Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The breeder I got my Leo from says she keeps meal worms availible to her Leos 24/7 and that she doesnt feed anything besides meal worms. She said theres a chance it could get some kind of worm from crickets. Should I really have meal worms there at all times? And what do you guys think about crickets for Leos?

Also, how much do I feed? My Leo is almost a month old now. Should I be feeding daily or twice a week like I do with my other herps? How many meal worms/crickets? Thanks!
-----
0.1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
1.0.0 Pixie Frog
0.0.1 African Dwarf Frog
0.0.1 Ornate Horned Frog
0.0.1 Firebelly Toad
0.0.1 Firebelly Newt
1.0.0 Fire Salamander
2.0.3 Florida Bark Scorpions
0.0.1 Emperor Scorpion
1.0.0 Flatrock Scorpion
1.2.0 African Giant Millipedes
2.0.0 Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches
0.0.1 Chilean Rosehair Tarantula
1.0.0 Hamster!
1.0.0 Ugly Cat
1 Small freshwater aquarium
Grunngg@yahoo.com

At that age the gecko should be fed as much as it wants every day. Just remove the left overs from its enclosure after it seems to be done eating. Otherwise, the hunter becomes the hunted. (I recently saw a pet store lose a baby gecko's tail because they left crickets in the tank with it around the clock.) It's my belief after researching the topic for 7 years that they need the nourishment that crickets provide and meal worms should be used as a supplement. I think they are more fat than good stuff. Hope I helped. There are some good web sites for these guys out there. Try a search on Melissa Kaplan and Ron Tremper. Good luck!

Many of the big breeders raise leos on nothing but mealworms. It won't hurt anything, but a variety of feeders is definately the best way to go. And as stated in the previous post, babies/juvies should be fed every day. Even as adults most leos will eat every other day, some more, some a little less.

As far as crickets giving leos pinworms. Many people think this is a common occurrance, Marcia McGuiness with Golden Gate Geckos (a very reputable breeder) explained on a different forum, in detail, that this is not really true. Here is part of her post from that forum, it was dated 3/6/2006:

I would like to try to clarify some confusing information about geckos contracting pinworms from feeder insects vs. being infected themselves since routine fecal test results cannot always tell the difference between pinworms that are actually infecting the gecko and the ones that show up as a result of the crickets/mealworms being infected with them. Pinworms cannot infect geckos and feeders at the same time.

When a gecko is infected with pinworms, they will show up as tiny oocysts (eggs) and larvae under a microscope, and are not visible to the naked eye. Now, if a gecko ate a cricket that was infected with pinworms, the larvae and worms would be easily observed, sometimes even with the naked eye in the feces. These pinworms pose no health risk to the gecko.

I thought this would be very good information to pass along, I sure found it very interesting

Shelley

-----
www.StoplightCityLeopardGeckos.com