Feeding Leopard geckos

Feeding Leopard geckos

Postby Mongoose » Sun Jul 31, 2005 5:41 pm

hey guys i was wondering if i can take earth worms and put them in meliemeal for a few days and once the sand has passed through feed them to my leopard geckos.

has any one done this before and do u guys think there is any danger?
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Postby Neboo » Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:55 pm

hey Mongoose
I can't find any ref: to earth worms either for or against,
I have fed turtles on them in the past as a treat and had no problem.
Thay take about 48 hours to clear the gut.

personaly i would not feed earth worms, because for geckos i'm not sure.

here is a list of food pray which seems to be common to most sites

Commercial house crickets (Acheta domesticus)
Black field crickets (Gryllus domesticus)
Mealworms (Tenebrio molitor)
Superworms (Zophobas mario)
Silkworms (Bombyx mori)
Locusts (Melanopus spp.)
Cockroaches (Blaberus cranifer, etc...)
Wax worms (Galleria melonella)
Pinky mice (for breeding females

hope this helps a little
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Postby Bushviper » Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:59 pm

Leopard geckos do occur in areas where there are earthworms, despite it being a semi desert.

There might be a problem with phosphorous which you find in earthworms. I know Blue Cranes have a problem if you feed too many earthworms so I would rather not. Mealworms and crickets are easy enough to get.
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Postby Neboo » Thu Aug 11, 2005 7:24 am

Just do not feed brown mealworms bundigestable to small beardies and can cause big problems.


hey BV this is interesting, is it just young beardies or leopards and other young lizards as well?
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Postby Bushviper » Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:11 am

It is the same with any small lizards which do not crush the food when they eat it. The carapace is so hard it goes right through the digestive system without being digested. The carapace is also difficult for some lizards to digest so the light coloured mealworms are the best choice for these animals because it means the carapace is still soft.
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Postby JBL » Sat Aug 13, 2005 10:12 pm

yip the Blue Crane part really makes sense, can tell me anything about a snake and Il say Huh?, but any thing about the featherfriends and Il say now were talking!!!!!, I try to lay off on the earthworms, for my Macaws also!!
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How many crix?????

Postby Da Snake » Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:48 pm

Hello. Im soon getting a leopard gecko, how many does one eat in one feeding time :oops: :oops: :oops:
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Postby Bushviper » Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:15 pm

Da snake. It depends on the size of the gecko and the size of the food items. Obviously they are going to eat less pinks or giant mealworms than tiny crickets.
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Postby Mongoose » Sun Aug 21, 2005 1:38 pm

hey guys thanx for all comments.... i havnt been here for a while....well my geckos are doing great and im hoping my female will lay eggs this season!
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Postby madcow » Wed May 10, 2006 11:06 am

hi Everybody

I would like to know my two leopard geckos are now about 18cm long(bought them at the expo) but i have run out of small to medium crickets .. and the cricket breeding was unsucsessful
Can i start to move them on to adult crickets ???
i have read many caresheets on feeding and some statements are clashing

" keep prey size lenght no longer than the width of the geckos head "
" food items should not be no more than the length and less than half the width of the lizard's head."????????
"geckos will consume anything they can overpower and fit into their mouths"

relating to statement no 2 adult crickets are shorter than the lenght of the head and about as fat as half the width of the head which should make it ok ...??

But i would like to know from experienced keepers at about what age can you start feeding them adult crickets ?? :roll:
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Postby Bushbaby » Wed May 10, 2006 11:40 am

Yes, adult crickets are fine. Mine are a little smaller and they are fine with adults.

You could also try mealworms. They are much easier to breed than crickets. My Leo's don't like the mealworms as much, but they eat them either way.
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Postby paul » Wed May 10, 2006 2:39 pm

If you have bought the gecko's at the show they should be able to feed the adult crickets.

I feed my gecko's 4-5 crickets every second day. They are all growing fast and very seldom have pinks, some will not eat pinks at all.
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Postby madcow » Wed May 10, 2006 3:09 pm

Ok Cool

I will give it a bash tonight ..i was just fearing impaction due to the size of he crickets ...
i mean you hear all this stuff and get a bit confused sometimes ;)
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Postby madcow » Thu May 11, 2006 8:13 am

do you break the hind legs off??
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Postby Bushbaby » Thu May 11, 2006 8:19 am

You can, to make it easier for the leo's to get to their food, although I usually just chuck the crickets in and let nature take it's course :D
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