Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I have had all this trouble before with my male leo which I have posted about on here. The report on him is he is off A/D and eating on his own and after 4 months of being SO thin (the tail was literally skin and bone) he is running around every night hunting like mad. I just hope that it isn't temp. But he is actually putting on wait and seems like he is always waiting for me to feed at night. But he only eats crickets...it is almost as though the mealies and waxworms don't move enough. I even tried superworms. He only like crickets.

But I am a bit upset. I just was looking at the females cage (who eats crix, mealies, waxworms, whatever) and she must have killed a crix last night but left it cause I just saw this cricket ripped open and it has WORMS crawling everywhere. Like tiny grubs. Yellow and about a 1/4" long and a few stands of hair thick but there were like 15 of them crawling around in the crix gut. Should I be concerned. If the leos ate one like that are those worms that cause a prob or would they be digested. Sorry...I am new at this. The only other thing I can think of is there have been a few fruit flys hanging out in the crix container. Are the worms from them? Any help would be appreciated. I just thought I was just starting to get out of the woods with the male and might have probs all over again.
-----
Jessica

0.1.0 Sharpei-Husky mix...all attitude
0.0.1 Ball Python
2.2.0 Corn Snakes
1.1.0 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Blotched Tiger Salamander
...and a saltwater tank!

I can't help you with the crickets with worms, never seen that before. But as far as the mealies not moving enough for him. Try dropping from a distance into the set up one at a time. When dropped they move around a lot then slow down after a while, but the movement may attract your male. Also I've found sometime if there are a few moving around that they can't decide which one to go after and then they loose interest, so let him eat the one before adding another. If he doesn't notice it, pick it up and drop it in again. I've had it take some time to get a new leo to eat mealies. Also using tweezers with mealies tends to make the mealies move around a bit more. They don't like being grabbed like that.

I hope this helps.
-----
My Leos Website

2.9.5 Leos
1.0 Peach Fronted Conure
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders
1.0 Pembroke Corgi
0.2 Cats
1.0 Guinea
8 fish

I was already thinking they were little fly maggots before you mentioned it in your post.

If your leo insists on eating only crickets, let that be what he eats. They're more nutritious than mealworms and superworms.
-----
www.BugChick.com

chickabowwow

Ok, I may not know much about geckos, but I know my maggots! (Great... THERE'S something to be proud of) In biology, I was tought that fly maggots only eat dead tissue, which is why their eggs are laid in dead animal matter. Also, they are used for cleaning flesh wounds by eating the dead and most likely infected tissue, they WON'T eat the live tissue, so that's why hospitals today still use them. If maggots end up in your gecko's stomach, the only thing that they could possibly eat are... well... dead food that your geck already ate! Which given digestion rate and all of that jazz, the maggots will dissolve quickly enough and order shall be restored to the 'verse. I wouldn't worry about it, but props to seeking info. Never be afraid to ask! ... Plus, what a way to freak leopard gecko owners out!! "Hey... my leo just ate about a hundred bugs last night!"