leopard gecko prepared foods

rivkah

New Member
Messages
1
Hi everyone,
I am thinking about getting another leopard gecko. It has been a number of years since owning my last one. With my first one, crickets were the staple food, supplemented with mealworms and wax worms. In the early 1980s, Robbie Hampton did determine that mealworms could also be used as a staple. Yep... I go way back.

I am at that point that I really don't want to deal with crickets. Regardless of how careful I was, there were always some free roaming crickets around the house. And I am not interested or ready to culture dubia roaches.

I have been trying to get opinions about the prepared insectivore foods such as Repashy or Pangea. Using it as the staple and supplementing with live food items (crickets, mealworms, wax worms, etc) a few times per month. What I have seen/read has been conflicting.

Does anyone have any experience with the prepared foods? Does anyone use the prepared foods either as the staple food or as a supplement? How well did your geckos take to the prepared foods? (I understand that there will be a learning curve, teaching a gecko to accept prepared foods)

I am asking only about the prepared foods --- of course, live food item offerings should be gut loaded and dusted and a bowl of calcium should always be provided.

Thank you in advance for your kind attention to my questions.

Rivkah
 

acpart

Geck-cessories
Staff member
Messages
15,119
Location
Somerville, MA
I have heard of leopard geckos eating freeze dried mealworms or crickets, but most won't. Also, some leopard geckos reportedly like Repashy "grub pie". The problem is that most leopard geckos require their prey to be moving in order to have any interest in it. You could certainly try these products, but you need to have a backup plan if they don't work. Here is a suggestion: consider going with mealworms and super worms as feeding staples. Maybe every few weeks you could buy 5 crickets and put them in the enclosure and then every month or so get some hornworms or silkworms. That way the gecko would have a variety of feeders and you won't have a houseful of crickets. I go through 3000 crickets every 2 weeks and my Zoom companions are used to the campground sound coming from my little square.

Aliza
 

Geckofan.me

Member
Messages
79
Location
South Africa
Yeah my parents didn't want one because of the feeder insects so i just told them if they don't want a gecko cause of the insects then they just musnt look at them.
 

Herpin Man

Member
Messages
60
I would say stick with live foods. Mealworms and superworms are easy to culture and use, although you should supplement with other insects too.
I don’t know of a Robbie Hampton, but Robbie Hamper has worked extensively with leopard geckos. I assume she is who you are referring to.
 

astoppani

New Member
Messages
10
When the pandemic first struck I was having trouble getting live crickets, so I started feeding canned crickets by hand. I do have to wiggle them to get his attention. He is old and does not see very well and was having trouble hunting, so this actually had two benefits. After some training, he knows how to take them from the tweezers, and it has made feeding very easy. I searched extensively for info on whether or not canned crickets can be a primary diet and found mixed info. Probably wouldn't do it for a young one, but for this old guy who was having trouble catching live crickets, it has helped.
 

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