Food for thought...... ;-) When we keep herps in captivity, we try and
simulate nature as much as practical. Clearly purely natural conditions
are not necessary for maintaining herps as I have leopards on blue
Costco towels and they are happy with that. There are other examples of
natural simulation in my collection, like paper towel tubes for Phelsuma
to hide in/bask on. They work.
We also try to give our gex nature-simulated food items that they are
interested in, hoping there is some instinct that clues them into the
eating response when they see things such as mealworms. How much these
simulate nature I am not sure. Crickets and mealworms are good food for
leopards, this is well documented. They hop around and wiggle, just like
back home in the **** wherever our gex came from. Phelsuma like to eat
fruit flies. I can see them eating flies and bees in Madagascar
(McKeown, 1993).
The motion and nutrional quality of the food are probably the most
important things. Without motion in prey items, gex tend to lose
interest. In light of our discussion, it would seem appropriate to
locate the best moving cb food items recommended by quality breeders
instead of maiming insects and offering them as a daily staple. I don't
think there are too many mysteries left, in common herps anyway, as to
what makes a good food item.
There is much more to the subject of gecko feeding that one might think.
It is a neat trick, in my own experience, to convey proper feeding
techniques to newbies - how often, what size, what type, how many at a
time, whew! Gex seem to be preset to go for that large food item, even
those bigger than their heads. Test it out for yourself, put in a large
and small cricket. My advice has been to feed a food item 90-95% of
their head size. The other key is not to over feed. In my experience
this is the most common newbie mistake. Tons of crickets are running
around in the terrarium, and the gecko is overwhelmed! The food also has
nothing to eat except other crickets, so even if the gecko does get
interested, they will be eating "empty" calories.
When feeding mealworms, perhaps the best way is to set them out in a
smooth sided dish. This way the mealworms cannot escape and are on good
visual display for the gex. Very hard, chitinous (exoskeleton type)
worms should not be selected for feeding, wait for these to shed before
feeding them off. Select the soft ones and your gex should be able to
digest under normal circumstances. An unhealthy gecko should not be fed
mealworms, here is the only circumstance I know exists that presents a
danger in mealworm feeding.
The other thing folks tend to do is wander off in the backyard and
select insects for their geckos. This is risky, how do you know if they
are poisoned? If there is no possibility, then choose only soft bodied
insects.
My other tip is to get hooked up with a good cricket farm so you have a
reliable cheap food source all the time. Pet shops charge you about five
times the amount the cricket farms will. Most cricket farms have a
variety of food items avaible. I encourage folks to raise mealworms at
home so they will always have food around for variety, and in case
their cricket shipment does not show up. To get hooked up with a good
cricket farm in your area ask here or check http://www.kingsnake.com .
Hope that helps our beginner gexers.
Julie Bergman
http://www.geckoranch.com
GGA lifetime member
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