So in the wild Leopard Geckos eat any size crickets right?

Moe

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?

i thought geckos dont have a choice as to what they eat in the wild

since theyre always hunted by hawks etc:main_huh:

so why cant a leapard gecko eat a cricket thats as large as its head?
 

acpart

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I'm sure leopard geckos in the wild try to eat whatever they can find. If they find a big cricket, one of 3 things will likely happen:
--they'll eat it successfully
--it will be too big for them and they'll throw it up (I find this sometimes when I give my babies crickets or mealworms that are too big)
--it will be too big and they'll choke on it and die

The reason we try not to give them prey items that are too big is to avoid having them throw up or choke. Leopard gecko mortality in the wild is lot higher than in the cage.

Aliza
 

Moe

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--it will be too big for them and they'll throw it up (I find this sometimes when I give my babies crickets or mealworms that are too big)


Aliza

did your juve leopard gecko die or get close to dieing/impaction when you gave them big crickets?:main_robin:

mines didnt die but he has a blue coloring on his belly and he hasnt pooped in two days, but hes still eating alot though, gave him some waxworms and meal worms
 

T-ReXx

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I agree.

This is basic common sense. You're "might" be able to eat 10 pounds of ground beef in one sitting but there are going to be consequences to your health if you do. Just because the animal might be able to eat it doesn't mean it SHOULD eat it

I suspect your animal is impacted. It will either regurgitate the insect or, if you are lucky, pass it. Do the animal a favor and only feed it appropriate sized prey items.

The "wild" is not captivity. Two completely different environments with different factors involved.
 

Jordan

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ive already mentioned this in another thread where you mentioned the large crickets and i suggested you went to medium. or stick to mealworms.
Just feed what is recommended and what is right, because there is a reason for these amounts. Too much has many dangers. especially when they are young.
 

Moe

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ive already mentioned this in another thread where you mentioned the large crickets and i suggested you went to medium. or stick to mealworms.
Just feed what is recommended and what is right, because there is a reason for these amounts. Too much has many dangers. especially when they are young.

right

i made a mistake and dropped too many big crickets in the tank when i first got him

i was planning on just feeding him 1 big cricket a month, just to get his weight up, because i couldnt find a place where they sold superworms

i hope hes not impacted

this is the reason why i gave him large crickets, because it said on this article that the crickets can be as large as his head

http://www.lihs.org/files/caresheets/E_macularius.htm

Daily Care: Leopard geckos will strive on a diet of mainly crickets but it doesn't hurt to add variety occasionally. Hatchlings to four months old are fed every day (3 to 5 crickets) and juveniles to adults are fed every other day (4 to 6 crikets). The crickets should be about as long as the gecko's head is wide. This translates to 1/4 to 1/2 size crickets for hatchlings, 1/2 to 3/4 for two to five month olds, and 3/4 to full grown crickets for six months to adulthood (tip: I use 1/2 to 3/4 for all my geckos older than two months, this size is better nutritionally and they don't chirp!). If the gecko eats all the crickets right away and still appears hungry or the tail is thin, you should feed it a little more. Let it eat as many crickets as it wants in ten minutes, remove uneaten crickets from the tank or they might nibble on your gecko. You can put pieces of oatmeal in bigger tanks for the leftover crickets to eat. The loose crickets are bothersome to catch in the bigger tanks so you want to give them something to eat so they don't bother the geckos. Occasionally check to see if your Leo is obese. If the tail is very fat you should look at the "armpits" of each leg. Look to see if there is a ball or bubble of fat there. If there is, cut back slightly on the feedings, you have a fat Leo. Since geckos are cold-blooded animals their metabolism slows or increases with cold or hot weather. This means they will tend eat less in the winter and more in the summer.
 

Jordan

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well the 'Large' crickets i know are like almost 2 inches long. and i dont have any geckos with their head as wide as two inches.
and as long as the geckos head is wide, so if yours is a juvenile then im guessing his heas is this wide:

|.............| at the most. and thats not a large cricket size.

and the sand, i know, makes it seem like a VERY trustworthy caresheet. not.
 

Northstar Herp

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I misunderstood the sizing suggestion for a while, and then someone said it a different way so I got it. The distance between their eyes is the GIRTH of the prey item, not the length.
 

