly certain it has nothing to do with temperature (90 on the warm side 70 on the cool side, he has a big tank) and his substrate is reptile carpet so i'm fairly certain that also isn't causing the issue. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Have you tried superworms? I'd stop offering waxworms completely before it becomes a problem.

 

[subjectivereality]

No i have not tried superworms yet. Honestly, Rex is so ambivalent towards waxworms (some days he likes them, other days he ignores them) that I don't really think it will become a problem. I'm more worried about how much he is eating (3-4 crickets seems to be a bit too little), and I would like him to put on some weight. I do need to try superworms though, who knows, they may end up being his food of choice.

 

[Daylight_Thieves]

I had a similar issue with my geckos until I got supers... They just ignored the crickets and mealies were not filling to them... They LOVE supers now and grew like crazy after I switched... I have a 10 month old that weighs about 67g and is not fat by any means... She just keeps growing...

And I would beware of the waxworms IMO even if he doesn't like them some days... It's like feeding kids candy, after a couple of days eating the same candy you'll get sick of it but that doesn't mean that it is healthy for you to give it to them a few days later either...

 

[Euphillia]

Eggo quit caring about mealies and couldn't care any less about crickets. Supers make him go bananas! He gets very excited about eating those.

 

[Sunset]

I have the same problem with mine. She wont touch crickets, grudgingly eats waxworms or ignores them depending on her mood, and will only eat like one superworm and thats it. She only likes her giant mealworms.

 

[gmaier19]

in my opinion... 3-4 crickets a day is a normal amount of food for a juvenile to eat. and once they are full grown they eat much less than that and maintain healthy weight.

also, geckos tend to eat less during winter. even if you keep floor temperatures perfectly constant year round, they still feel the cool ambient air temperature and are not as active, leading to less of an appetite.

i wouldnt worry if i were you.

as far as one eating many more than the other... if you are housing them together i would separate them. from my experience geckos are happiest living singly. if they are already separated, then maybe one just likes to eat a lot, and the other doesnt. simple as that. every gecko is slightly different in its eating habits.

 

[gothra]

Congrats, you have one picky gecko that is as picky as my Lemsip, LOL. I know exactly what you meant when you say he'll only eat when he is inside his hide; because my Lemsip will only eat ONE item (used to be superworm but now changed to dubia) when he is completely hiding under his wood and watching me release the insect to run in his direction. Yes, this is the only condition that he'll eat it!! He will not even look at it if he isn't under his wood! And he will only eat one, just ONE! But that's fine, I'm used to it now. As long as he is eating and happy, I can "serve" him the way he prefers. :main_rolleyes:

Several crickets per day is perfectly fine. I feel that we are feeding our geckos too much in general.

 

[subjectivereality]

I do not house my leos together, they are both male and I know better than that.

 

[subjectivereality]

Congrats, you have one picky gecko that is as picky as my Lemsip, LOL. I know exactly what you meant when you say he'll only eat when he is inside his hide; because my Lemsip will only eat ONE item (used to be superworm but now changed to dubia) when he is completely hiding under his wood and watching me release the insect to run in his direction. Yes, this is the only condition that he'll eat it!! He will not even look at it if he isn't under his wood! And he will only eat one, just ONE! But that's fine, I'm used to it now. As long as he is eating and happy, I can "serve" him the way he prefers. :main_rolleyes:

Several crickets per day is perfectly fine. I feel that we are feeding our geckos too much in general.

Yeah, I recently found out his caretaker at the petstore spoiled him, she would herd the crickets to the geckos. I guess that I'm now living with the repercussions.

Perhaps we should start a picky gecko club?