Variety of foods

[Ixidor]

Will it affect geckos health if they eat only one type of food, mealworms? should I be feeding crix and stuff any imput is great thanks

Ix :toilet:

[Siretsap]

The problem with feeding only one food type is the lack of other proteins and vitamins.
If you only feed any food type you aren't giving the best to your gecko.
Crikets are popular because they are everywhere and basically, you can feed your crickets many good things to boost them, whereas silk worms will only eat mulbury leaves..... Each food type has their good and bad points, variety is a good thing.

[LISA127]

Many breeders raise their leo's on just mealworms, and theoretically, yes they can live on just mealworms. But variety is always best and healthiest, I think.

[sketchy4]

i heard leos can also be fed some squashed grapes every once in a while. but im not sure and not going to try it.

[Siretsap]

Well, not sure about the grapes, but I do know that grapeseed concentrate is a good product to treat reptiles with for parasites.

[Ixidor]

my problem is they won't touch the crixs maybe they were to big but they just completely ignore them they dont even give a second glance any idea? and how old should they be before I feed them like superworms wax butter and silk worms??

[eyespy]

The vet trade is getting rich on those leos fed only mealworms. Most of the mealie-fed leos my vet friends treat have fatty liver disease and borderline MBD by the time they are 5 years old. Mealies have too much fat and too much phosphorus to be used as a staple.

I think silks and butters can be fed right from hatching, waxworms as treats only when they are about a month old as they are very filling and will keep a neonate from eating more nutritious foods. If you can get small enough superworms, they can be fed right from the start but only a few at a time as they are somewhat hard to digest.

[skillz]

Can butters be fed as a staple?

[Slannesh]

I feed both Mealworms and Crickets to my leos... roughtly 50/50

I find that if a particular leo won't eat one or the other and you use a vitamin dust on their normal staple it sometimes helps to put some on the prey they won't take.

Some leos are just plain picky though and won't eat anything they aren't used to. I have one that refuses to even look at anything that's not a cricket.

[Ixidor]

thanks all

[herpnewbie]

I'm new to this, but have only been feeding mealies myself. I started out with crickets, too, but he lost interest in them. At first he never ate the mealies and the cricks would go right away. For some reason he stopped enjoying the cricks and I'd end up with a bug enclosure full of dead cricks every couple weeks (as I was taking them out if he didn't eat them by morning).

Anyway, I think he's doing well on the mealies, and I've read that some of the longest living leo's were fed mealies exclusively. I gutload mine with wheat germ, baby carrots, tropical fish food, RepCal D & I coat them with T-Rex Leopard Gecko Dust.

I do think variety with anything does sound like the healthiest option. I will investigate the reptile stores near me to see if I can find a place that sells other types of worms. :)