Crickets Vs. Mealworms

[BEAR]

I am soon to have a bunch of hungry little geckos on my hand and I was curious what the best route would be to go as far as food. I am potentially looking to breed whatever I decide to feed my Geckos, so here is my question...

Crickets vs. Mealworms.. which one is

a. Most safe and nutritious?
b. Most easily breed-able and reliable?
c. Smells the least?:main_laugh:
d. Most economical to feed and house.

To all the breeders out there, please take my poll and let me know what you feed your geckos!

Thanks all and I appreciate your comments!:main_thumbsup:

If you find a particular feeder the best, please get me a link to the best "How To" you know of

 

[bitterbeauty]

a. Most safe and nutritious? Both have a risk as far as eating gecko feces but mealworms are much slower and are easier to gutload and dust which IMO make them more nutritious. However, mealworms do have a higher fat content than crickets.
b. Most easily breed-able and reliable? Mealworms are super easy to breed. You keep them long enough they morph into beetles and then the beetles breed. No extra work from you. Mealworms are more realiabe IMO because my experience with crickets seems that they die fairly easily unlike the hardy mealworm.
c. Smells the least? Crickets smell to the high heavens! Mealworms dont have smell unless you leave the veggies in too long. Their poop is odorless unlike the smelly cricket poop.
d. Most economical to feed and house. Once you get beetles a female beetle can lay around 800-1000 eggs. If they all hatch then you are going to be having more mealies then you know what to do with.

 

[mynewturtle]

A. Mealworms are larvae they can't be gutloaded. The best you can do is keep them well fed. Therefore Crickets.

B. All are VERY simple to breed as I breed them all. But I'll say mealworms

C. Mealworms

D. Again mealies.

 

[Halley]

Mealworms are larvae they can't be gutloaded.

They still have to eat, just like a caterpillar. Otherwise they wouldn't grow. So you can indeed gut load mealworms.

 

[mynewturtle]

They still have to eat, just like a caterpillar. Otherwise they wouldn't grow. So you can indeed gut load mealworms.

Actually Gutloading is feeding them nutritional food to increase there nutritional level. So that crickets are not larvae therefore they can eat and actually be increased nutritional level.

 

[BEAR]

Actually Gutloading is feeding them nutritional food to increase there nutritional level. So that crickets are not larvae therefore they can eat and actually be increased nutritional level.

Mealworms don't eat?:main_huh:

 

[bitterbeauty]

Mealworms do eat lol. I have apples with holes in them to prove it. And last time I checked apples where a pretty nutritious food so when the mealworm eats it and then I feed the mealworm to my gecko....yeah mealworms can definatly be gutloaded.

 

[KelliH]

Both mealworms and crickets can be gutloaded, however mealworms expel the "good stuff" in the gutload much faster than crickets, and studies have shown that while the mealworms will continue to eat, the nutritional content of the bug goes down continuously. The nutritional value of a crickets stays pretty much the same however. Therefore, you have a small window of opportunity to feed a mealworm once it is gutloaded, after that time it is not really very nutritious.

That being said, I do feed mainly mealworms, but do feed crickets occasionally, as well as pinky mice and superworms. Crickets are hands down the healthiest when the choices are crickets and mealworms. Mealworms are easier to deal with for us (gecko breeders) and that is pretty much why most of us feed mealies.

 

[SleepyDee]

although I answered both in the poll I also combine the two with locusts (hoppers) for a more varied diet

 

[n1nn0]

Crickets bite, and there is a risk that they will bite your gecko. I've seen a cricket eat my scorpion that just molted.

I feed my gecko mealworms and roaches.

 

[malt_geckos]

We feed mealies and super worms on a regular basis. We also feed dubia roaches to some of our geckos. Since the mealie shortage, we had to dig into our back-up colony and we are supplementing for roaches now since we have very few mealies left.

I would say that if crickets weren't so nasty, I would have all our geckos on them. But they escape, stink, and are a bit more envolved to breed then mealies are. I feed crickets to my aussie gecko and cresties. They like them way more than the dubia.

 

[RoyalCityReptiles]

keeping & breeding crickets is too much like work... and they are pricey!
Roaches and Mealies all the way, nothing like a self sustaining, nutritious, odour-less feeder!

-Nate

 

[GeckoGathering]

I would say that if crickets weren't so nasty, I would have all our geckos on them. But they escape, stink, and are a bit more envolved to breed then mealies are.

And besides this I feel to feed crickets and be a little on the safe side for your geckos protection...(pin worms)....you need to be ready to clean your gecko house of poop and dispose of uneaten crickets on a daily basis......Take care HJ

 

[Green_Snake]

I would definitely feed mealworms if my geckos would go for them, but alas, they won't. They like the crickets better because they move

Also, the crickets are noisy and SOOOOO messy. As soon as they start eating mealworms, I'm switching!!!

 

[paulnattress]

I tend to switch between the two but prefer mealies for the all round convenience. I do like to use crickets to increase the nutritional intake of my geckos.

 

[Ian S.]

Both constantly.

 

[goReptiles]

Both. I like to keep mealworms in a bowl all the time in the tubs and then give the geckos crickets once or twice a week if I have them. I'm currently trying to breed a colony of dubia, so I can trade in the crickets for dubia roaches. As mentioned further up, they don't smell, which is definitely a key point to me.

 

[GeckoJunkie]

A roaches
B roaches
c roaches
d roaches
PERIOD!

 

[mochasr4me00]

I thought that the following information/links might be interesting to some others here since this is a thread concerning feeders.

http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/thephoenixwormstore/Page?template=comparison

http://www.grubco.com/Nutritional_Information.cfm

You will have to scroll thru the next one to find the feeder insects... it's all alphabetized
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutritiontopframe.html

This one shows nutritional value based on a 100g of insects?http://www.ent.iastate.edu/misc/insectnutrition.html

 

[RepBex]

i feed mine both mealworms and hoppers

the only problem with mealworms with they change fast into pupa and beetles

and the hoppers are very good and ecapeing