Another leo newb - habitat and some morph q's

[kiwigecko]

Ok so I am really new to leos, but not new to geckos or herps. Been reasearching a TON on leos for the past week...

Currently I have 18 crested geckos and I would like to look into buying another species and leopard geckos seem to be what I want. The only thing that deters me is that they need live food and I can't for the life of me keep crickets alive more than a few weeks, and I'm not allowed to keep roaches, but mealworms are a walk in the park... so since I understand they aren't the *best* food, my diet plan is:

50% mealworms
25% phoenix worms
25% crickets

Of course I'll mix it up a bit and add a few butterworms and such whenever I can get them, but how does the main diet sound?

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Planning on buying a young female (but not an adult) and she will go straight into a nice big 20 gallon long aquarium. Heh I might even pick her up a buddy or two...

My MAIN question is, since I may want to breed these guys in the future, what are the best starter morphs to buy? Which make the best combos? And what ones (if any) are known for good personality?

 

[Clink]

I think the smartest thing to do with morphs is get the most high end ones you can that have many het.'s so you can mix them with all of your others, prove some out, get something cool and new, etc. I would recommend against the special "Enigma" morph unless you can prove that it has none of the immense problems some enigma's can have, or hold off until more is known about why they do the things they do (head tilt, twists, etc) and how to fix it. The morphs though don't really have personalities attached to them, each individual gecko does, they're awesome.
Also, the diet, I would switch it to
50% cricket/****roaches
25% mealworms
20% phoenix worms
5% anything else as a treat.
My geckos never really digested just phoenix worms very well, I'd always find regurgitated pieces and they lost weight while on them, so I would give them a varied diet.

The best thing is to pick morphs you like and work with the best quality from the best breeders! Then you know you're not depleting the lines, or possibly introducing problems with lower quality breeding.
Good luck!

 

[Clink]

...I can't believe it didn't let me spell that.
Roaches. I use B. dubai. I recommend them.

 

[kiwigecko]

I think the smartest thing to do with morphs is get the most high end ones you can that have many het.'s so you can mix them with all of your others, prove some out, get something cool and new, etc. I would recommend against the special "Enigma" morph unless you can prove that it has none of the immense problems some enigma's can have, or hold off until more is known about why they do the things they do (head tilt, twists, etc) and how to fix it. The morphs though don't really have personalities attached to them, each individual gecko does, they're awesome.
Also, the diet, I would switch it to
50% cricket/****roaches
25% mealworms
20% phoenix worms
5% anything else as a treat.
My geckos never really digested just phoenix worms very well, I'd always find regurgitated pieces and they lost weight while on them, so I would give them a varied diet.

The best thing is to pick morphs you like and work with the best quality from the best breeders! Then you know you're not depleting the lines, or possibly introducing problems with lower quality breeding.
Good luck!

Thank you for thee info!!

I've heard about the Enigma issues, very sad because I like the morph too :sad:

The diet has to be mostly mealworms, as said I kill crickets too fast, and we have to travel farther than most people to get to a pet store. And the unimart, yes, the unimart, sells mealworms as bait and it's a 5 minute walk to there. :biggrin:

 

[Clink]

haha, well you're in luck, the B. dubai thrive on being neglected practically. They multiply easily, don't chirp, don't stink like crickets can, etc. I'd look them up, they are completely worth it.
The diet sounds alright as long as properly supplemented, which you should know about with so many cresties. I understand the reason why people don't use mealworms or recommend against, but they are alright. I think if there is a lot of variety, they should be fine.