Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all. I just got two new leopard geckos. I was wondering what to feed to crickets/mealworms to gut-load them for my geckos. Also, I was curious of how much to feed them and how often. Will they become obese if I let them eat as much as they want? Lastly, they do not like handling at all. If I coax one of them into my hand with a mealworm, they run off as soon as I try to lift them.

Thanks for any advice!
Ariellei

I use oats and some orange peels to gutload the mealies. Tropical fish food, potatoe, and wet paper towels for the crickets. They don't really enjoy being picked up, some just tolerate it better than others.
Hope I helped!
Sam

The best bet for just starting off is to use a commercial gutload, anything by Flukers or we really like the Yummies brand (both available in national chain pet stores). Pick a gutload that is both food and water and you'll be set. Dust any prey items in a mineral and vitamin powder, preferably one designed for leos.

I'm not sure if you mean the geckos or the crickets will overeat? Prey items won't over eat and leos should be fed as many prey items as they will eat at one time. Removed uneaten bugs unless you have a bowl to keep the mealies in.

If you are new to geckos then I would suggest you pick up a copy of the leopard gecko manual at the very least. It will tell you all you need to know about temps, feeding, prey items, behavior, etc. You can also find answers to all the questions you asked today by searching this forum.

As for handling them: I would not try handling them more often than once a week initially while they grow and settle in. It takes a lot of patience and time to hand train a gecko, but they are wonderful pets. There is a post by the user named "olstyn" a while back with very detailed information about how to train a gecko and I would suggest looking that up as I don't have anything could add to it. Good luck.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

I agree with sleepy gecko. They sometime can be hard to handle. It will take time and patience. I would work with them about 2-3 times a wekk and see what happens. It is good to let them settle the first week or so in the tank and nor touch them at all. I also suggest not housing to leos together. You could also google it and check out various leo sites to get alot of info. Becareful some is cvery misleading, such as using sand for a substrate. That is horrible. Impaction and much more can happen, that is for any loose substrate. Paper towels are best. They will vomit if they eat to much. They are to be fed about 10-15 crix a day. Mealies about 3-4 a day if not a staple diet. Good luck and i hope i helped you a little!