Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

How many of you raise your leos on a diet consisting primarily or exclusively of mealworms?

Thanks,
Glenn

It is best to vary the food at least a little, but lots of people do keep their leos on a diet of primarily mealies.

One of my leopards seems to prefer mealies to all other foods, she gets some crickets occasionally, or small superworms but mostly she just likes mealworms so thats what i feed her. I make sure all of the insects are gutloaded and switch it up sometimes and it works fine for me,

as long as you are feeding good quality, gut loaded insects then it shouldnt be a problem
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0.1 Bearded dragon (Hannabil)
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake (Morticia)
2.1 Leopard Gecko's (Pogo,Jeffrey Nothing, Louise)
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn (Autumn)
1.0 Blood Red Corn (Virus)
0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx (Scuttle)
0.1 Bullmastiff (Asha)
4.1 Cats (Poe, Tucker, Abhid, Felicity, Emmy)

I use mainly meal worms too. It's worked out fine so far. I still give them crickets, about 1 or 2 times a month. I've found the meal worms will eat anything, and so be gutloaded easier. Plus, the escaped cricket gets real old real fast. At least with the meal worms, they aren't going to jump out at you when you open the container.

If there are any more, I'd like to hear of them.

Also, do any of you keep your mealies long-term. I mean with out raising them, just refrigerating them and warming them once a week for feeding and gut loading. I would also be warming and gutloading a bunch for feeding days other than the weekly total group mealie feeding.

Thanks,
Glenn

i'm currently raising mealworms at my house. it is really easy and you can find great instructions on the web. the biggest thing i've found is that they take a real long time to grow big enough to feed. as far as warming up to feed i was just taking out as many as i was planning on feeding the night before and letting them gutload till the next night when i put them in the dish. also i keep gutload in the bottom of the feeder dish in the tank.

I have always raised my own and just feed them oranges and carrots as well as the bran they in,Do I need to gut load on other stuff?How would I do this before feeding?
Sorry I hope I didnt hijack this thread...
BTW awesome snake pic.
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i just use flukers cricket and insect gutload. i generally try to pick ready to feed mealies out a few days prior and keep them in a small container with the gutload and oatmeal. so far it seems too work just fine. there was a post quite a while back about gutloading. there have been many debates on the subject as well. reading trempers new book he just points out that worms should be fed a good diet and that there should be a dish of Vionate for young gecko's up to 7" and then use Osteoform for sexually mature ones. i however just use pure calcium in the tank. i do however use a spray on vitamin on the worms from time to time just to make sure that Nibbles is getting some D3. she is growing like a weed and seems healthy and active so it must be working. if yours acts fine then i would say you are also doing just fine.

-T

I dont bother to refrigerate and warm them again, they are just so easy to keep and feed and even breed.

I just keep mine in a tupperware container with about 1-2inches of oatmeal, wheat flakes, wheat germ, with some high quality (not tetra or wardley, something better than that..) fish food and potatos or carrots for moisture.

The only issue is you have to keep rotating and removing the potatos before they cause mold. I leave the potatos or carrots in for about 2 or 3 days and then take them out for a couple days and put fresh ones in.
-----
0.1 Bearded dragon (Hannabil)
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake (Morticia)
2.1 Leopard Gecko's (Pogo,Jeffrey Nothing, Louise)
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn (Autumn)
1.0 Blood Red Corn (Virus)
0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx (Scuttle)
0.1 Bullmastiff (Asha)
4.1 Cats (Poe, Tucker, Abhid, Felicity, Emmy)