Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im new here and I REALLY want a leopard gecko, but im nervous about keeping the crickets!! i feel like its going to be harder to take care of the crickets than the gecko! i am going to start living on a college campus this fall, and we are allowed to have pets that live in an aquarium, and this is what i want, but im afraid of the crickets! that sounds lame, but i am. im thinking theyre going to get out everywhere and theyre gonna be impossible to take care of. can i have some insite on this. i mean, those of you that own a leopard gecko, do you think it's a good idea for a college student to get one, possibly 2 leopard geckos and keep their food supply of crickets and meal worms, etc? i dont want to get one if its not a good idea. thanks!

I'm a college student and I have 5 leos that I intend on breeding!...Of course...I live in an apartment too...lol Where are you going to school? Anyway, I have a serious disliking for crickets, mealies, and superworms as well...but I've found that I don't need to touch them at all...lol Crickets aren't too hard...I have a Lee's cricket critter keeper that you can get at just about any petstore. Its just a plastic cage with two tubes that go into it. The tubes are what make things easy b/c all you have to do (if you want to completely prevent escape) is lower the cricket cage into the leos aquarium, pull out one of the tubes, and shake the crickets out of it! As far as actually keeping the crickets, you just have to put some gutload in there for them and a source of water that won't drown them. You also have to make sure they aren't overcrowded (don't have to sit on top of each other), and have places to hide (depending on how many you get at a time the tubes themselves may be enough hiding space for them). You should check out some leo caresheets (mine is at www.freewebs.com/stinauius/caresheet.htm). I love my leos and have found them pretty easy to keep and feed. I think you'd be fine with one or two!...Although I would make sure that the dorm will allow them...I know they say anything in a aquarium...but better safe than sorry!
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)

-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)

-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)

-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

Also, certain feeding insects are a tad hardier and can be stored inside a refridgerator until needed. Take mealworms for example. They can be stored safely at around 35 degrees and still come back after a few minutes at room temp. Crickets are only messy if you don't clean their own storage device, and they are capable of leaping to freedom when you try to feed your geckos... but whenever that happens to me, I enjoy their couple days of noisome freedom. During the winter it is reminiscent of good summer nights.