Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know this seems like a stupid question, but I want to know what the best staple foods for leopards are? I know a lot of sites and people say crickets, but I'm not exactly a cricket fan. I know other people feed roaches, but I am terrified or roaches. I'd rather feed crickets than roaches. Just so everyone knows, I do not have a gecko yet I'm doing this research before I get one. Is there a type of worm that would be a better staple, I have no problem ordering them offline. Thank you for your help.
-----
Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)

In my opinion, mealworms are the way to go. I would feed a little mixture of pinhead crickets and tiny mealworms for babies until they get used to the mealies, but overall.. I'd feed mealworms.

1)Mealworms don't make a sound, crickets are noisey.
2)Mealworms aren't as stinky as crickets at all, so husbandry is easier for them.
3)Mealworms can be fed in a smooth dish or new ashtray when offered to geckos and the leopard gecko will learn to eat from it.

Those are the main reasons, but there's so many reasons why mealworms are better. Also, you might hear pet store people tell you the old wives tale of "Mealworms wil eat their way out of your gecko!", but it's simply not true. Think about it.. I doubt leopard gecko breeders like TheUrbanGecko or Albeys Too Cool Reptiles spend all their time cutting literally THOUSANDS of heads off of mealworms. They've been doing it for years. Sometimes, if the gecko is smaller, I might crush the head, just so they don't bite the face as they're being eaten, but that rarely even happens.. I've only seen that happen frequently with Superworms(That's why I stick to mealworms.. Although, many people feed them with no problem).

I hope this helped some. If you don't already know, remember to gutload whatever kind of prey you choose for them. ((If you aren't sure what gutloading is, that's just feeding the prey a nutrious diet before being fed to your geckos- "You are what you eat".)) Good luck!

-Brittany

About noisey crickets: My local pet shop only sells female crickets, so they do not make noise. They can be stinky though, and since I only get females I obviously can't farm them. I don't know if anybody really bothers with that anyway.

I use mealworms too because at least one of my geckos prefer them (that is what Petco fed them). My others seems to enjoy the crickets because they get to "hunt" them. It is fun to watch their tails wiggle right before they strike.

So... I would get a little bit of both and see what your gecko seems to like. You may just want to give it some variety anyway. Good luck, if you haven't already bought a gecko. I just got mine and I love them.
-----
-Kristin

0.1.2 Leopard Geckos
(Unnamed, Kumquat, and Tamale)

Thanks for the advice. Actually I have already gotten them. I bought a 1.2 trio and the male is gorgeous. He is high yellow x tangerine. They are only about 1 1/2 months and I am going to keep them together for awhile. I think when they get to breeding age I'm going to separate them. I don't want to stress the girls. Right now they get sm/med crix that really don't make any noise, at least I haven't heard them. They also get sm/med mealies. I think the male is the only one that eats the mealies though. I've never seen the girls in the dish. They are rather cute when they eat though. I don't really get to see them eat too often anyway. The male will let me hold him for about 5 minutes at a time. The females scatter when I come near. I need to get some pictures up soon. I think I saw your pictures on the general forum, they looked like very nice leos you have.
-----
Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)

Yeah, you should definitely post some pictures of your new additions.
-----
-Kristin

0.1.2 Leopard Geckos
(Unnamed, Kumquat, and Tamale)