Hi folks, I have yet another question. Thanks so much for all your patience and your wisdom.

I wanted to know how Leopard Geckos find their prey. We are keeping mealworms in a mealworm bowl (it's fairly deep and has that extra lip on the top so the worms don't get out). Maybe about 8-10 per bowl, plus a baby carrot. Every other night or so, we'll give them crickets.

But the crickets hide and sometimes we can't find them unless we move something they're under, and I'm not sure if the geckos can find them either, if they're not hopping around. And I've never seen them looking into the mealworm bowl, so how are they going to know they're in there? Do they smell their food? I know they can see movement, but if there's no movement how do they eat? My husband took a couple mealworms out of the bowls tonight and set the worms in front of the geckos, and they ate them right away. That makes me think they are hungry, but the mealworms were there all along in the bowl so why didn't they eat them?

I know it's a weird question, but I just want to make sure we're doing the right thing in the way we're feeding them. I'd hate for them to starve because of something we're doing wrong.

If you put crickets in there is the tank every empty...because they hunt at night...Mine eat anytime but I have noticed that a few only eat by night...and meal worms..My geckos wont touch them...I have tried everything however this month since I am on carpet now at night every few days I am going to offer supper worms...esp to my gravid female...Hope this helps. I have tried everything and they wont eat them...But I am going to try again.

Some suggest that you feed them in separate container without substrate, you feed what they will eat (crickets) in a 10 minute time frame. I have had some Leopard Geckos who will not eat out of worm bowls (the ones with the lid) and have had to go back to just regular bowls.

__________________
Colleen

I was just going to ask a question about feeding so I will add it here instead of starting a new thread.

My leopard gecko has been eating every night since I got her two weeks ago. I feed her as much as she will eat in 10 minutes. Thursday we started also giving her a few mealworms. She loves them too. She ate a lot on Friday night but Saturday night she didn't eat as much as usual and the same with Sunday.

My question is should I start feeding her every other night? She seems to be growing nicely and is getting fat. So maybe she doesn't need to eat every night anymore? Do you think the mealworms are filling her up quicker than the crickets did?

__________________
Kelly

My pets:
Leopard Gecko ~ Ducky
Rabbit ~ Chester
Kitten ~ Lil Fang
Black Bear Hamster - Charlie
Parakeet ~ Ray
Eastern Box Turtle ~ Ollie
Hermit Crab ~ Mr. Crabs
Teddy Bear Hamster ~ Poppy RIP 7/12/07

Being a little one, you can offer food every night, if she doesnt eat fine, but still offer it. Doing a variety is fine just feed her till shes full. Usually when they are adults is when they go to feeding every other to every 2 days.

__________________
MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

Thanks for the advice I will just offer a little less food. She had been eating like 10-12 small (1/4" or so) crickets. Then we introduced the mealies and just gave her two. But maybe this was just too much for her.

Are the crickets better for her to eat or the mealies? I want to balance her diet properly. I use Flukers Orange pieces to gut load the crickets. The mealies just come out of the tub they come in and I keep them in the frig. So I be doing something to the mealies before feeding them to her?

__________________
Kelly

My pets:
Leopard Gecko ~ Ducky
Rabbit ~ Chester
Kitten ~ Lil Fang
Black Bear Hamster - Charlie
Parakeet ~ Ray
Eastern Box Turtle ~ Ollie
Hermit Crab ~ Mr. Crabs
Teddy Bear Hamster ~ Poppy RIP 7/12/07

Thanks everyone for your advice. I never thought about feeding them in a separate tank, I have a 10G sitting next to their tanks and I suppose I could try that.

Tonight, when we put the crickets in, one of our females gobbled up 6 of them, then ate about 4 mealies when my husband put them in front of her. The other female in her tank didn't come out of the little hidey hut, but hubby put some mealies in her hut and she immediately gobbled them up.

Maybe I'll try a normal bowl instead of the mealie bowl, although tonight (before cricket dinner) we found the boy (who's in his own tank) with his front feet on the bowl and his nose pointed to the sky. Not sure what that was about, but maybe he found the mealies?

Kelly, it sounds like we're both having some of the same questions. I know that you should put a carrot in with your mealies while they're in the tank, but while they're still in the fridge they're sort of dormant and don't need anything.

I'm sure I'll get used to their feeding habits, thanks again for everyone's advice and if you can think of any other tips please let me know!

My Leopard Geckos won't eat in a different container, so what I do is remove all their cage furnishings while they are hunting their crickets (they also won't eat mealies), then replace everything once the crickets are eaten. It's a bit of a pain, but it works. While they are hunting, I re-moisten the moss in their moist hide, wash and refill their water dish, and clean up poop.

__________________
Amy

How do you get just a few in there? My son (and I) don't care to touch the crickets. When he shakes the tube he gets to many. We have managed to kill a few trying with the tongs.

I have my crickets in a little 1.5 or 2 gal tank we used to keep hermit crabs in. I keep a toilet paper tube in there. They seem to like to hide in it. I too am totally disgusted by the crickets and don't want to touch them. So I just use the tongs pick up the tube and shake the lucky ones who are in it into a little plastic box. Sometimes I have to try to coerce them into the tube if I need more. I also tried picking them up directly with the tongs, I am getting better at it. I buy small crickets and there isn't too much to grab. Sometimes I get them and sometimes I don't. I have had some fatalities trying.

But anyway, the tube seems to be working for me.

__________________
Kelly

My pets:
Leopard Gecko ~ Ducky
Rabbit ~ Chester
Kitten ~ Lil Fang
Black Bear Hamster - Charlie
Parakeet ~ Ray
Eastern Box Turtle ~ Ollie
Hermit Crab ~ Mr. Crabs
Teddy Bear Hamster ~ Poppy RIP 7/12/07