I inherited 2 Leopard Geckos from a friend about 6 months ago. The female (Leia) is about 5 yrs old and the male (Luke) is 7.
My friend fed them nothing but mealworms so we did the same, and they seem fat and healthy, but I'd been thinking about giving them some crickets for variety. Currently, not a single pet store in town has mealworms available due to a problem with the supplier, so now seemed the perfect time to switch.
I put 6 medium sized crickets in their tank tonight, and Luke & Leia have no idea what to make of them. Luke keeps trying to take a nap but they crawl all over him and rive him crazy. Leia looks at them like they are prey, but doesn't follow through. This is their normal dinner time, and there are no mealworms in their dish.
Are there any tricks to get them to eat something new? I'm worried that after so many years they've gotten so used to the worms they don't know what to do with a cricket!

If you have long tongs, you can catch a cricket on a tong, and feed them from them. Put the cricket right in front of their faces. They'll catch on.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Thanks for the quick response! I've tried tongs before with the mealworms (they didn't eat for a week when I first got them, probably because of the change in environment) but they won't take anything from me that way

Crickets are much more wiggly than meal worms, you would be surprised. And yes, not eating for a week after a change in environment is very normal.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

They didn't eat any of the first batch of crickets so we bought some slightly smaller ones today. Luke & Leia just aren't interested in them. I though instinct might kick in, but is seems like they've become so conditioned to mealworms they don't recognize anything else as food.
How can I stop my geckos starving? We still have no mealworms in the county and the pet stores are all telling me it could be weeks before they get deliveries

Only thing you could probably do is ether put crickets up to them with tongs. If your geckos like baby food dip the cricket in baby food than tong feed it to them.

I have a female gecko that will only eat worms also, so I try to breed meal worms for her it works but I run out to fast and got to wait for the beetles to catch up.

I've never tried them on baby food. What kind do your geckos like?

They still haven't eaten any crickets and back away from the tongs. I'm starting to get worried.

Try to get something organic, without a lot of sugar.

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I'm getting very worried about Luke now. He hasn't eaten anything in about 3 months. None of the local pet stores have any mealworms yet.
Neither of them will eat crickets. I tried for a week and they actively avoided them.
I've been giving Leia 2 waxworms a day for the last few days because she's been hanging round the food bowl looking hungry, but I know there's no nutrition there.
Luke moves his head away from anything I offer him. He won't even taste anything with his tongue. His tail is starting to get thin and I don't know what to do.
I picked him up and gently felt his stomach but he doesn't feel like there's any impaction.
He won't take food from tongs and sleeps in the food bowl but ignores its contents.

I'm hoping when the stores get mealworms again I can fill the bowl and he won't be able to resist, but what do I do in the meantime? Is it possible to force feed geckos?

Have you tried superworms? I know they are around still. Will your other one eat crickets? What are your temps in the tank? Humidity? Lighting, etc...

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.