Getting gecko to eat crickets again

[Silverfire]

So, about a month and a half ago, my mother reported that my (at the time) ~8 month old gecko had stopped eating and was shedding excessively. Since I wasn’t at the house, I couldn’t really see what was happening, but I quickly realized that she was comparing the shed rate of the adults to the juvenile (3-4 weeks between sheds). However, the food was a bit more difficult. When I finally came back home she had lost some weight and I was getting a bit worried. She seemed to shy away from the crickets so I believe she was bitten by one.

After trying to convince her to eat crickets, I tried mealworms. She ignored those at first but I smeared one with waxworm guts and she’s been eating plain old mealworms since. The problem is, mealworms aren’t exactly healthy. My mom is terrified of roaches so dubis are out, and I’ve tried to give her a hornworm and she ignored it. I’m planning on seeing if I can find an old shoe box or something so I can make a cage of sorts for them so I can gutload them but I really don’t know what I should do. I don’t want her on mealworms, but even smearing a cricket with waxworm guts won’t work.

Do you guys have any advice?

 

[acpart]

I don't think mealworms are as unhealthy as some people claim. You could also try holding her and poking a cricket in her mouth to see if she'll bite it and eat it.

Aliza

 

[Silverfire]

I know they aren’t the worst thing for them, I just know that they aren’t the greatest. I’ve tried poking her with a cricket. She just licked it and backed away. I’m definitely prepared to feed her mealworms if she’s so against it, I just really don’t want to keep her on a mealworm only diet. The rest of the geckos get a mix of crickets and superworms and she just gets mealworms so I feel kinda bad.