Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone feed silkworms or hornworms to their leopard geckos? I have a leopard gecko who won't even eat waxies! Please respond with your success with hornworms, butter worms and silkworms!!
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1.2 SHCT Leopard geckos Big Papa, Big Mama and Jingle Belle
2.5 jungle & leucistic morphs Van Gogh, Monet, Manet Pissarro, Speckels, Mouthy, and Mama Cass
0.1 Ragdoll cat Tinkerbell
2.0 Devon Rex cats Gryffindor, Tigger
0.1 Cat Dinah
1.2 Bassett hounds Bogart, Sadie, Hermione
3.0 Feretts Blizzard, Coco, Fuzzums
3.1 Chinchillas

Does anyone feed a steady diet of silkworms? I saw some retailers at a show a month ago and they were selling silkies, but marketing to other types of lizards. So what's the deal with silkworms? Anyone have any insight into how they compare to mealies/crickets nutritionally, price-wise, care-wise, etc.?

>>Does anyone feed silkworms or hornworms to their leopard geckos? I have a leopard gecko who won't even eat waxies! Please respond with your success with hornworms, butter worms and silkworms!!
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>>1.2 SHCT Leopard geckos Big Papa, Big Mama and Jingle Belle
>>2.5 jungle & leucistic morphs Van Gogh, Monet, Manet Pissarro, Speckels, Mouthy, and Mama Cass
>>0.1 Ragdoll cat Tinkerbell
>>2.0 Devon Rex cats Gryffindor, Tigger
>>0.1 Cat Dinah
>>1.2 Bassett hounds Bogart, Sadie, Hermione
>>3.0 Feretts Blizzard, Coco, Fuzzums
>>3.1 Chinchillas
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Blaine

0.0.1 High Yellow Juvenile Leo (Echo)

Silkworms are more nutritious than crickets or mealworms. They are a little harder to keep, because they only eat mulberry leaves or commercially prepared silkworm chow. The chow can easily spoil, creating s disgusting smell and a health hazard to your animals-- but of course, this is something you can control and keep an eye on to prevent. I like using silkworms, but they are much more expensive than crickets or mealworms. If you can breed them yourself to allay the costs, I'd say use silkworms as a staple and crickets or mealworms as a side for variety.

About half of my leos love them. Agreed that they are more expensive. But if you have time and patients go for the eggs and incubate them your self. A whole lot cheaper. Theya re very good for leos and Chameleons. They can be used as a great staple diet. Easy to digest since they are so soft too.
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3.6 Leos
Winky, Lenny, & Weemann
Sunshine, Serenity, Daisy, Starburts, Skittle, & Banana

I had a lot of success feeding silkworms to my sick geckos, when I had them. The biggest problem I had was keeping them small enough to be eaten; the worms grow with every feeding!

I HATE THEM!!!!! I think they are a pain to keep. I would much rather get another gecko than have to care for those things. I bought some for my baby Beardie but they got too big really fast so i gave them to my leos. They like them, but no more than mealies. They are healthier, but as far as I am concerned not worth the trouble
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Have You Hugged Your Reptile Today?

2.2 Leopard Geckos (Butch, Pete, Lucretia, and Suzie)
0.0.1 Baby Het Tremper Albino ready to go to a good home
1.1 Cresteds (Meiko and Layla)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Hercules a.k.a Herc)
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Most of my leos do eat silkies, but they have been accustomed getting a varied diet. Maybe it helps if it's not the first "new" food they've had? I feed mainly mealies, some crix, occassional waxies for juvvies, occassional supers, silkies and pinkies for adults.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

In my case, they were a miss. There was somebody selling them at a show for a dollar a dozen, which is about the same price the petstores sell crickets for. So I bought more than 100 silkworms. How many did my leos eat? Just one. None of the others were interested.
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chickabowwow

3.2.3 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)