Strange Behavior

[andrew5859]

So tonight as usual I went to feed the leos. Same old same old did nothing different.
I got to my female Mack Snow and as usual she was under the paper towel and I took her water to give her fresh and she came out looking at me hungry like she always does at feeding time. I put four supers in her bowl and I went to pull my hand out and she spazzed out ran towards the back of her tub and made the weirdest noise I have ever heard. (It sounded like a leo when your holding them and they really dont want to be held) She did that for about four seconds. When she was doing this she also puffed out her throat. I backed up and thought maybe she just got spooked.
I went on feeding everyone else and came back to her and she was on top of her hide, throat still puffed out and this time if I would move my head she would very intently follow it back and forth like she was going to strike at me :main_huh:
After about a half an hour later she calmed down and took a super from the tongs.
My question is what could have caused this behavior? I did nothing different, same temps, same food.
Im thoroughly stumped on this:main_no:....especially the throat puffed out and intent following. Interested to hear everyone's thoughts.......

Sorry for such the long post!

 

[artes]

Maybe there was a clown standing behind you?

 

[lillith]

Has she ever had troubles wrestling with the supers or been bitten by one?
I had an occurrence with one of my sub-adult tang kids this year, I gave her two superworms as I was passing them out to everyone, it was a new feeder for her.

I watched to make sure she could handle them, and after she caught the first one, I thought, "okay, good," and went back to passing them out to everyone else...about 3 minutes later there's a lot of rattling around in her tub, so I checked on her. The super was latched on to one of her eyelids and she was completely freaking out (as I would be if a super were attached to my eyelid)! I intervened, there was no injury to her eyelid/skin, but she took quite a few minutes to calm down.

I decided to let her try again about two weeks later, but she bolted to the back of her tub screeching and climbed onto of her house. In another month, I tried a third time; she didn't screech, she just ran and hid.

I have never seen another gecko react like this.

But I've learned a few things:

*I will always observe my geckos when they eat supers, until I'm sure they've been in them long enough to drown in their stomachs.
*At least some geckos can imprint experiences
*I decided to hold off on introducing supers until after 35g of weight in size. This girl was around 29-30g when I attempted to introduce.

To the OP, it may not at all be what's going on with your gecko, but it's the only experience I've had that was somewhat similar. What do you think, possible?

 

[andrew5859]

Hahaha no clowns behind me that I knew of!

To my knowledge she has never had any trouble with supers....shes also A 70g female so its not like shes small either.
I think its very possible that she could have this problem that you're describing but like I said shes never had any trouble that I know of and looking today she ate all the supers from the bowl. I have absolutely no clue what cause her to do that, shes very calm otherwise.

 

[gecko4245]

Superworm monster jaws,lol Feed another insect. They probably bit your gecko.

 

[artes]

I actually quit using superworms and just feed a lot more mealworms. Superworms make me paranoid. They are a) creepy, and b)I'm scared they'll hurt one of my geckos.

 

[andrew5859]

Supers are way more nutritious for them IMO. I have horrible luck with mealworms also.
I have not once had a gecko that got a super bite or have a traumatic experience from a superworm bite. I think I may have wrote that wrong.....the supers were going in the bowl as the leo started freaking out, so there is no way a super could have bit her.

 

[gecko4245]

Superworms have more fat and are poorer in calcium than mealworms. Not a good feeder.

 

[grboxa]

I'd have to agree that superworms arent the most nutritious of feeders. Like gecko said, high fat content and poor calcium. And just a thought, many people Ive seen crush the heads of the supers to take out any complications

 

[Dimidiata]

Yup, i started feeding supers yesterday, i only feed him 1-2 and he also gets mealies as much as he wants. I take my pin knife real quick and just take their madibles off. No issues.

 

[andrew5859]

Wow this thread is changing subjects fast...
I have not read nor heard at all of superworms being of less calcium or nutritional value. Heres a site to prove that http://tastyworms.com/blog/superworms-vs-mealworms-what-difference They have a higher meat to chitin ratio than mealworms even. I would think this would make them BETTER than mealies. My leos dont like mealworms because theyre not lively enough.
I do admit they do have some pretty good mandibles but by no means are they a bad feeder.
Like I said before I have never had a gecko bitten by a superworm that I know of so that gives me no good reason to stop feeding something that they are already doing well on.

 

[andrew5859]

Yup, i started feeding supers yesterday, i only feed him 1-2 and he also gets mealies as much as he wants. I take my pin knife real quick and just take their madibles off. No issues.

How fast does that kill them? Or doesnt it? Ive only tried to smush/cut their heads before but as soon as I do that they die and my geckos arent interested.

 

[gecko4245]

How fast does that kill them? Or doesnt it? Ive only tried to smush/cut their heads before but as soon as I do that they die and my geckos arent interested.

Don't get offended. It's all for your geckos health. The chitin is softer than mealworms but the nutrition is poor. All Charts vary a bit but you can at least get an idea of how poor when compared to other insects. Fat content is the biggest problem which their little bodies can really do without.

http://www.theroachguy.com/new_page_1.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/facehugger/insect.html

http://bamboozoo.weebly.com/the-feeders.html

 

[andrew5859]

Don't get offended. It's all for your geckos health. The chitin is softer than mealworms but the nutrition is poor. All Charts vary a bit but you can at least get an idea of how poor when compared to other insects. Fat content is the biggest problem which their little bodies can really do without.

http://www.theroachguy.com/new_page_1.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/facehugger/insect.html

http://bamboozoo.weebly.com/the-feeders.html

Sorry if I sounded offensive I was just trying to get my point across.... that and I have a cold and I'm letting everything get to me :main_thumbsdown:
I also believe that your bugs are only what you feed them not sure if that affects their fat/protein/moisture or not.
Hopefully in about a month or so I will have my dubia roach colony up enough to feed out of and wont have to even worry about supers! Of course theres always the few that wont switch over but its better than nothing!

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Actually, superworms have a lower chitin ratio than mealworms. Of course, there are some out there that think the nutrition charts of various feeders are not as accurate as their own uninformed opinions.

 

[GeckoDude31]

Superworms are just fine for your leo--in fact, they are much better than mealies. My geckos have never been bite by them and they have pounded tons. They know, for the most part, to go for the head first, and if they don't they close their eyes.

 

[lillith]

You know, I'm tempted to bust out the popcorn and bask in the irony, there.

BUT, superworm debate aside, it seems she was spooked by something.
The question is, is this a one-time deal, or is there a pattern to it? If it's just a one-time spazz, I wouldn't worry too much about it, or try to psychoanalyze the gecko. If it becomes a pattern, then you'll have to look at environmental cues in and outside of the enclosure to try to find a source. Remembering correlation is not always causation, but look for associations she might be making.

Hopefully this was just a one time overreaction to a startle reflex, and you have nothing to worry about.

 

[madrv]

I don't mess with supers anymore, they constipated my geck. Your geck might of got bit on his previous feeding. Why not feed crickets? Their cheap and gutload 10x better than worms.

 

[artes]

http://vita-mealie.weebly.com/index.html

No bad luck with these yummy treats! My geckos go nuts over them.

 

[Repkyle]

I dont think it has anything to do with your feeders, more likely a Strainge scent or as lillth said, a one off overreaction to somthing she thought was there.
I new a dog once that would freek if you wore gloves lol