My leopard gecko not eating mealworms

[Spoiz]

My leopard gecko has been very picky lately with her food. I might have accidentally given her a lot of wax worms and I think she became addicted to it. Whenever I give her mealworms, she doesn’t look at it. I would try to make movements with the mealworm time get her attention but she just turns around and lays down. The temperature of the tank is not a problem and so is the hygiene. I tried not feeding her for a week and even a month but she still wouldn’t bother to even look at them. However if I put a wax worm, she would straight up eat it in less than a second. I know that wax worms are not healthy so I need help how to get my gecko to eat meal worms. I don’t know about getting other types of worms because I am not used to new types of worms other than mealworms or wax worms. Crickets is one problem especially. I would really appreciate if she ate mealworms.

 

[TheGeckoDekko]

Are the mealworms alive and moving when you feed them? Because leos only eat live food.

 

[Spoiz]

Yes the meal worms are alive but they make small movements.

 

[TheGeckoDekko]

Ok, well, I've heard of cases of feeding them waxworms too much, and they get accustomed to or addicted to it as you have said.
What I would do is instead of putting it in a bowl or feeding containers feed the mealworms to them either with your hands or with a spoon. See if they'll eat it that way.
If this doesn't work try asking Aliza because she would for sure know

 

[Spoiz]

Unfortunately I always feed her with my hands. Where can I get help from Aliza? I’m new here.

 

[TheGeckoDekko]

Her profile name is acpart and she has 50 geckos so I'm sure she could help

 

[acpart]

It's a tough problem. Believe me, it was even harder when the kids were little and I wanted them to eat healthy food (now they're in their 20's and 30's and eat fine, so maybe there's hope). Seriously, here are several solutions:
--continue to be firm and don't feed any more waxworms. Keep offering mealworms. Geckos can go an incredibly long time without eating with no ill effects
--Hold the gecko and poke a mealworm at it's mouth. Eventually it will open its mouth, bite the mealworm, and hopefully eat it
--squish a waxworm and dip a mealworm in the guts. Maybe the gecko will be fooled (I don't really recommend this because you may end up having to do this all the time)
--try super worms or hornworms. Superworms are cheaper and move much more than mealworms
--bite the bullet and try crickets.

When I was breeding I raised all my hatchlings on mealworms which worked fine. The few that I kept into adulthood invariably got bored with the mealworms and ended up on crickets and super worms.

Aliza

 

[Spoiz]

Thanks for these methods! I will try them out and let you know if they worked.

 

[Juanjo322]

We’ve experienced the same, we have thousands of mealworms and our Leo’s suddenly stop eating them and love crickets but eventually eat meals worms again. Keep trying as suggested already, they can go a long time without eating!

 

[Spoiz]

How far do you recommend waiting?

 

[Juanjo322]

Water, as you know is still the most important part of waiting, make sure that they always have clean and fresh water, the longest we’ve waited for them to switch is 10days. We have taken their calcium away during the waiting process.

 

[acpart]

On the other hand, I had a gecko that used to sometimes refuse to eat between November and May (what a pain!). He'd lose 20 grams during the winter and by mid-summer would be back up to 85 grams. I had him for 12 years.

Aliza

 

[Spoiz]

Sadly, I couldn’t get the super worms because my roommates are afraid of bugs that bite. It was also too big.

 

[GeckoCouple]

Are the mealworms alive and moving when you feed them? Because leos only eat live food.

Not entirely true leopards are just picky eaters try buying an assortment of things mine really like hornworms and pheonix worms plus crickets are always a good naturalistic feeder that encourages natural foraging just dont forget to dust them in a calcium or vitamin powder for extra nutrients

 

[Spoiz]

i went for a different approach and placed the mealworm on top of the waxworm. It ate the mealworm and I started doing this a few times. After a week, I placed the mealworm only and it ate the mealworm without using the waxworm as a trick.

 

[acpart]

If we try enough things we can outsmart them!

Aliza