African Fat Tailed Gecko only eating crickets
- Thread starter VerdLord
- Start date
African Fat Tails are known to not be interested in worms, though there are exceptions. I have a bunch of geckos, 37 to be exact. I offer crickets and super worms. Most of them will take either, at least some of the time, but I have one who really only wants super worms and others who only want crickets. I will say that my experiences as the mother of 3 picky toddlers (all are now adults) was an awful lot worse. My suggestion is to feed them crickets and on occasion, maybe monthly, to get a small amount of other feeders including dubias, hornworms, silkworms, super worms, and see if you can engage them. If not, crickets it will be!
Aliza
Aliza
Elizabeth Freer
Well-known member
What do you feed Arnie's crickets? That's important no matter what else you do!
Elizabeth Freer
Well-known member
"I just feed them carrots. Occasionally patotoas, but not often"
May I ask where you are from?
We are what we eat & so are geckos! Carrots are fine, but really not potatoes!
It is important to feed Arnie's bugs & worms a high quality dry diet 24/7/365 days per year. This diet/food should be in powdered form so crickets can easily eat it. Some suggestions for the dry diet are Repashy's Bug Burger or Repashy's Superload.
Feeding your insects & worms 24/7/365:
The term "gut loading" causes some confusion.
One meaning = feeding insects & worms a high quality dry diet 24/7/365 + providing high calcium/low phosphorus leafy greens like collard, mustard, turnip greens, & pesticide-free dandelion flowers/greens. Serve veggies in a separate ridged lid off to one side to add vitamins, minerals, & moisture to their diets. Some keepers consider this a maintenance diet! This diet is passed on to your geckos.
We create more nutritious insects & worms by feeding them a balanced DRY diet 24/7/365 days per year.
Then, if you wish, supplement that dry diet with veggies from the following lists.
May I ask where you are from?
We are what we eat & so are geckos! Carrots are fine, but really not potatoes!
It is important to feed Arnie's bugs & worms a high quality dry diet 24/7/365 days per year. This diet/food should be in powdered form so crickets can easily eat it. Some suggestions for the dry diet are Repashy's Bug Burger or Repashy's Superload.
Feeding your insects & worms 24/7/365:
The term "gut loading" causes some confusion.
One meaning = feeding insects & worms a high quality dry diet 24/7/365 + providing high calcium/low phosphorus leafy greens like collard, mustard, turnip greens, & pesticide-free dandelion flowers/greens. Serve veggies in a separate ridged lid off to one side to add vitamins, minerals, & moisture to their diets. Some keepers consider this a maintenance diet! This diet is passed on to your geckos.
We create more nutritious insects & worms by feeding them a balanced DRY diet 24/7/365 days per year.
Then, if you wish, supplement that dry diet with veggies from the following lists.
Herpin Man
Member
I keep and breed African fat tailed geckos; I have a fairly sizable breeding group, and produce a fair number of young each year. I occasionally see the claim that "most fat tails only eat crickets". In my experience, that is false. While crickets are definitely a favorite food, I have yet to own or produce a fat tail that will only eat crickets.
I suspect that there are a couple of likely reasons for a fat tail to refuse other offerings:
- not being kept warm enough
- being "overfed" on crickets
When a gecko is kept too cool, it's appetite diminishes. This makes less preferred feeders less appealing to the gecko. Superworms, for example, are harder to digest due to the chitin, and cool temperatures make it even harder to digest them. Crickets on the other hand, are easier to digest, and have a more enticing movement.
When a gecko is fed heavily on it's favorite prey, it's unlikely to be interested in less preferred prey. If you want your kid to eat his lima beans, do you let him fill up on chicken nuggets first? Of course not. You feed the lima beans while he is still hungry.
So, if you want to get your gecko interested in prey other than crickets, try two things; first, make sure you are keeping it warm enough. Second, stop feeding it crickets. Let it get hungry, and then offer dubias and mealworms.
For what it's worth, my fat tails are only fed dubia for their first few weeks of life. I also rely heavily on dubia in the winter, when it is difficult for me to get bulk crickets delivered alive. All of my fat tails eat them.
I also use superworms quite a bit, especially to get weight on the breeding females during and after egg laying season. Many will not eat superworms when they are fattened up, but they certainly will when they are hungry.
I suspect that there are a couple of likely reasons for a fat tail to refuse other offerings:
- not being kept warm enough
- being "overfed" on crickets
When a gecko is kept too cool, it's appetite diminishes. This makes less preferred feeders less appealing to the gecko. Superworms, for example, are harder to digest due to the chitin, and cool temperatures make it even harder to digest them. Crickets on the other hand, are easier to digest, and have a more enticing movement.
When a gecko is fed heavily on it's favorite prey, it's unlikely to be interested in less preferred prey. If you want your kid to eat his lima beans, do you let him fill up on chicken nuggets first? Of course not. You feed the lima beans while he is still hungry.
So, if you want to get your gecko interested in prey other than crickets, try two things; first, make sure you are keeping it warm enough. Second, stop feeding it crickets. Let it get hungry, and then offer dubias and mealworms.
For what it's worth, my fat tails are only fed dubia for their first few weeks of life. I also rely heavily on dubia in the winter, when it is difficult for me to get bulk crickets delivered alive. All of my fat tails eat them.
I also use superworms quite a bit, especially to get weight on the breeding females during and after egg laying season. Many will not eat superworms when they are fattened up, but they certainly will when they are hungry.
I use a vitamin powder from Repashy brand
Elizabeth Freer
Well-known member
"I use a vitamin powder from Repashy brand"
Please let us know which Repashy vitamin powder (multivitamin, vitamin D3, & plain calcium carbonate) you use. Vitamins & insect dry diets = 2 very different things.
All these impact Arnie's health positively or negatively.
Herpin Man seems to be the African Fat Tail expert on this thread.
Please share Arnie's enclosure temperatures & where you measure them. Less than optimal temperatures will impact Arnie's eating.
Please let us know which Repashy vitamin powder (multivitamin, vitamin D3, & plain calcium carbonate) you use. Vitamins & insect dry diets = 2 very different things.
All these impact Arnie's health positively or negatively.
Herpin Man seems to be the African Fat Tail expert on this thread.
Please share Arnie's enclosure temperatures & where you measure them. Less than optimal temperatures will impact Arnie's eating.