Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a young Pictus (we've had him about 7 months--he was very tiny) that generally eats about 6-7 small to medium crickets 2-3 times a week. We dust the crickets in rep-cal. He lives in a ten-gallon tank with sand, a margarine-tub humid hide (so attractive!), a fake stump that he loves to hide in, a water bowl and some bark to hide under. We have a heat mat under 1/3 of the tank. Recently the Box Elder Beetles decided to swarm outside my house--they do this twice a year, and sit on the side of the house in the sun, and come into the house whenever they can. This is a relatively innocuous bug, kind of like a lightning bug without the light, non-aggressive. We fed Tiger (the gecko) some beetles (we don't spray them) along with some crickets, and he happily ate them. Last night my daughter pointed out a wad of Box Elder Beetle wings/etc. in Tiger's accustomed bathroom spot; it was much larger than his usual waste. Did he cough this up? Is it OK to feed him things with wings (my daughter's concern)? I understand mealworms are too fatty for him; should I vary his diet? and if so, with what? Any advice is welcome! Thanks!

Jan

I've been feeding my pictus hatchlings mini mealworms since they hatched ( June 2003 ) and they are not over weight or unhealthy. It just depends on your setup and how they metabolize whatever they eat. I wouldn't give them any insects from outside though, because you may not spray them, but someone else might

Thanks...I haven't had access to small mealworms, so I haven't tried them... Your babies are so cute! We'll probably stick with crickets now....but I wonder if variety is necessary or even just preferable. I am pretty careful about collecting bugs, though.

I've fed mine Termites, and pinhead crickets ( now 1/4 ). Mine really don't show a preference as long as thier food keeps on moving. Mini Mealworms work for me because I can get 1000's for fairly cheap. Everything else is either too expensive or hard to get

Feeding any geckos bugs from outside is VERY dangerous, regardless of where they come from. Unless you cb the bugs, yo don't know where they come from. So don't feed bugs to your geckos from outside. Now, with the pictus I have found from several years of breeding and raising them, that they will readily take anything the size of their head and smaller with no problems, I have had females try and eat things alot bigger though as well. The main staple for all ages are appropriate sized mealworms,crickets,and any other commercially available worms. They grow faster on worms though. I hope this helps, as it has worked for me. Leland(Doc)Ward-D.W.Geckos