Mealworms or Crickets?

[The_Jester]

Which do you feed your Leo on?

 

[moosassah]

crickets smell bad

 

[ReptileMan27]

All my leos eat mealies

 

[Stitch]

Mostly meal worms, but they do get crix from time to time.

 

[gaparicio]

Mostly mealies for me. I do have 2 geckos that only like to eat crickets though.

 

[leolover2]

Were is superworms...?

 

[The_Jester]

I understood they're not a good staple diet.

 

[mynewturtle]

Appropite sized supers are fine IMHO. I perfer mealies but use, Supers, Crickets, and mealies.

 

[Rejoice in the Lord]

Supers are a great feeder! I have one leo that will eat only supers, and another that will eat only crickets. Now if I could get them both on the same thing, wouldn't life be simple!

 

[Nigel4less]

Mealworms are Staples and Waxies occasionally for me...Once in a while I get Silkworms

 

[Airilith]

Mealies for my leos! Crickets are yucky! Haha.

 

[shadowx362]

OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH I wished I had luck with mealworms. I have to feed all of mine crickest which are kept in the garage with a heat pad and they stink! I do have 1 female That does eat 1-2 if thats all you have in with her but the rest eat only crickets. I also have my BB from Gecko-planet which was eating meal worms at Harold's house but at mine it doesn't even touch them! Seriously My house hates mealworms. Well if you could get them started on Mealworms You should stick to it because it will make you life and theres easier and healthier.

 

[TokayKeeper]

staple of crickets, varying with superworms

oatmeal or chicken mash and regular cleaning helps keep the odor of the crickets down. The problem I have with mealies is they are easy to raise. How is that a problem? For some strange reason I seem to get insect mites everytime I start colonies of mealies. They seem to leave the geckos alone, but after infiltrating the mealie colony they like to spread to my snake cages, where all they do is crawl about. I've yet to ever see them attached or otherwise sucking blood in any way from the herps. Of course that was 4-5 years ago and I pride myself in maintaining a mite free collection, regardless if they don't suck blood from the herps. The sad thing is I would get them from multiple source; large, well-known insect suppliers to local mainstream or mom & pop pet stores. REALLY annoying!

Besides, there've been too many research articles on which is nutritionally more sound a prey item (usually crickets, though superworms are very similar nutritionally to crickets). Nevermind the fact that a subterranean flour beetle larvae isn't exactly an easy, natural food item unlike the droves of wild crickets I routinely flip while out hiking from Texas banded geckos.

 

[Bodon]

All mine wanted when it was a baby was crickets, then one day it decided mealworms were the way to go. My new baby wont touch mealies and only likes crickets.

 

[geckonoob]

I also prefer crickets over mealworms. My leopard geckos seem to be more excited with crickets than mealworms and eat more if I feed them crix. It's also easier to supplement the crickets with multivitamins and calcium bec. the geckos eat them right away. Also, their poos are bigger if they eat crickets! haha

 

[malt_geckos]

Awww, there should have been more choices. lol.. We feed mealies, supers, sometimes waxies, and the geckos that aren't eating get crickets to stimulate them.

I've never tried silkworms. Are they any good?

 

[TokayKeeper]

I've tried silkworms and I've found it to be just like mealies in my case....

Most of my geckos (98-99% of the animals I've purchased and not personally produced) will take both crickets and mealies, but most highly prefer crickets over mealies and most will take superworms over mealies. The ONLY animal I've ever had in my collection that refused to take crickets and even mealies for sometime was my first tremper albino female I purchased directly from Ron back in 99. It drove me nuts that she wouldn't eat a thing except for 1-3 mealies here and a cricket there.

One thing all my geckos will also take are pinkies, save the above mentioned C.R.A.P.-line (Center for Reptile and Amphibian Propogation) albino. Only problem with pinkies, and those of you keeping snakes should know this, is that they are mostly water and fat. They have very little nutrients, especially calcium, at that age of development. Thus in that case I try to give my geckos small fuzzies over pinkies when I can.

Anyhow, if I were to place in order of preference my leo geckos' prey items it'd go (most preferred to least)...

crickets --> superworms/pinkies --> silkworms --> mealworms --> waxworms

This applied to my general collection from leading up to 2002 when I hatched over 300 eggs from 40 breeders to now where I only have 11 leos.

 

[mynewturtle]

Awww, there should have been more choices. lol.. We feed mealies, supers, sometimes waxies, and the geckos that aren't eating get crickets to stimulate them.

I've never tried silkworms. Are they any good?

I use silkworms for sick geckos there high calcium. I also use them inbetween breeding female clutches. If they weren't so expensive they would be part of my geckos/dragons daily diet.

 

[redmonkeystarr]

I feed my leopard gecko with either crickets or mealworms... they seem to get more excited about the crickets... they do eat mealworms at times... one of them, Macbeth, eat very well, when i first gotten her, her tail was thin, and the other one, Graffiti, tail was thicker but he is not eating as well as the one with thinner tail... but they are eating tho.... and my beardie ..i feed him superworm, crickets, mealies, butterworms, and roaches.. I want to feed them all dubia roaches, but i have only two pairs of adults dubia at the moment ... next payday, i am going to get more roach nymphs and find a heating pad with no automatic shutoff... those are hard to find!

 

[Jenna4Herps]

I use crickets as a staple diet with added variety 1-2 days a week of various worms. Crickets are a pain to deal with and yes, they smell, but overall they have a lower fat content and higher protein level.

Here are some stats for the various live feeders for those who are interested:


%kcal

Silkworm
Fat 43
Calcium 0.5
Phosphorus 0.6
Protein 54

Mealworm
Fat 60
Calcium 0.1
Phosphorus 1.2
Protein 37

Waxworm
Fat 73
Calcium 0.1
Phosphorus 0.9
Protein 27

Butterworm
Fat 73
Calcium Highest
Phosphorus 0.9
Protein 27

Cricket
Fat 44
Calcium 0.2
Phosphorus 2.6
Protein 50


Silkworms are definitely the most nutritious of the 5 listed above, but are expensive if you have a lot of reptiles to feed. It is nice to add silkworms to their diet once or twice a week, especially for females during egg laying since silkworms are high in calcium intake without the high fat level like butterworms.

One thing to note is that the insects you feed is only as good as what you actually feed the insects (gut-loading). If you don't feed your crickets/worms nutritional food such as various vegetables/fruits and/or pre-made gutload powder, then what you are feeding your reptiles is basically low in nutritional value.

Be careful with some of the worms, as worms can cause obesity if fed too generously and too often :main_yes:. Crickets are generally safer to prevent overweight reptiles & higher in protein as well.

Another tip - if you are worried about your leo's getting bit by stray worms and crickets, drop a baby carrot in their habitat. Not only does it provide some food for a stray insect to eat, but it also is a good source of Vitamin A too. I have a baby carrot in all my baby chameleon and leopard gecko homes.