Mealworm Size?

ModeratelyTipsy

ModeratelyTipsy

New member
Hello!

I have recently rescued a leopard gecko out of a bad environment and I'm doing my best to crash course myself in his (her?) care. We've moved him into a 36 x 18 x 12 tank, brown paper as a substrate (clumsy eater) and gotten a heat source that actually gets the tank to a comfortable gradient. We're dusting and gut loading. He's had a proper shed, grown significantly, and his tail is starting to plump up a touch.

But I'm worried that I'm feeding him too much and not enough at the same time! It's very stressful!

I see a lot of people talking about mealworm types and numbers, but I never know how big these worms are or how to tell what ones are "giant". The lovely teens working their minimum wage jobs just don't have the expertise to answer my questions!

He used to eat just 3 of these teeny worms at his previous home, which was obviously not enough. We discovered he prefers these larger worms. Are they giant mealworms? No idea! The shop by us offers these teeny ones and just now he ate about 24 of them before my husband cut him off (they were out of the larger ones and we were in a pinch).

Anyways, the larger one's he enjoys eating are around an inch, some are a little longer, some a little shorter. The little ones that he just downed 24 of are about a half-inch and super skinny.



I guess my question is: Can someone please be very specific and descriptive about the size of mealworm I should be feeding my leopard gecko, and how many of these described mealworms should he be eating?

Thank you so much for any help!
 
A

acpart

Well-known member
Here is a worm primer:
--normal full-sized mealworms are probably about an inch or so long
--"giant" mealworms have been given some kind of hormone which allows them to get large and not pupate. Some people prefer not to use them because of that hormone. I've never bought them, but imagine they may be more than an inch long. They will likely be labeled as "giant mealworms"
--superworms are 2 or more inches long at full size and are a completely different genus. They should not be refrigerated (unlike mealworms) because they will die at that temperature. They will be labeled "super worms".

Your gecko will eat any of the above. In general, it will eat however much it wants until it gets full. Sometimes geckos overeat and then they regurgitate. They frequently learn their lesson after that. I never count the number of worms or other feeders, I just feed them until they're done. The smaller worms are a little harder for them to grab and they eat more of them, obviously, because they're smaller. I suggest you choose something (several types of something is a good idea because the variety is felt to be more healthy, though there are some geckos that will only eat one type of feeder) and see how much the gecko wants to eat. After awhile, you'll get a general sense of how much your gecko likes at each feeding (and it may vary with the seasons). Let me know if you have more questions.

Aliza
 
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