Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I have been feeding my leo mealworms for about a year but I want to give him a variety of foods. Over the weekend i got him crickets instead and fed him some today. There were extras in the cage after he was done and i tried to recapture them. I found it difficult to remove his accessories and chase them down with a bag.

Okay here is my question, how do you deal with extra crickets? Do you set up a dark tube for them as a trap or some other kind of bait (such as a fruit)? I was also thinking about feeding him smaller quantities until he was full.

Thanks

I would put a few t a time in to start. As far as catching them, they're quick but you'll have to resort to catching them by hand.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

And be sure to not dump too many in there. It can be a hazard in a couple of ways to have extra crickets in the enclosure. Plus it's an easy way to lose the crickets. So just put crickets in there and the ones it doesn't devour...take out.

One thing we did with ours was to take 'extra' decorations out when we fed ours. Crickets couldn't hide too well that way. As for catching them, use your hand to herd them into a corner and cup your hand. Usually they'll jump into your hand trying to get away. Then you just close it, and there you go. I do the same thing in their cage when catching them to feed our gecko.
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**Kenn**
The Uros at home:
http://www.arabianwildlife.com/current/dubh.html
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/uromastyx.html
http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/runningbrook/729/id19.htm

I find that it's typically pretty easy to catch them by using a tongs to grab them by that little rod that sticks out of their butt. Failing that, the tube from a roll of paper towels is usually a pretty easy way to do it. Just put the tube down over them and be patient, they'll eventually climb onto the tube's walls and then you've got them.

As others said, try not to throw more in than your gecko will eat (usually 3-5 per feeding, assuming they're correctly sized for your gecko (about 1/2 the size of the gecko's head, adults usually eat crickets that are sold as 'large')).
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

Its really not that hard to catch a cricket unless your afraid of it or something. when you feed crickets you need to make sure they can not hide anywhere in the cage, if they can hide from you they can hide from your gecko and it will never get to eat. you should start with 5 dusted crickets (large) for an adult gecko 1+yrs. put them in at night and see how many are eaten the next day. take the remainders out if there is any. if your gecko ate all the crickets give them 6 the next night. throw the old crickets away, normally my geckos like fresh crickets better. make sure you give you crickets food like a peice of lettuce or somehting if they are not being feed to the gecko and waiting for the next night. this is how i feed all my leos, if i put in 7 crickets and they are all gone the next night i give them 8. if they were given 9 crickets and they only ate 6 crickets the next night i give them 7. sorry kinda tuff to type it out. this is how i feed each idividual gecko.

Thank you everyone for your input...

No, I'm not afraid of them lol... I'm just used to removing a bowl with a couple mealies contained inside of it instead. Yes I do gut load my crickets (and mealworms too). He usually will eat 15 mealworms every other day, so I thought it would be the same with crickets. It makes sense that he wouldn't eat as many crickets as he did mealworms because they are bigger!

Thank you again for your help!

Forgive my ignorance, but why exactly should you not leave crickets in the cage? The pet store I bought them from actually recommended it, though I keep them in a separate enclosure for the purpose of gut loading, and only feed as many as I think they will eat in a day, but haven't taken the extras out, I have a cricket feeder which I load with cricket food and often find them hiding inside.

Chris, the crickets like to harass the geckos, which can stress them out. I've also heard of the crickets trying to make a meal of the gecko when he gets bored with them. Therefore, it's better to just take them out when the gecko is done.

well they annoy the geckos, etc. but for 1 pet stores dont know anything about their reptiles! it is just kids taking care of the animals. petstores also house there geckos on sand and the temperatures are also below 82 degrees most of the time. so no offense but i hope you dont do what the pet store tells you too.

