What to feed?

[MitsuMike]

Ok so I know if I do crickets I need to gut load to add vit and minerals to the leo diet. Now I hear of ppl feeding mainly mealworms. I thought mealworms would be to fatty for a leo but I'm not sure.
Are there advantages or disadvantages for crickets vs mealworms??

 

[snakegirl]

i go with MEALWORMS. i breed crickets for my crested geckos this is what i think about the feeders

Mealworms
MUCH less smell
easier to breed and care for
Out of all my leopard geckos they all eat mealworms only 2 will sometimes eat crickets!
cheaper to own
no noise
clean out once a month if that


crickets
SMELL BAD, a dead one smells worst
LOUD, dont keep them near your bedroom they chirp
Hard to sometimes catch and Large adult crickets can nip you
Hard to breed, you need a lay box, incubator, dirt, lots of food...
need to clean them often

i really go with mealworms first, there simple and a great feeder for your leopard geckos.mealworms are not very fatten at all, infact i add Wax worms to a geckos diet if they need to gain weight, if you ever feel like breeding mealworms or caring for them i have made a Care sheet on them, here is the link.


caresheet for mealworms *click*

 

[MitsuMike]

Thanks. Is there any supplemental stuff that I need to give the meal worms or the gecko?

 

[snakegirl]

i feed all my feeds Fresh veggies, just remember to dust your feeders now and again before you feed them to your reptiles.

 

[Tony C]

I personally prefer crickets and roaches as a staple, with mealworms and superworms as a secondary food, and waxworms as a supplement. I'm not convinced that the common sentiment that "a fat gecko is a healthy gecko" is correct, so I prefer using leaner feeders that promote active hunting instead of having fat lazy geckos lounging around a dish waiting to be fed.

 

[gothra]

I use mainly roaches and silkworms as staple; I think they're suppose to be more nutritious than mealworms. However I do have a couple that will only take supers, if they're picky I'll just let them have whatever they want.

 

[AvandisFifth187]

It depends on what you're looking for in a feeder.

Either way your going to have to supplement/dust whether you gut load or not.

Mealworms are much less smelly, much less noise, and much easier to get into the tank. The downside is trying to sort them out from their bedding, which *can* be very time consuming, depending on your method. With mealworms, it's much easier to get a gecko up to breeding size, but not necessarily to maturity.

Crickets can be noisy and smelly. They can be especially smelly if they're not in a well ventilated enclosure. The upside is that you don't really have to keep them on any kind of substrate, which makes their enclosure much easier to clean. With crickets it's much easier to get your gecko up to sexual maturity, but not necessarily up to size.

Now keep in mind that what I said about which feeder can get them up to size/maturity is still more of a theory for alot of breeders rather than a proven fact.

I personally use both. If I run out of crickets, I use mealworms until I can get more crickets. The mealworms keep for a long time, so it's a good backup. If I'm trying to get a gecko up to breeding size and maturity, I give them small daily meals of crickets and mealworms. It seems to work pretty well, so long as they're not overfed.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[Magic Merlin]

Variety is the best but keep in mind that some of the largest gecko producers feed only mealworms and they don't seem to have issues.