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which staple insect would you guys recommend if i didnt like crickets?

im considering this for a lifetime staple

The only part of that post I question is, "I don't like crickets". Well, you got an animal that eats them.

That being said, some people do raise on mealworms, you want to be very careful of the hot side temps because they can be slightly harder to digest than house crickets.

IMHO, crickets provide much needed psychological stimulation. You are taking a hunter out of their environment and asking them to eat from a food dish. It is important to us to give that extra stimulation of the hunt and the kill.

Obviously, the best diet is one that is varied and no matter what, different prey items should be given as treats for further stimulation such as different worms like super or silk if you are lucky enough to find them.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

i read somewhere that phoenix worms are very nurtitious and even more so than the crickets because of their high calcium/phosphorous/protein content, would they bhe even better than mealies?

is it bad to "train" a leo to eat from a food dish? because it seems to be that itll be easier for pet sitters to take care of them that way.

and also if a gecko is taught to eat from a food dish, will it still be able to hunt crickets? (i plan on taking the gecko out of its cage in order to feed it)

A lot of the good large scale breeder use the giant mealworms, or Zoophoba. The giant mealworms have less chitin than the smaller one and make a great staple. Breeders have been using them for years because they keep longer than crickets and you don't have to refridgerate them like the smaller mealworms to prevent them from dying quickly.

I plan on staring my gecko experience with a young leo, wouldnt the superworms be a little big for them?

Well, in that case you can feed them regular mealworms, which are smaller.

do you have any tips as to how to train a young one to eat from a food dish?

I don't feed my leo from the dish, so I can't help you there. Supposedly you just leave them in the dish where the leo can see them, so get the one with the rim kindda low so the leo can see the mealworm moving. I don't think there is any trick to this. I've read from leopardgecko.com you can use a peanutbutter jar lid to put the worms on it. Ron Tremper didn't mention anything special. If you want to do more research you can buy a book called "Leopard Gecko Manual" by Ron Tremper. There is supposed to be everything you need to know in that book.

>>i read somewhere that phoenix worms are very nurtitious and even more so than the crickets because of their high calcium/phosphorous/protein content, would they bhe even better than mealies?

Well, around here at least they are very hard to get and that has been most people's complaints. I believe Miller's textbook on Reptile care and surgery has a nice table of all the NIs. You would still have to start on something else first and work up to phoenix, perhaps someone here can share their phoenix experience?

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>>is it bad to "train" a leo to eat from a food dish? because it seems to be that itll be easier for pet sitters to take care of them that way.

Not necessarily, I only mention it as MHO. I can offer that "single serving" cricket containers can easily be laid out and popped in by sitters with no worries. Also realize that once you get through the baby/ juvi year, your gecko only needs to eat about every 3 days. Makes getting a sitter easier in general.

>>
>>and also if a gecko is taught to eat from a food dish, will it still be able to hunt crickets? (i plan on taking the gecko out of its cage in order to feed it)

Depends on the gecko, some will lose interest and not chase, some won't. However, unless there is something wrong with the gecko that you are monitoring, I wouldn't advise taking it out to feed it if it is a baby or a juvi. They should be handled about once a week and fed every day. That would be a LOT more stress than strictly necessary. Not only that but depending on the temperment of the gecko you begin to associate hands with food... nobody want that. Even if leo's bites are hardly worth noting, they are not behavior to be encouraged.

Hope this helps, hope I don't sound too cranky, I'm in a bad mood in general this week. Please continue to ask questions, I'm happy to clarify.

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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Actually you dont sound cranky to me at all, in fact you are helping me more prepare for a young leo than any other website/person so far.

i seem to be able to find a good supply of phoenix worms at www.phoenixworm.com (i dont know if they ar reliable or watever, but htye seem to have them on hand always). If i am able to buy from them would you recommend them be a good staple for a baby to adult leo?

quote>> Depends on the gecko, some will lose interest and not chase, some won't. However, unless there is something wrong with the gecko that you are monitoring, I wouldn't advise taking it out to feed it if it is a baby or a juvi. They should be handled about once a week and fed every day. That would be a LOT more stress than strictly necessary. Not only that but depending on the temperment of the gecko you begin to associate hands with food... nobody want that. Even if leo's bites are hardly worth noting, they are not behavior to be encouraged.

i thought about removing the gecko from its cage to eat because of an incident where 1 of my former frogs died because it never could seem to find its crickets. Being so worried is there a way i can achieve proper nutrition? And btw when i say handfeed i mean to use tweezers to dangle a worm/cricket in front of the geckos face.

Don't worry about leos not finding their food, they are avid hunters, especially when young. As Pardon said, any shallow dish you can use to feed mealworms, we've seen them at most pet stores as waterbowls or hermit crab pools or a dipping sauce dish from a discount store, or the crickets can just be dumped in.

The real concern about feeding leos by letting prey items loose is the possibility of ingesting the substrate. For a baby leo, papertowels is really the best. You can also consider unglazed tile (glaze has lead in it) but cleaning is more difficult. We use papertowels for all our geckos, no matter the species or size.

I second, third, and fourth getting the leopard gecko manual. It is a small book, super cheap, but nothing is missing. Gives you all the answers we normally answer here and is still a reference for "old timers" when we forget things. Good luck!
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

yes i did plan on using paper towel substrate because id rather care for the safety and longevity rather than my own aesthetical tastes. however i wonder, is it better to have no substrate at all?

where would you recommend me to find this "leo manual"? do you have the specific title and other stuff?

and also is feeding only worms (whether they be phoenix/meal/silk) for the duration of the geckos life harmful?

dubia roaches

i agree with roaches, i breed lobster roaches and they are super easy to breed, they dont stink, and are nice and healthy for leos.
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2.1 leopard geckos
1.1 golden thread turtles
1.0 reticulated python
2.1 firebelly toads
0.0.1 pacman frog
0.1 creamsicle corn

I'll agree with it, too! I breed Turkistan roaches, and they work great. I like them MUCH better than crickets, and can't wait until they're breeding readily enough that I don't need crickets around at all.

Ronnie Nocera

this might sound kinda awkward but im terrified of bugs, especially roaches and i hear they can climb walls, scares me more

if i do decide on roaches how am i gonna be able to transfer them to a feeding area?

some don't climb at all like dubia or orange heads
or you can use petorlium jelly or bug stop to keep other kinds from climbing.

don't be afraid of them they don't bite and they're as clean as what they're house in. just google for care/breeding sheets to find what kind of roach works best for your needs.
try

http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/Roaches/
nyworms.com
blaberus.com

most non-petsmart type pet stores will have at lest some kind of roaches.