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Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

How much does your adult gecko eats?

gothra Aug 01, 2004 07:28 PM

My geckos used to eat around 15 mealworms (full-grown) every other day; however, I just discovered that the tank temperatures were way too high for them, so I turned off the UTH and bought a temperature gun to get a more accurate surface temp; now the temperatures are right (90* warm side, 82* cool side).

However, some of my older geckos (2.5 yrs old) eat a lot less now, around 10-15 mealworms per week, is that too little? How much does an adult gecko eats on average (in terms of full grown mealworms)?

Replies (7)

briggzer Aug 01, 2004 08:37 PM

I'm not sure of the answer to your question due to me not owning any adult leos yet, however I can ask another question that this one reminded me of.

Do leo. geckos, or can leo. geckos rather eat to much? If I kept a dish with mealworms in it and the leo geckos keeping eating them all, should I keep replacing them? They still eat 8-10 crickets every other day also.

2 Baby Female Leos.
30 Gal Tank with Tile papertowel
humid and non-humid hides on oppisite ends, water dish, fake tree w/ leaves. Under tank heater, black light night bulb, dish of calcium, and dish for mealworms.

eat 1/4" crickets, about 10 ea. every other day. eat 10-15 mealworms in between feeding of crickets. (may be able to eat more?!?)

Any thoughts anyone?

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Thanks, Briggzer

thecheezman069 Aug 01, 2004 08:48 PM

damn dude that is alot of food at least you know youre leos are healthy mine ive had it 4 1 week now and its eaten about 5 crickets im expecting it to like mealies better because the crickets it dosent like that much

milwaukeereptile Aug 02, 2004 01:01 AM

Let me try this all at once....

>>However, some of my older geckos (2.5 yrs old) eat a lot less now, around 10-15 mealworms per week, is that too little? How much does an adult gecko eats on average (in terms of full grown mealworms)?

It does sound a little low... OK if they are maintaining weight though. Try offering some crix and other food sources and see if you can't keep the apetite up... and remember: It could be worse! I'd rather see mine eat anything during a week instead of none =)

>>Do leo. geckos, or can leo. geckos rather eat to much? If I kept a dish with mealworms in it and the leo geckos keeping eating them all, should I keep replacing them? They still eat 8-10 crickets every other day also.

I would say if they have no problems, stick with it. Leave the dish in there. I HAVE seen a few leos eat too much and regurg it all up. It stresses the hell out of them ,and they refuse food for a few days after.

The babies sound like they are eating enough. I'm a proud believer in the "feed as much as they will take (without regurg)" theory. And the setup sounds perfect (if you add the word thermostat in there somewhere... lol).

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Brian Skibinski
Milwaukee Reptiles
Brian@MilwaukeeReptiles.com

milwaukeereptile Aug 02, 2004 01:02 AM

>>Let me try this all at once....
>>
>>>>However, some of my older geckos (2.5 yrs old) eat a lot less now, around 10-15 mealworms per week, is that too little? How much does an adult gecko eats on average (in terms of full grown mealworms)?
>>
>>It does sound a little low... OK if they are maintaining weight though. Try offering some crix and other food sources and see if you can't keep the apetite up... and remember: It could be worse! I'd rather see mine eat anything during a week instead of none =)

I mean this only if the mealies are small... if you are getting giants that's a lot, if they are smaller ones it's a little low, and somewhere in between it's likely OK.
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Brian Skibinski
Milwaukee Reptiles
Brian@MilwaukeeReptiles.com

lisa_cristin Aug 02, 2004 04:19 AM

All of my four month old geckos usually eat 15 plus full grown mealworms every other day as well.

I believe the hotter it is the more they eat, they use up more calories. This could be the reason for the drop in their food intake. I found this out when I was looking at a chart to figure out how much my frog should eat. They factored in temperature in the calculation. The amount needed was quite a bit different from 20 to 25 degrees. I think about 1/3 as much was needed in cooler temps. However, this could be different with leos I suppose.

Lisa
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0.1 Hypo Leopard Gecko
0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko
0.1 Blizzard Leopard Gecko
1.0 Albino Pacman Frog
1.0 Lovebird (Tony)
1.0 Elkhound Cross (Otto)
0.1 Malamute Cross (Paris)
6.0 Bettas

Lucien Aug 02, 2004 05:01 AM

All my adults eat between 15 and 20 large mealies every other day...My juvies about the same amount every day. I have one group of 5 (1.4) that goes through over 100 mealies a night right now since I'm building them up... they came from a friend of mine who ended up having to work long shifts and had problems getting in feeder shipments. None of them are thin but they need a bit more weight on them so I let those 5 eat as much as they want... before I got 1.4 group I was going through approximately 600 mealies a week.. thats jumped to somewhere around 1300 now. Luckily my 7 drawer rack system of mealworms can support that *laughs* I have....probably somewhere around 8000 mealies in various stages of life.
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
2.1.2 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short) and 2 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice and Mystique))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
1 Gerbil
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Sahara and Hercules)

gothra Aug 02, 2004 07:46 PM

I also have a culture, about 1000 beetles (I've counted), I found it very tiring to move the beeltes from one container to another. I do that once a month, and I still run out of mealies every now and then.

There were times that my 7 leos consume 100+ mealies in one night, but that was when the temps are too high (maybe even 95+); now its just sad to see all those mealies left over after each feeding...

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