Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey I just recently bought a leopard gecko and crickets and I noticed that a week after three or four brown, hairy worms apeared in the cricket holder. Are they cricket larvae and can I feed them to my gecko?

Crickets lay eggs that hatch into tiny crickets.--no larval stage.

What you are seeing is the larva of a beetle. Sometimes referred to as a carrion beetle. These will eat almost anything, including dead crickets, and frequently come in with your crickets. (I understand that they are used to strip flesh off of bones as well--used to clean bones when making skeletons, etc.---the were even used in a CSI episode for this purpose.) I wouldn't feed them. I tried them once on some chameleons, and had problems. Try crushing them, and you will see they are much harder to kill than a cricket. They also drown much more slowly, so I think they can live much longer in the reptiles stomach than mealworms, kingworms, or crickets can. I've tossed them into the toilet, and found they were still alive the next day. (The little hairs keep them floating, and can trap air for them to breath.)

Rodney

Thank you for your help. Your response was very informative.