Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone,

I just purchased a cute little leopard from an online breeder. Now, I have the guy on hold while I set up the little guys habitat to ensure that he'll thrive in his new home. I have pretty much everything planned out so far, except for one little detail. I plan on feeding my gecko a nice staple diet of crickets, with the ocassional meal and wax worm for variety. However, my finace and I have been clashing a bit on the entire cricket subject. Her main concern is having crickets escape, which with the noise they make I assume can be quite annoying. Any advice on how to maintain crickets with minimal escapes would be greeeatly appreciated. By the way, attached here is a little picture of my little friend. Hopefully little Sobek shall find a happy home in mine.

i usually find that keep a small number of crickets in a large container really helps to be watchful of their escape. I keep like 40 or so in a rubbermaid container and they cant jump high enough to get out, not really much death, and doesnt smell bad either. Hope that helps

I got my first two leos because the guy who originally had them couldn't stand all the chirping.
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chickabowwow

3.2 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)
and 3 eggs a' cookin'

LoL,

To Jawz, thanks for the advice I'll give that a try. To xelda, yes I know they will make noise. My main concern was them sneaking into my bedroom and chirping away beside my pillow LoL.

Only the adult crickets chirp, so you won't have any problems for awhile since your baby will be eating smaller crickets.
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chickabowwow

3.2 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)
and 3 eggs a' cookin'

Really? That's great. I figure I'd be feeding him pinheads for a while. =)

I heard only males chirp (not 100% clear on that though) and that you can clip or pinch theyre wings inorder to stop them from chirping.

Anyway, good luck

M.N

yeah only the males chirp. you can see there wings rubbing if you watch them. it's the males trying to say "hey baby" the females don't say anthing back.... kinda reminds me of my weekend at the bars....

I have had leos for about 6 months now and am switching away from crickets and to mealworms. I find it hard to keep my crickets alive for very long. I must be doing something wrong but I cnat see what it is. Anyway, my leo loves mealies and I have just about got him switched over without any problems. I will give the occasional cricket, but mealies are so much easier to deal with and last a long time in the fridge. I hear lots of breaders feed mealies exclusivly so it cant be that bad.

Well from a lot of the things I've read, I was under the impression that crickets were better for leos. If I'm wrong someone please tell me, becasue I think meal worms would be a lot easier to handle than crickets.

Crickets are more nutritious and have a lower fat content than mealworms, but it's also perfectly fine to raise your leo exclusively on mealworms provided you've got a good gutload.

I've heard enough stories on here about parasitic/bacterial infections coming from crickets to never want to feed them again. x_x
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chickabowwow

3.2 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)
and 3 eggs a' cookin'

i feed me adults mealies and recently went to superworms. they love supers and i just make my own gut load and leave them by the tank the mealies get really big and last a long time not even in the fridge. the superworms are awsome and my gex love them. supers move more than mealies and i think even picky eaters would eat tons of them. my babies won't eat mealies much the like the motion of crix. but i want to switch them as fast as i can because i think they gave my babies worms. oh well there better now!

If you feed pinheads, the little guy is gonna eat a TONNE of them. Try something bigger to fill him up quicker. Mine's about 2 months old and will eat a 1/2" cricket. Generally anything smaller than his head is fine. Aim for crix about 3/4 the size of his head. Pinheads are like feeding humans individual grains of cereal. Hope this helps.
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Blaine

0.0.1 HY/Patternless/Normal Leo (Echo)