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So I was at a pet store getting a few more mealies, to last ARies til i get some from Fritz this weekend... Aries has developed a liking for them which I am glad cause I am sick of Crickets and all they stand for
So anyways, i mentioned this to the girl as shes dropping the mealies into the bag and she goes "oh, thats not good" and I ask why. She said that mealies are like on the bottom rung of good staple diets because their exoskeleton is so hard, it causes impaction & binding up. So i reply with the fact that there are many more people that i know (well on here) that use only mealies, with no problem, and breeders too. And she was very surprised.
My thought on this is that wouldnt crix be at least the same in that respect, because they have very hard exoskeletons too, plus the legs and heads and all that junk. Either way, I plan on using mealies, because i no longer take advice of pet-store people, i'd rather get advice from people who actually have HEALTHY leos.
I was just wondering anyone's thoughts/comments on what she said?

I think that that gil needs to get her facts straight.
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I only know 3 ways to do things.
The right way.
The wrong way.
And my way which is the wrong way only faster.

Ryan: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Mick: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?!

Ryan:Help me someone i have a mortal wound!
[Kyle runs over]Kyle:Where does it hurt?
Ryan:Oh i would have to say.....IT HURTS IN THAT BIG BLOODY HOLE STUPID!!!

0.0.1 Leopard geckos
0.1.0 dogs (Sadie)
1.3.0 cats (chance,sissy,marshmellow,rosie)
0.0.78 fish

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I think that that ***girl*** needs to get her facts straight.
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I only know 3 ways to do things.
The right way.
The wrong way.
And my way which is the wrong way only faster.

Ryan: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Mick: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?!

Ryan:Help me someone i have a mortal wound!
[Kyle runs over]Kyle:Where does it hurt?
Ryan:Oh i would have to say.....IT HURTS IN THAT BIG BLOODY HOLE STUPID!!!

0.0.1 Leopard geckos
0.1.0 dogs (Sadie)
1.3.0 cats (chance,sissy,marshmellow,rosie)
0.0.78 fish

Email Me

Yea I was also told this by someone else in the store too..
I always thought these guys were a little more up on facts/care, they rae not the big chain of petstores, only a few around.. but.. guess not

stop bashing this girl. She knew way more than you think. MAny lizards have trouble digesting mealies. leos arent one of them because in their natural sandy/rocky habitat they adapted a longer digestive track and stronger acids. Leos wont have any trouble but young beardies, chameleons, and some other commonly kept lizards can have some trouble.

she actually knew a whole lot to even state that fact (for a pet store person..) even though she had it a lil backwards.

I didnt bash her. All i said was that to me, it would seem that crix, which they wholeheartedly say should be a leos staple diet, wouldnt be any better than mealies, as far as exoskeleton. I was just asking what everyone else thought about it.

Our local store isn't that great either...lol I went in to get some mealies and superworms, and when I asked for superworms the girl looked at me like I was nuts and said "what?..." Luckily the manager..or somebody important like that...lol was standing right there and told her it was the giant mealworms they kept in the back.... Apparently they call them king mealworms...I don't know why though...I just thought it was interesting that the girl who worked there had NO IDEA what I was talking about! The store does specialize in birds and fish...but they have quite a few reptiles as well (along with a couple small mammals). All of the the animals look good (they have some really really tiny baby corn snakes that are just ADORABLE!!!!)...although their setups aren't great, they're not terrible. I think a lot of the time it depends on who you talk to in the specific store...some people are bound to know more about the animals than others.
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Christina

0.3.1 leos (soon to be 1.3.1!)
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)
-soon to be 1.0 tangerine rainwater albino
1.0 australian shepherd/cattle dog (Foster...although he was being fostered before I got him...that has nothing to do with his name...It's after the beer!...lol since he's australian and I'm a college student!)

Yea a few rare places calll them kings or their scientific name I have found... Like the difference between pop, soda, and soda pop. lol

oh...it's soda...lol Yeah...I've definitely noticed the differences in that word...in some places all soda is coke...you ask for a coke and they say "what kind?"...lol All I know is that one time I was at a restaurant in NYC with a couple friends of mine from out here in Illinois and my mom, and one of my friends asked what kind of pop they had and the waitress had NO IDEA what she was talking about...lol My mom had to tell the girl she meant soda!
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Christina

0.3.1 leos (soon to be 1.3.1!)
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)
-soon to be 1.0 tangerine rainwater albino
1.0 australian shepherd/cattle dog (Foster...although he was being fostered before I got him...that has nothing to do with his name...It's after the beer!...lol since he's australian and I'm a college student!)

Crickets do digest easier as their exoskeleton isn't quite as hard as a mealworm's, and mealworms have a higher exoskeleton to digestible part ratio.

Crickets are BAD in that they can potentially carry disease and parasites.

Mealworms are bad in that for less than healthy geckos, hard (very dark brown) mealworms might cause some problems and also they're a pain in the butt to gutload while crickets it's easy, just give them any food and they start to munch away ravenously, while mealworms just burrow into the stuff and stop moving unless you give them a carrot or something and they spend their entire time eating that and not the gutload you made them.

However, if you choose your mealworms (freshly shed pale to light brown coloured ones instead of the dark brown ones), shouldn't cause any problems even to a less than healthy gecko.

Superworms on the other hand are better than mealworms in that they have a lower exoskeleton to digestible part ratio, so just a few will fill you geckos faster. They do put up a fight sometimes though.

-Lemur 6