# 2-3 month old Leopard gecko - ok to eat mini-mealworms?



## lezlea (Sep 7, 2008)

Hey everyone,
Sorry about this but I keep getting mixed messages from breaders and pet shop owners and I'm more likely to side with the breaders however I just wanted to check....

I've got a nearly 3 month old leopard gecko and have been feeding her mini meal worms, wax worms and crickets....however I haven't seen her eat a cricket yet, she just doesn't seem interested in them! She does stalk the meal worms and wax worms and eat those though! I just phoned up the pet shop to order more meal worms and they said I shouldn't be feeding her them as she is too young!!! What do I do? I keep putting a few crickets in the vivarium but then take them out/squish them after 2 days as I don't want them annoying her!

What is your advice? My old leo used to love the crickets so I'm not sure what to do!

Thanks,
Lezlea


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## SleepyD (Feb 13, 2008)

> I just phoned up the pet shop to order more meal worms and they said I shouldn't be feeding her them as she is too young!!!


My hatchlings are fed on a mix of mini mealies, crix and hoppers as soon as they'll eat and they always have a fresh dish of them available  So long as the mealies are well gutloaded, dusted and a suitable size with the leo gaining weight etc then there is no problem IMO 
If she's not eating the crix then you could try her on hoppers or depending what type of crix trying a different sort ie: swop blacks for browns.. I don't feed waxworms at all though as I find with a varied diet mine gain weight well without them


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## melanie (Jan 18, 2007)

we feed all our hatchlings on regular size mealworms, once they get to sub adult we feed locusts weekly and the occasional waxworm as well as the usually daily dish of melaworms.

we don't feed our geckos crickets at all and have successfully raised geckos from hatch to adult without them.:2thumb:


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## MrMike (Jun 28, 2008)

All of ours are fed a staple of appropriately sized mealies, even the young 'uns


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## POAGeckos (Jul 11, 2008)

My hatchlings to juveniles get fed mealies of any size(except king) because the width of them is usually all quite small. My adults get mostly mealies, occasional waxies, and which ever females will eat them, get a pinky every 3-4 months(only if they need it). I only ever feed crix if I run out of other types of food for them. I dont feed locusts because they can not be found easily in Canada, very few people breed them to sell.


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## RachelGC (Jul 24, 2007)

I feed my adult & sub-adult meal worms, Brown Crickets and the occasional Waxworm as a treat, i find my adult male prefers crickets and my female sub-adult prefers mealies.

I picked up a 3 month old leo earlier this week and i fed her for the first time last night - i have her some regular sized mealies and she gobbled them down like there was no tomorrow!!

I'd say feel whatever you feel comfortabel with, if you think she's more likely to eat more mealies and she'd happy with them then stick with it..... You sound like you're doing perferctly well at the moment chick : victory:


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## xclairex (Apr 9, 2008)

All of ours are on mealworms even our tiny little baby and they are doing great  The younger ones have mini mealworms and when they get older and bigger they are swtiched to bigger mealworms. The adults also sometimes get a morio worm or two, they also get the odd wax worm as a treat every 1-2 weeks.


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## Mal (Jul 22, 2007)

I feed hatchlings mini mealies from their first feed and all my geckos get mealies as a staple. They do get locusts and other treats but I am trying to get away from crix completly. My hatchlings seem to be much better on mini mealies rather than crix. Mealies are not harmful to leos, the petshop owner has probably been listening to the old wives tale about mealies eating their way out of a leos stomach. That tale is absolute rubbish. A mealie can not possibly survive a leos jaws and stomach acid.


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## Darwin (Apr 12, 2008)

Yes thats fine...don't know whats up with your pet shop!!

Sarah x


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## Razaiel (Oct 17, 2006)

Glad I looked at this post (although it's leo-related and I don't own one) as I seriously thought maybe I had killed off 3 of my baby rankins (3 months old) by giving them mealies (they just wouldn't eat). But I think they were the runts of the litter and would have died anyway.

Having said that I use morios successfully for my adult rankins.


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