feeders make me resent my geckos... :(

[Gecko Newbie]

I'm so sad....the drama of my feeders has made me consider finding them a better home....

Lola and Tony won't eat crickets anymore (too traumatized by their previous owner always dumping 30 crickets in at once), so we do meal worms and super worms. I could barely handle the crickets - they escaped, smelled, died, YUCK, but I did it for Tony and Lola.... Needless to say, I was okay with Lola and Tony sticking up their noses at the crickets. The problem is, now I've read that I should be feeding things other than just worms to "spice up" their diet..... But roaches? Really? I don't know that I can handle that.... I'm not good at the whole bug thing... I know, I know - perhaps I shouldn't have gotten them in the first place, but....I was not fully aware of what I was getting myself into because the previous owners were TERRIBLE owners and did not take good care of them - so yeah, it was "easy." It wasn't until I researched more myself and started actually being a good caregiver to them that I realized leopard geckos are not the right pet for me - because of what they eat. But by then.......I'd already become very attached to Tony and Lola.

I totally can't raise my own feeders - I barely keep the ones I buy alive.

Someone help....please?

 

[cliff_f]

What I do to get stubborn geckos to eat is stop feeding them for 3-4 days, offer it one cricket. If it does not eat it threw the night take it out and way a couple days, again offer it one cricket. Sooner or later it will get hungry and start to eat. If you offer it just one cricket it wont feel over whelmed by the crickets. Once it gets use to eating crickets again you wont have any problems. Just make sure you have a water bowl in the cage so it can stay hydrated. Geckos can go quite a while without eating as long as you keep them hydrated.

 

[acpart]

Try not to worry too much about feeding a variety and providing the gourmet of gecko food. Find a feeder that you can tolerate and that they'll eat and stick with that. Yes, it makes sense that a varied diet may be better than a less varied one, but think about how many generations humans in certain parts of the world (pre Starbucks) ate a fairly limited diet based on what was available and did fine. The most important thing in my mind is that your geckos are getting good care and they are important to you,

ALiza

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

If it's really that much of a bummer for you, find a home for them. Better to have someone care for them that doesn't mind putting forth the effort than to drive yourself mad having to deal with it. They'll get better care in the long run. Get yourself something like a crested gecko that can live on a premade diet.

 

[Airedale]

I'm sure Riverside will agree with me on this point as well as his own, raising roaches works much better than crickets. They are easy to raise, don't smell, don't make noise, many don't climb or fly, so they can't escape, and if they do, they die quickly because they are tropical. Try the one cricket at a time, and invest in some roaches. I know it sounds bad to raise roaches, but I haven't had to buy feeders since last year, when I started with roaches.

 

[Gecko Newbie]

Questions about roaches

Okay, so... I'm going to try the one cricket at a time thing. We'll see how that goes. School starts in 2 weeks and my students have no qualms about touching bugs, worms, whatever - maybe we'll try roaches together, however I don't know what I'll do next summer when I'm on my own to feed them again. Here are my reservations/questions about roaches:

Are they fast? I use those black tubes to catch the crickets because I personally cannot catch them. However, they're not TOO hard to catch under a cup if they get loose - what about the roaches? If one of my kids drops it during the feeding process - is it going to be difficult to catch?

Also - if one gets out and we can't/don't catch it - is it going to infest our classroom? We already end up with some sewer roaches and I think the janitor would kill me if I added to the problem.

What kind of container do they need to be kept in? I currently have 2 Cricket Keepers with a few inches of pro gutload from Pro Geckos in the bottom for the worms. I guess I need to patrol the feeder section and look for how to take care of roaches....?

What's the difference between the two types of roaches people talk about?

Okay, that should be enough for now... I guess I have more research to do.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

There's two kinds of tropical roaches that are the most common for feeders. Dubia, and lateralis.

Dubia are bigger and slower and can't climb at all. Dubia breed slower but give live birth. One of the downsides to dubia is that they burry themselves in the substrate.

Lateralis are fast, and only get about the size of a large cricket. They can however climb to some degree (not smooth surfaces like glass though). THey breed very quickly. They don't burry themselves like dubia and their speed makes them an attractive target for many geckos.

Tropical roaches won't infest if they escape. Especially in such an arid environment such as AZ. Even here in southern Va where it's hot and humid much of the time, I've had no infestation issues after years of breeding roaches.

That's the two species in a nutshell. Look through this forum for tons more info. Most of the questions that you've asked are already answered in other posts.

 

[Gecko Newbie]

Moving towards roaches...few more questions.

OKAY! So, I've been doing TONS of reading on the dubias. I'm warming up to the idea of them, but I've got a few more questions.

IF I were to use dubias as feeders for my 2 leopard geckos - can they be the staple feeder - with an occasional worm? Meaning, I'm not spending money on ANOTHER feeder - instead I'm switching to this ONE feeder and occasionally spending money on wormy treats...

My geckos live in my classroom 9 out of 12 months a year. The fire marshal is not keen on this because they have heaters on their tanks - you should have seen his face when he inspected my room. I can't have heating lamps or anything that could get knocked over or burn a kid if they touched it. That being said - I'm doubting he'd be happy with the small risk of a Rubbermaid container that's got a heating pad attached to it catching on fire. Can I house dubias in a 20 long glass tank with a UTH? - and if I did, would I need to find a lid that isn't screen to keep in the heat and any little ones that might "crawl up the acrylic" in the corners?

