Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was told that mealworms can cause impaction for leopard gekos and that since their "shells" are harder than other worms and gekos sometimes somewhat swollow their food whole/alive wich sometimes the mealworm then bites the geko from the inside because it takes longer for them to die/get digested and I should stick to wax worms. I am always warry of what the people at petco say. Any help?

This has some truth to it. The "shells" on mealworms or superworms IS tougher for geckos to digest. But as long as there is some variation in the diet you will be okay. DO NOT switch to wax worms as a staple diet because they are high in fat content and should only be offered as a treat. And definitely don't listen to the people at petco without doing further research!

-Patrick

As Patrick said, definately do not feed waxys as a staple.

There are a lot of myths about mealworms - most of them are not true. They wont eat your leo from the inside out and as long as your other husbandry parameters are ok and you are feeding appropriately sized mealies (dont feed huge mealies to little Leos) then they will not cause impaction.

As a matter of fact, Ron Tremper feeds all his Leos exlcusively on mealworms with no problems.

It often comes down to preference too, some Leos, particularly babies prefer crickets and roaches because they are more active.
-----
1.1 Bearded Dragons
2.2 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Uromastyx (Mali)
1.1 Corn snakes
0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake
1.0 Rosy Boa
1.1 Green Anoles
1.1 House Geckos
0.0.2 Flying Geckos
0.0.1 Red Eye Tree Frog