Quick Question

[thebully]

I just recently purchased a Leopard Gecko. The lady I purchased the little one from told me to only feed crickets since he was too small to eat meal worms. She told me that he could get the head of the meal worm impacted and die. is this true or should i feed him meal worms instead of crickets?

 

[Leopardbreeder]

The myth is that a mealworm ATE out of the stomach of a gecko. This cannot be true due to the fact that geckos chew, and the digestive juices would kill it before it had a chance (If the gecko didn't chew).

 

[Mel&Keith]

We usually start our hatchlings on small mealworms and they do just fine!

 

[blizzard]

not true in my experience. use small ones though. don't freak out if the leo doesn't eat them though sometimes it's preference sometimes they just don't know it's food.

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Mealworms are perfectly fine. I think there is even someone on here that feeds superworms after just a couple weeks..forget who though....

 

[MSMD]

My little 3-4 gram hatchlings are eating small mealies just fine! :main_yes:

 

[Pookachu]

Not an expert. But from my understanding mealies are ok for gecko's even small ones.

Though I did read recently that mealies are NOT good for baby bearded dragons.

 

[thebully]

i guess i my leo won't accept mealies after all. he only wants to eat crickets bummer

 

[BettaDragon]

Try waxies. I know that Petco sells mini meal worms if you want to try them.

 

[Zbiz]

The Reason why baby beardies shouldnt get mealies is the simple fact that they eat tooo much. What is it like up to 50 crix a day! Thats a lot of mealworms and being that mealies take longer to digest you could have an impacted beardie in no time. But leos do fine!

 

[thebully]

I guess what i was trying to say was..... my leo won't even look at a mealie, but waits till i but crickets in cage. i've just tried everything to get him to eat a mealie....but i think i will have to just deal with the crickets...dang!

 

[BettaDragon]

What I've found works for getting the stubborn ones to eat mealies is putting a whole lot of them in one dish. They squirm more when you do that. I would be cautious when dealing with a baby because I've found they over eat more than adults so that may not be a good thing to do.

 

[Scott&Nikki]

A couple other suggestions... If you have a lot of mealies in the dish, adding food makes them wiggle a lot. Also, put them on the warm side of the tank.

I'm sure some just dont like certain foods, but I would think the biggest reason is the hunting instinct coming through when your leo sees the crickets running and jumping. In my experience, if you can get your leo to see them moving, they will be gone in no time.

 

[thebully]

it worked.... he saw them moving and ate them in no time flat... good. i really didn't want to have to deal with crickets!