This leads me to my biggest fear - "they are easy to breed." But does that mean they'll quickly breed out of control?? I've only got 2 geckos and they get fed 4-5 super worms every other day at the moment with occasional mealies. How many roaches will geckos eat, and how often? They look big...if Tony and Lola only eat 3-4 every other day, will the roach colony just continue to get bigger and bigger until I end up with way more roaches than they can eat? Or will eating 9-12 roaches a week be enough to keep the breeding at bay?

Of course, I may find answers in my continued searching, but I really appreciate the help of this trusted forum.

Thank you!!

 

[cliff_f]

This leads me to my biggest fear - "they are easy to breed." But does that mean they'll quickly breed out of control??
Thank you!!

Don't incubate anymore eggs then you want to. Freeze or just throw out any extras.

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

Don't incubate anymore eggs then you want to. Freeze or just throw out any extras.

Dubia give live birth. No eggs to throw out.

 

[Gecko Newbie]

Thanks, Ethan... I was just very confused about the egg thing....

Could I just take out take out / separate the adults? Won't the new babies grow into more breeding adults?


I just don't want an excess of roaches and nothing to do with them....

 

[cliff_f]

Duhh i had a brain lapse. I was thinking the leopard gecko breeding....

 

[Sinosauropteryx]

Canned bugs

Try tong-feeding your geckos canned mealworms and grasshoppers. That should solve a lot of problems. If the geckos are willing to eat them, that is. If they won't, then you're pretty much stuck with live food. BTW are you supplementing the bugs with calcium dust?

LOL...I read this whole thread and I really feel sorry for you. Just wait until you move on to pinkies

 

[Floof]

Great topic, thank you for starting it. I have a little rescue beardie who feeds on silk and butter worms, and I'm looking to get into Mourning and maybe Crested geckos... The beardie's worms are rather expensive, but I hate crickets, and mealies/supers have terrible nutrition and too much chitin for poor little Man Ray's digestive tract. Thanks to this, I think I'm going to research roaches and give them a try! =3

Anyway, I have a bit of input.. You're concerned about having too many roaches. How about selling the excess to local lizard keepers? You could advertise them on Craigslist, for example.

Also, Sinosauropteryx, I was under the impression that the freeze-dried stuff was best to be used strictly as treats because the freeze-drying process destroyed most of the nutrients (or something like that). Maybe I heard wrong, but it certainly makes sense to me... -shrug-

 

[Sinosauropteryx]

Benefits of canned food

Also, Sinosauropteryx, I was under the impression that the freeze-dried stuff was best to be used strictly as treats because the freeze-drying process destroyed most of the nutrients (or something like that). Maybe I heard wrong, but it certainly makes sense to me... -shrug-

Oh yeah, you're probably right about that. Live food is always better for lizards both nutritionally and for stimulating their interest. In some situations, however, canned bugs may be the best option. I commend Gecko Newbie for even agreeing to tackle roaches with the distaste she appears to have for them. Not everyone is impartial to feeding lizards and snakes live food and some even have serious problems with it. Either from watching the animal get eaten or by having to look at and pick up the animal itself. It is true that those who get insectivorous or carnivorous lizards should be able to handle that animal's food before getting the animal but you can atleast admire that person for making up for their mistake and dealing with their fears or uneasiness for the animal's sake.

 

[Floof]

I thought so, thanks for replying. =)

I'm not a fan of bugs, myself. I almost didn't get into lizards because of my utter hate and phobia of creepy crawlies. At least my snakes all can/will eat frozen/thaw! I can deal with the caterpillar-type feeders, though, so hopefully I can deal with roaches.. Lol! =P

And, definitely, kudos to you, Gecko Newbie, for doing what's best for your pets. I'm sure they'll be much happier with roaches than with those icky mealies, too! =)

 

[Gecko Newbie]

Thanks!

Wow, thanks! It's nice to hear those kind words from other reptile owners. I often feel a little uneasy posting about food with other reptile owners because - you're all right - I shouldn't have gotten them solely because of what they eat. BUT - as I've said - I was told that you "just dump 30 crickets in on Mondays and give them a few meal worms on Fridays." I can handle collecting crickets in the tubes from a cricket keeper and dumping them in the tanks. I can handle picking up some meal worms with long tweezers and dropping them in a dish. The problem was - Lola and Tony were terrorized by those stupid crickets that smelled up my classroom and had to be re-caught and taken out of the tanks - plus Tony and Lola were skinnier than geckos on this site and not eating the way everyone said they should be. YES - I should've done research myself rather than just trusting that the parent giving them to me knew what she was doing.....but, we live and learn, right?

Anyway, I'm ordering some dubia right when school starts (a week and a half) so that my students will be around to help get the job done should I get squeemish. I'll have 180 days with brave helpers while I get used to the whole "roach" thing.... It's funny how kids have NO QUALMS picking up worms, crickets, roaches, you name it with their bare hands...... It makes you wonder why that ever goes away.....??

So yeah, I'm now the "reptile lady" at school/work, and will soon have an off limits classroom as the other teachers probably won't come in once they find out I have "roaches" (eek!). Oh well - I truly do love Lola, and Tony and I are getting along, but he still won't let me hold him. They're way better than those stupid guinea pigs everyone else has......

 

[Floof]

I can understand that uneasiness. Talking about lizard food bothers me because I know I can do better for my guy... Only, it's a different aspect of it--rather than worrying about criticism for my bug phobias... Well.. Suffice to say, going from only reptiles that feed once a week to keeping a reptile that feeds once or twice a day isn't a good idea. -shrug- But, hey, I've adjusted and he's doing well (for a recovering rescue), sooo...

Geeze. Your school year starts early! Our year doesn't start again 'til September... Lol! Good luck with the roaches. I'm sure the kids will LOVE them.