Lazy or Not Interested?

[Dexter07]

My Leo, Taz, eats his mealworms great. Have had him for almost a year now. He looks very healthy. However, he does not like to eat anything else that I have offered him. Taz absolutely turns his nose up at Super worms, will eat 2 or 3 crickets and leaves the rest untouched, forget roaches. A lot of you have indicated that mealworms are not suitable as a primary food.

He has let crickets crawl under him and left them untouched even after removing the back legs. I watched him pick up a super worm, then drop it and walk off. Waxworms and silkworms the same. Roaches move so fast and he refuses to pursue.

Even when contained in his feeding bowl, he refuses to eat them. All of his food is dusted with T-Rex Gecko Calcium Plus. He sheds well and has water available at all times as well as a damp hide, warm hide and cool hide. Any ideas how to coax his taste buds to other food sources? Will it harm him not to eat other types of prey?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Are you dusting with this product: https://t-rexproducts.com/products/calcium-plus-cricket-food?

Has Taz tried hornworms occasionally or dubia roaches? I keep Blaptica dubia. They do not seem all that fast.

What type mealworm bedding do you house Taz's mealworms in? Perhaps all we can do is make sure that's the best possible bedding.

 

[Dexter07]

Thanks for the response.

I got the crickets from a co-worker and she used some type of calcium supplement on them. Not sure which one. Since he won't eat them I don't purchase a large amount.

My mealworms are kept in a wheat bran bedding. They are coated with the T-Rex gecko calcium plus multivitamins.

Have not tried hornworms. I figured since he wouldn't touch super worms, it might be the same thing for hornworms. Will look at purchasing some roaches of the genus you mentioned.

Thanks.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Thanks for the response.

I got the crickets from a co-worker and she used some type of calcium supplement on them. Not sure which one. Since he won't eat them I don't purchase a large amount.

My mealworms are kept in a wheat bran bedding. They are coated with the T-Rex gecko calcium plus multivitamins.

Have not tried hornworms. I figured since he wouldn't touch super worms, it might be the same thing for hornworms. Will look at purchasing some roaches of the genus you mentioned.

Thanks.

You're welcome.

PetCo now sells hornworms in 4-packs, so Taz could try them out. I recommend buying the smallest ones you can and growing them up for a couple days before you feed them to Taz. Hornworms mushroom in size just about overnight. Keeping them the following way significantly slows down their growth.

For link 33 click: Hornworm Care Guidelines​

When I feed dubia to my leo, I contain them in an Anchor brand, 8 ounce, glass feeding dish. These dishes:

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About wheat bran and mealworms: What data I've seen says that mealworms are naturally "over"-balanced in phosphorus, that mealworms exceed the 2:1 (maybe 1:1) recommended calcium : phosphorus ratio. Wheat bran contains much phosphorus. Phosphorus impairs the absorption of calcium. Does it seem like when you coat the mealworms with T-Rex Calcium Plus Food for Crickets nutrients balance themselves out?

For link 98 click: Common Mealworm & Superworm Dry Diets & Beddings -- Use something else!​

Instead I recommend Pro Gutload dry diet or some other dry diet for a mealworm bedding. We are what we eat.

Aliza (GU's acpart) uses this already ground dry diet from "Professional Reptiles" for her insect and worm food as well as for her mealworm/superworm bedding.

• Click: 1 lb Pro Gutload - Professional Reptiles
• Click: Food & Water :: Insect Food