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New guy with geckos has a question about feeding...

T

tyler_durden

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I recently got a pair of adult female leopard geckos (2-4 yrs old) in excellent health from the herp lab at the universty I attend. I have a couple questions about feeding them.

It seems most people feed them mainly crickets and mealworms. These are either direct from growers or they are grown at home. Are these bugs generally cleaner or do they have the internal/external parasites that wild bugs have? Are bait bugs the same quality/cleanness of feeder bugs? Finally, does it matter- i.e. are cricket/mealworm/wild bug parasites harmful to my geckos?

I ask because I live in a rural area with a) lots of bait shops and b) lots of wild bugs. I thought that since variety is important in the lizard's diet I could feed them from these sources. Of course if more experienced people think it is a bad idea, I'll get some feeders from one of the many suppliers and start raising them myself in clean conditions.

Thanks!

TD
 
The reason that most people do not feed wild-bugs is because of pesticides. I live in the boonies. A lot of grasshoppers and such around here too, but you don't know if they were exposed to pesticides at all. As to baitshops, I don't think that they keep as good of care as the "distributors" do.. Although I have nothing to back that up with.
 
I simply would not chance feeding wild caught bugs. You never know if that grasshopper hopped 3 miles from a field that was recently spayed with pesticides. It is usually quite cheaper in the long run to buy from a feeder breeder.

I know nothing about bait shops or where they get the bugs they sell. So I really can't say if they are reliable or not.
 
I agree with what evryone else as said about the wild bugs. Just to hard to tell. As far as Bait Shops that I am not sure of either. I know in my area there is one Pet Shop that sells Armstrong crickets (at least that is what the boxes said) and their is a Bait Shop that sells crickets they have an Armstrong cricket banner that hangs over thier cricket bin. But who really knows if the Bait Shop just bought from them at one time and doesn't now or even ever did. I think best bet would be buy from a feeder/breeder. The only problem with that is if you only have two geckos they aren't going to eat as much. So buying 500 crickets might be little much at one time for you. Maybe you could ask the Bait Shop where they get their crickets from.
 
Definitely go with breeder/distributor feeders. No chance of accidental poisoning like with WC bugs.

If you want variety, pick up 100 mealworms and 100 waxworms from a distributor. You can store them and they will live until you use them. Then just supplement with petstore crickets. Around here they are $1 a dozen so that isn't too much considering you aren't going to be feeding 100's a week.
 
wild bugs have pretty good chances of having parasites.However, i used to feed my leos butter moths that used to be attracted to a butterfly bush in my backyard.They loved them and theyre were no problems with that except moths arent very nutritional.But one thing i know-dont feed grasshopers.Everyone seems to think its okay..i had to learn the hard way.Grasshoppers have a hard exoskeleton with lots of bodyparts,such as theyre legs that are awkward for a leo to swallow.9 times out of 10 it wolnt cause impaction..but it can cause inflamation which results like a sore throat to leos..and they have dificulty eating thereafter.Good luck finding feeders!
 
Can you get a small order of mealworms, roaches or silkworms and raise your own feeders? It is cheaper and easier to raise your own. Good luck with your new pets!
 
I raise my own mealies for the most part which is good because my colonies were producing very well and to let them really get established I ordered 10,000 mealies that arrived dead 4 weeks In a row, if it were not for my own colonies I would have had a very expensive go to the pet shop to feed a ton of leos bill.

I feed mealies in a dish 24/7, some of my adults that were on crickets previously still get them 1 time a week. I do not raise those, though I could if needed.

With 2 leos you will do well getting say 1000 mealies for $10 delivered and refridgerate them until needed. make sure that you warm them up for 24 hours each week to gutload and gutload them at least 24 hours before adding to the dish.

Crickets, I buy in bulk as well, I order 1,000 3/8" a month so that as they grow in the 4 weeks that I feed them out they do not get too large or die out before being used. I also feed the crix to my chameleons.

The more varied of a diet, I feel the better, but only use wax worms sparingly as they conatin mostly fat and very little food vaule.
 
Don't buy your feeders from a bait shop. Those bugs don't have to be food quality and usually are NOT. Some are treated with chemicals, some are dyed, some are just plain diseased so are sold to bait stores instead of as feeders. Don't take that chance. I have a couple of friends who learned this from sad experience.
 
I also agree that bait shop bugs may not be as healthy. Basically everything that leaftail stated is what I believe.

I have 1 adult leo & 1 adult crestie that eat the crickets and I found that getting 40 - 50 crickets per week is good enough for the both of them. That comes out to be about $4-$5/week at PetSmart & PetCo, but it's about $2-$2.50/week at Pet Club. The Pet Club by my house sells 20 crickets for $1 and the PetSmarts & PetCos in my area sell 10 crickets for $1 (medium/large sizes). I just make sure to gutload them 24+ hours before feeding.

I raised my own feeder mealies before - I found it to be cheaper, but the main thing is having a healthy gutload so it benefits your leo. It's also easier if you don't mind beetles in a bin in the house :) Now that I use crickets, I just buy them from the pet store since I don't need so many that come from bulk purchases online. I don't plan to breed those because I'm not very fond of crickets :rolleyes:
 
Sadly soon i am switching over to silkies full time (starting on Wed) and have 3 shipments of 500 shipped to my house a month :(

Buuut for you, the mealworms are the best option because they keep so well! I agree with wendy, order a thousand and stick em in the fridge! They can last you literally months!
 
Thanks for all the input. I'll avoid the baitshop bugs, and the wild ones. I thought about raising crickets, but I know that it is imposible to keep them contained, and the weather here won't permit keeping them outdoors, so I'll have to find another source. I think I can try live meal worms though.

In the meantime I have ordered some of the canned bugs and reptivite. If the girls are happy and healthy with them I just stock up on the cans and supplement with live mealworms once in a while.

Thanks again.

TD
 
I managed to locate a local source for feeder crickets and got the girls a decent meal today. They seemed very happy to have the little visitors!

I was surprised at the inaccuracy of their grabs at the crickets. I'd say they're batting about 330. I had a Tokay many years ago and I don't recall him/her ever missing.

Thanks again,

TD
 
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