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, they (pet stores) are my first line of information. Also, much of the information on the internet regarding leos points to the direction of these being the perfect pets for absent minded owners.
Obviously, experienced leo owners would disagree, but humans in general tend to be stupid, presumptuous animals, myself most definitely included. I see people over complicate the simplest of directions daily in my line of work, so it isn't any stretch of imagination to think this logic would follow over to reptile care. IE...if a little is good, a lot is great.
So yeah, my leos are kept on sand substrate, with Flukers moss in the hide, and one end of the tank is about 80 degrees while the other 73, this is what I was told by the people who had the lizard before me, why would I automatically assume these people were wrong? They've had leos longer than me, who am I to argue?
I think the idea of keeping these animals on paper towel substrate with vermiculite hides is ridiculous, I mean, could ANYTHING be further from their natural habitat? Seriously, vermiculite was never meant to be part of a reptile habitat, it's designed for use in addition to potting soil for plants, to keep moisture at a desirable level.
These are desert reptiles, right? Isn't a desert mostly sand? I haven't been to Pakistan, Ahghanistan, Ignoristan, or any other Middle Eastern desert for that matter, but I'll wager none of them are completely covered in paper towels with little holes filled with vermiculite moistened with tap water.
Sorry if I sound like an asshole, but in my experience, humans trying to replicate what their idea of natural habitat is often falls desperately short of reality. At the same time, the leos I have are bred from stock so domesticated, they may just be more comfortable on paper towels. Until I master communication between the species, I may never know.
But then, that is the reason I sought out this forum, to learn from those with firsthand experience, so that I may be able to better provide a healthy environment for these little jewels, by having many different sources of information rather than relying on the pimply faced nose ring telling me what's up in the pet store.
Unfortunately, like many internet forums, it seems maybe there should be two leo forums here, one for the experts to argue about who really knows more about just what a leo wants in life, and one for us morons to slowly kill our pets with our own shared ignorance.
Again I apologize if I sound jaded, many of you do provide sound advice in a polite, respectful manner, but some of you really should just go out to a bar and argue the finer points of the selection on the jukebox....

Paper towel certainly isn't naturalistic by a longshot but it is reasonably safe, especially for very young geckos. I personally prefer ceramic tile. It makes for easy cleaning.

Some naturalistic vivariums (leo tanks) do include a small amount of sand but also provide a lot of large rock surfaces and such to limit the chance of impaction by reducing size of the tank floor where accidental ingestion of sand is possible while hunting prey. Impaction by sand can still be an issue, especially when said gecko is calcium deficient to begin with as they may deliberately ingest the sand in an attempt to obtain the calcium they normally get in the wild from gypsum dust and such. Poor health initially can lead to dangerous behaviors in this respect.

One key difference between a tank and the wild is that a gecko is free to move to an environment that suits them in the wild whereas they are entirely dependent upon you to provide that environment in a tank. If the tank isn't healthy, then they're kinda stuck with it.

Again, vermiculite is not naturalistic but it's intended to provide the kind of moisture that would normally condense on the rock surfaces of their natural hides. It's just an option that works well for some.

There are other solutions besides paper towel and vermiculite.

Many animals may be considered hearty enough for beginners who don't always get things right, but neglect should never be the goal. It's kinda like raising carrots vs some rare exotic orchid in the plant world. If you don't water either, then the carrots will surely die too.

"These are desert reptiles, right? Isn't a desert mostly sand? I haven't been to Pakistan, Ahghanistan, Ignoristan, or any other Middle Eastern desert for that matter, but I'll wager none of them are completely covered in paper towels with little holes filled with vermiculite moistened with tap water."

Leos in the wild do not live on sand - they live in rocky areas.

And as far as the vermiculite, I don't use it, but it seems like a good way to provide some moisture to aid in shedding. There are other ways of helping with a shed - misting, etc. Or you can just assume you know the conditions of "Ignoristan" and say "Hey, they don't need moisture - deserts don't have moisture right?" That isn't true though - the rocks that they hide in are able to trap small amounts of moisture.

Wild dogs don't sleep on "doggy beds" (or in some cases on "people beds" but a lot of people love their pet pups enough to let them have a nice, "unnatural" place to sleep. Most dog owners provide kibble instead of raw meat. Just because the living conditions aren't exactly how they are in nature doesn't mean it is going to traumatize or be dangerous to your pet.

The paper towel and vermiculite method is used by countless breeders and as far as I know, they haven't caused many problems. Sand, on the other hand, is much more likely.

My experience with pet shops is that most of the workers have given me very bad advice. Fortunately I had done enough online and book research that I wasn't led astray. SOME pet shop workers are very good at what they do and take the time to understand what each animals' needs are - so kudos to them!

*note* I am not saying that you shouldn't use sand, nor am I preaching to those of you that do. I think there are many ways to raise a healthy leo.