poop or regurgitation? over eating? - help please- leaving bowl of mealworms

[ggg111]

Hello,

I have heard many people leave a bowl of mealworms in their tank so their leos can eat whenever they want. I have two 3 month old females and yesterday I put in 20 mealworms (normal size - from Pet,co) and they ate them all in about 10 minutes. Tonight, 24 hours later, I see in the poop corner what looks like semi-loose poop but I can clearly see a lot of mealworm shells in it. The smell is *horrible*. The area was also wet. Is this regurgitation or poop?

If it is regurgitation, how do I get them to stop eating all of their mealworms at once? SHould I feed by hand? How many per gecko per night?

If it is poop, obviously the fact that it smells horrible and isn't firm means bad news - what could it be? One of them is shedding right now but I don't know whose poop this is, in case that may be a factor.

THANK YOU for your help!

 

[gothra]

If it looks like bundled mealworms, it is probably regurgitation. I personally don't keep food in their cage 24/7; perhaps you can watch how many each of them eat (maybe one gecko ate all worms and the other didn't get enough?).

 

[JordanAng420]

It sounds like it's probably poop if it's in the poop corner. They generally don't care about going to a corner to regurgitate, it usually just happens wherever the gecko happens to be.

Are mealworms the staple diet, or have you been feeding something else? Also, if they're 3 months old, it's a good idea ANYWAY to get some fecal samples analyzed by a reptile vet's office. Especially if you're keeping the two together, they're only going to keep reinfecting themselves if one (or both) have parasites.

I wouldn't handfeed. You're really asking for trouble if you start doing that, lol. You'll end up handfeeding for the rest of your life, because the gecko won't learn to eat any other way. Allow them to be geckos and hunt their food like they're supposed to do, but limit the food amount to maybe half as much. This is another reason why it might be easier to keep them separate...food competition. One gecko could be eating everything while the other might be left with slim pickings, or nothing. In every animal kingdom there is dominance. Just some food for thought.

 

[Gregg M]

How about some info on how you are keeping them... Cage, temps, that sort of stuff...