SOMEONE HELP PLEASE

[bl0odshade]

i have a leopard gecko, a few months old, and i just went about 3 days ago to the pet store to get crickets, only to find out every petshop within a 3 hour distance of my town shut down. i have no food left and i need an alternitive until the mealworms i purchased online show up. please help this is my last option. can i feed him bait worms for a small period of time just until i get the mealworms?

 

[Dog Shrink]

If you have a bait store that sells mealworms they can work in a pinch. I had to do this with my leo when he first arrived and he turned out just fine. There will be some debate as to the quality of the mealies you would get at a bait shop but IMO they all pretty much come from mass farms whether they're going to bait shops or pet stores. Make sure you give them a good 24 hours to gutload on apples, carrots and potato to make sure you have the most nutritional values to them and ptob dust with multi vit as well.

 

[bl0odshade]

i went to the local bait shops all they have are trout worms and earth worms, can those work until my mealworms come in?

 

[bl0odshade]

i know they are a little big but i wanted to cut them in half or thirds since they still move when you do so

 

[Dog Shrink]

Now that I can't answer sorry.

 

[tastyworms]

I don't think feeding them earthworms is the best thing to do. I'm not sure if they would eat it, but you might be able to get some freeze dried mealworms at home improvement store... they sometimes carry things to feed birds. You might also see if there is a local bird watching / bird feeder store like Wild Birds Unlimited. I believe they also carry live mealworms.

 

[Dog Shrink]

From what I understand freeze dried mealies are totally unappealing to leos and have about zero nutritional value. The avian societies is a good idea tho for an alternative source for live feeders tho. Good call.

 

[clemsonguy1125]

Dont worry, he can easily go a week without food if youve been taking good care of him.

 

[Imperial Geckos]

Dont worry, he can easily go a week without food if youve been taking good care of him.

+1 :main_thumbsup:

A heathy Gecko can go 5-7 days with no food without a problem. Just make sure it has fresh water at all times.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I would suggest letting 100 or so mealworms grow out and pupate to get a colony started. It takes a few months to have them grown enough to start feeding, but would eliminate running out in the future.

It would be better for him just to wait on your order instead of trying to find other feeders that are of questionable quality. Crickets from a bait store would be okay if they aren't too big. Other issues could arise from eating things he really shouldn't have. NO wild caught insects! As others have said, it won't harm him to wait, and he'll be a happy boy to have some good worms.