Food Question

[Jay_Bunny]

Chibi is on a diet of dusted crickets 2-3 times a week, and mealworms on all other days. She's steadily gaining weight but I was wanting to vary her diet a bit. I saw on an info slip at the petstore that leos eat crickets, wax worms, mealworms, and....fruit?

Do leopard geckos eat fruit? If so, what kinds? Also, a friend recommended nightcrawlers as a treat every other week or so. I know that leos like roaches, but I can't have those for a long time, so those are off the menu. Other than pheonix worms, crickets, wax worms, and mealworms, what can you feed to leos?

[qiksilver]

well fruits a new one... where on rocky ledges in Pakistan would you find fruit. Honestly if your leo was hungry enough it might eat damn near anything that was moving like an insect or if there was an insect next to on or around it. But I've had leopards for 15 years and I've never heard of fruit before, and mine have been fine without it.

[geckochick]

I wouldn't feed my Leo fruit. Silkworms are another option. I give them to mine for treats. Wax worms are high in fat, but are good for treats too. I also give my adult Leo's king meal worms. They love them.

[elevatethis]

Just a note on king/super mealworms...

I fed those to my leos once. They ate them quickly, however, 5 mins later I noticed that two of the geckos had regurgitated them.

I'm not sure of the cause, but I thought it was weird that two of them did the same thing.

I'm not sure on nightcrawlers, though...seems like they'd be a pretty large meal for a leo...

[Kristy]

No they don't eat fruit. Well they aren't supposed to, they are insectivores.

Anyway a safe list of foods to feed them,

Mealworms, Superworms, Horn worms, butterworms,silkworms, waxworms (high in fat, like eating mcdonalds using sparingly) and Phoenix worms.

Also the like Crickets, and Roaches, oh man do they love roaches, at least mine do lol. Try discoids.com

[mlededee]

i used to feed superworms but stopped after only feeding a few times. i could tell that the leos would purposefully try to grab them by the head first--my male was really skittish of them and would only grab them if he could do it just right. then one day he didn't get the worm right and it bit his eyelid. it swelled shut within minutes and the poor guy looked just awful. luckily he healed up and is fine but i stopped feeding the superworms after that.

my vet also advised me against it--he said they had a chameleon who got bit in the tongue by a superworm and it swelled up and got infected. the cham was refusing food and having to be kept at the vet and tube fed so it didn't starve to death... anyhow, i'd stick with the regular sized mealies just to be safe.

[qiksilver]

I bought superworms once, when they were like the new hot food item and everyone was saying they were great, but I never fed them to any of my geckos because I watched them eat through the plastic container, each other and start to eat through the wood, I ended up throwing them away, they was so nasty. never again.

[elevatethis]

I think they'd be fine for any animal that 'chews' when they eat. For example, bearded dragons tend to crunch down on their insects a few times before swallowing, while leopards and chams tend to grab with their mouth and then just swallow whole.

I've even been pinched by superworms while handling them and couldn't imagine that would be comfortable inside the mouth or throat of a small reptile consuming them.

[Jay_Bunny]

Ok, so superworms are off the menu. Roaches are not a go until I get my own place. What about nightcrawlers. No one has really said much about them. They are pretty big worms. My friend says she feeds them to hers every now and then. Chibi is only about 35g, so she's definatly not full grown yet.

[mlededee]

i really don't know about night crawlers--they aren't something that you generally find on the list of leo foods... you could offer a pinky mouse every once in a while if you want--maybe once per month or so.