Supers to leopard geckos

[KDesautels08]

Hey Guys,

So I had a question regarding super worms, and the pro's and con's as using them as part of a staple for a leopard gecko's diet. Prior to this (this to be explained shortly) I have never fed any of my gecko's super worms, due to reading some very negative health issues that come from feeding supers (such as the skin causing impaction, them biting the animals, to them even eating the animal from the inside out).

However I purchased some geckos recently (I actually received them last night), and these geckos are under a year old and they are HUGE, bigger than any of my animals that are over double their age, that I feed primarily on meal worms. This breeder informed me that he was alternating dubias and supers every other day. After seeing these animals, I started thinking about incorporating Supers into their diet, but I am still a little hesitant about the health issues that may come with feeding them supers. Is there any validity to these issues, and would you guys recommend feeding super worms to a leopard geckos, as a main staple of their diet?

Thanks

 

[Neon Aurora]

There is nothing wrong with feeding superworms. The tales of them eating geckos from the inside out are completely unfounded and they actually have less chitin than mealies (so are more digestible). Variety is always best in the diet. the more different bugs you can feed, the better.

However, bigger=/=better. Growth rate is largely based on how much food a leopard gecko gets, but there is certainly such a thing as too much food (I don't feed my juvies/older hatchlings every day because of this). Having huge 1 year olds isn't necessarily a good thing (especially if a lot of their mass is fatty tissue). It's not necessarily a bad thing either, depending. Secondly, growth rate is also very much genetic. I have older juvies from this season that are much smaller than some of the younger ones and they all get the same amount of food. I can't explain the variation any other way than genetics. All of my hatchlings grow at really different rates, and I don't worry about it much. I try to maintain their weight at a healthy level (not skinny but not obese) and they grow at the rate they are supposed to.

 

[acpart]

I've been feeding my adult leos super worms and crickets on an alternating schedule for at least the last 10 years and except for the leos that don't like one or the other of the feeders, it's working fine.

Aliza