Moe

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well the 'Large' crickets i know are like almost 2 inches long. and i dont have any geckos with their head as wide as two inches.
and as long as the geckos head is wide, so if yours is a juvenile then im guessing his heas is this wide:

|.............| at the most. and thats not a large cricket size.


and the sand, i know, makes it seem like a VERY trustworthy caresheet. not.


^^^^yea thats the size of his head

oh

i thought that was considered large

i guess its different in other parts of the world, im in the u.s. michigan

they only sell two size crickets at the local pet store, the really really small ant sized crickets(that looks like he couldnt get full off of), and the crickets that are that size, labeled large...

i didnt know crickets can get bigger than that
 
Last edited:

T-ReXx

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Feeding "one large cricket a month" is not going to "get his weight up." It's only going to cause health problems like regurgitation and possibly impaction. If you want a gecko to gain weight, multiple small prey items are the way to go. Feed hatchlings 3-5 small insects a day and they will grow at a normal rate. "Power feeding" a technique sometimes used by unscrupulous breeders, especially in ball pythons, is only going to cause abnormally accelerating growth and shorten the animal's life span. Feed appropriately and allow him to grow at a normal, healthy rate.
 

Moe

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Feeding "one large cricket a month" is not going to "get his weight up." It's only going to cause health problems like regurgitation and possibly impaction. If you want a gecko to gain weight, multiple small prey items are the way to go. Feed hatchlings 3-5 small insects a day and they will grow at a normal rate. "Power feeding" a technique sometimes used by unscrupulous breeders, especially in ball pythons, is only going to cause abnormally accelerating growth and shorten the animal's life span. Feed appropriately and allow him to grow at a normal, healthy rate.

so whats considered large?
 

Moe

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I misunderstood the sizing suggestion for a while, and then someone said it a different way so I got it. The distance between their eyes is the GIRTH of the prey item, not the length.

oh the girth? is what they mean by how large or small? not the length of the cricket?
 

fl_orchidslave

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Things like this are why it's recommended to read at least several different caresheet sources. Many breeders have them on their websites as well as a few on this forum.

While a fat tail is what we want, it's nice to have a proportionately plump tail :) Normal growth rate is the healthiest in the long run. You can't go wrong with feeding mealworms, leaving some in a dish in the tank at all times. A lot of big breeders use them, they are clean and simple, as opposed to crickets. Over-feeding causes a entire set of various issues. IMO too much stock is put into offering treats and not enough emphasis on staple food.
 

LifeKills11

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i have the same problem man =/ im tryna figure out how many large crickets to feed my leopard gecko ..chek the thread plz hlp..any advice would be great
 

GeckoGurl

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I buy small and stick to small if buy a lot at a time they will grow bigger in their environment. Better to feed more (quanity) then to feed less quanity with possible health issues. Or switch to mealworms. My AFT is fed on small/medium crickets... My leo was switched to mealworms recently but her first year was also small crickets and I had absolutely never had a problem with her weight... if anything she may be pushing on the chunky side lol.... It also helped me at the time cause I had an AFT an adult Leo and a Baby Leo. So I bought one size instead of having to have multiple cricket habitats.

In the future get multiple opinions. Read more than one article on the subject you are inquiring about and ask "before" you act or make a decision. Its always best. In many cases you may have the right idea but better safe than sorry when their is a life in your hands.
 

roger

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I buy small and stick to small if buy a lot at a time they will grow bigger in their environment. Better to feed more (quanity) then to feed less quanity with possible health issues. Or switch to mealworms. My AFT is fed on small/medium crickets... My leo was switched to mealworms recently but her first year was also small crickets and I had absolutely never had a problem with her weight... if anything she may be pushing on the chunky side lol.... It also helped me at the time cause I had an AFT an adult Leo and a Baby Leo. So I bought one size instead of having to have multiple cricket habitats.

In the future get multiple opinions. Read more than one article on the subject you are inquiring about and ask "before" you act or make a decision. Its always best. In many cases you may have the right idea but better safe than sorry when their is a life in your hands.

can u post a pic of your girl
 

GeckoGurl

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Here are some pics I took the other day had not uploaded yet cause the file sizes were too big and did not have time to shrink them down to size. She is about a year and a half yrs old.
 

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