Leopard Gecko

[Genie]

we usually have a plentiful supply of crickets and waxworms...as the nearest shop that now sells them is a 20 min drive and only my mam drives. But this week weve found ourselves short!! does anyone know of any more household or accessible foods they'll tolerate? (or even try) we're going tomorrow morning, but its been a few days (hes an adult so every other day is fne normally). ive recently lost a baby chooclate gecko to a calcium deficency, so im more worried about my leopard gecko atm. He has a fat tail so he's definately not underfed normally

 

[SoCalMom]

we usually have a plentiful supply of crickets and waxworms...as the nearest shop that now sells them is a 20 min drive and only my mam drives. But this week weve found ourselves short!! does anyone know of any more household or accessible foods they'll tolerate? (or even try) we're going tomorrow morning, but its been a few days (hes an adult so every other day is fne normally). ive recently lost a baby chooclate gecko to a calcium deficency, so im more worried about my leopard gecko atm. He has a fat tail so he's definately not underfed normally

No. They won't eat meat or veggies or any human food. He will be fine without food. I have two leopard geckos, and my female went three weeks without eating. There was nothing wrong with her, she just didn't want it. She didn't lose an ounce of weight and her tail was still very fat

So, to answer your question simply...he can wait until you can get him food

How often do you feed him wax worms? Those should only be fed every once in a while as a treat, not as a main staple since they are so fatty. You should alternate between crickets and meal worms, with wax worms every so often so he has a varied diet

How are you supplementing your leo with calcium? Does he have a dish of pure calcium without d3 and vitamins in his tank at all times? And are you dusting his food with calcium with d3/vitamins and also with "leo dust" another type of vitamin/mineral formula? I'm only asking since you said you lost another gecko to calcium deficiency

Hope this helped

 

[JamesCarden]

depending on where you live i guess.... you should be able to find crickets, water bugs and other small things right outside your house or in the garden. hmm


James

 

[SoCalMom]

depending on where you live i guess.... you should be able to find crickets, water bugs and other small things right outside your house or in the garden. hmm


James

Bad idea. They could have parasites/diseases that can kill your leo. Please don't feed them wild caught insects

 

[JamesCarden]

depending on where you live i guess.... you should be able to find crickets, water bugs and other small things right outside your house or in the garden. hmm


James

Bad idea. They could have parasites/diseases that can kill your leo. Please don't feed them wild caught insects

ahhh yes! good call!

James

 

[Genie]

he does have a calcium bowl. we gut load the crickets. and ill have a look for this other vitamin thing you mentioned. The other gecko was of the chocolate variety. Very prone to calcium deficiencies. (sp?) but what i thought was a shedding problem on his feet, turned out to be worse. he didnt have a calcium bowl at the time, and i wouldve put one in straight away if id thought he needed it. and its only since then that we've been gut loading the crickets.

He only gets wax worms when we run out of crickets. And we dont feed meal worms, should we? do they provide anything more than crickets do?

 

[SoCalMom]

he does have a calcium bowl. we gut load the crickets. and ill have a look for this other vitamin thing you mentioned. The other gecko was of the chocolate variety. Very prone to calcium deficiencies. (sp?) but what i thought was a shedding problem on his feet, turned out to be worse. he didnt have a calcium bowl at the time, and i wouldve put one in straight away if id thought he needed it. and its only since then that we've been gut loading the crickets.

He only gets wax worms when we run out of crickets. And we dont feed meal worms, should we? do they provide anything more than crickets do?

I'm not sure on the "stats" of meal worms, but geckos do need a varied diet. I personally prefer meal worms over crickets as my leos main diet source. They don't smell, don't make noise, and can be kept alive for weeks in the fridge. They do need to be gutloaded like crickets. I bought gutload from a website, it's called pro gutload and you can get it from www.progeckos.com. I put a layer of that down with chunks of carrots and apple in a baking dish twice a week. The meal worms love it!

The calcium with d3/vitamins I use is called ReptoCal from Tetrafauna. The "leopard gecko dust" is made by T-Rex and has a pink lid. The pure calcium without d3/vitamins is called Jurassi Cal made by JurassiPet and has a green lid

 

[Genie]

thanks for the help! the stuff i have for gut loading is t-rex: calcium food for crickets. and for the gecko is t-rex: '2:0 calcium/no phosphates, powered supplement with vitamins'

 

[SoCalMom]

You're welcome. If you ever need advice, pm me and I will help if I can

What you have is good for dusting the food, but I would recommend more than one type of calcium. They need a dish of pure calcium without any vitamins/d3 as I stated before



I would love to see a pic of your leo when you have the chance

 

[sandie66]

Our little guy won't even touch mealworms. We get him about 24 crickets each week and he loves though. I knew a woman years ago, who used to feed her gecko (actually all her lizards, etc), wet cat food, straight out of the can. Now I have never tried it, but hers seemed to love it. Has anyone ever tried this??

 

[The_Dude]

My friend fed his leo this lizard pellet stuff, and it worked fine. But I wouldn't use wet catfood, as cat food's nutritional value is geared toward cats, not lizards.

 

[Genie]

just bought some 'cricket keepers' so we can gut load properly. Ive put the pellets into their boxes before but its hard to do without them escaping. Worst time, was when my dad decided locusts were better for them than crickets.

It somehow got out of the gecko tank, and went on the bathroom door. Stayed very still there all night until my dad came home!! Scariest thing ever!

 

[t1tanrush]

You can order crickets bulk from a few different sites relatively cheaply. You'll save a bundle in the long run especially if they breed (extremely easy to do).

 

[Morquinn]

They could have parasites/diseases that can kill your leo. Please don't feed them wild caught insects

Actually any insect, even store bought can have parasites... I know mulberry farms went through a huge disaster of their silkworms having a parasitic disease (was a while ago) actually wild caught crickets or angle worms are fine as long as you live out in the country and the insects dont come in contact with pesticides or fertilizers... but I do agree though if its only for a short time, it will be fine without food for the time being.