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Q:
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Insects for my Gecko's
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what are the best kind of insects for my Gecko's? I have heard no meal worms for the Cresteds so i dont feed them meal worms any more, but what about for my Tokay? I have also heard or wax worms, super worms, king worms, and cockroaches. What kind of cockroaches and where do i get them?
right now i am feeding small gutloaded crickets dusted with calcium and multivitamins twice a week to my cresteds. and about small meal worms to my tokay everynight with medium sized dusted gutloaded crickets. I havent been keeping trackof how much Clyde (tokay) eats but will start now. can someone please shed some light on this please.
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 5:41:40 PM
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FyreFocks
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Crickets are ok for the cresteds. I dont know if i would that much calcium though. Too much calcium can ball up inside them and cause impaction. Im sure Kate will chime in tho and correct me.
As for the tokays, you can feed crickets, mealworms, waxworns, and dubia roaches. I dont know where to get the roaches. The same goes for the calcium though.
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 5:42:15 PM
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vonnick52
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Did you try looking it up at all? I don't know anything about either species but I googled them for 5 minutes, finding multiple sources citing overlapping material, leading me to believe it's very viable information. Crested geckos-CGD and dusted crickets are all you ever need and tokays needs a large variety of insects, meal worms, crickets, wax worms (higher in fat), roaches, whatever you can find and once they get bigger, appropriately sized mice.
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 5:44:01 PM
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vonnick52
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You can find all of those insects online through ebay, google, and most herp related sites that have classifieds. Just gotta poke around a little.
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Accepted Answer
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8/27/2009 6:11:38 PM
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Blaise and Echo
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Go with Roaches. I use B. Dubia Roaches. They live a long time if kept in a warm environment (colony container) but will die quickly if they get loose. They don't have a smell like crickets and just smell like what is in the colony container and are very quiet. I use them as staples. By from either "The Roach Guy" or "The Roach Ranch". They both have great prices and healthy feeder insects. Roaches are definitely superior to crickets. You should be able to feed most sizes to your cresteds and you can feed adults to your Tokay. Both of the places I said sell 100 male feeders, which is a very good deal for the prices they offer. The Ranch however usually has them more readily availible. The Roach Guy is often out of them because he gets a lot of business. They are both great dealers. Let me know if you need any other info. They both also have care sheets on their websites so you will know how to care for them in detail.
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Author Comment
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8/27/2009 6:16:28 PM
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hupababy83
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sorry i meant to say the Tokay gets dusted crickets twice a week also
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Author Comment
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8/27/2009 6:24:14 PM
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hupababy83
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as for looking them up, thats how i knew about the multiple worms and roaches. i just wanted to know what kinda roaches and worms the iherp community fed theirs. thank you for the B. Dubia Roaches blaise and echo, I'll look those up now.
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 6:45:58 PM
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Sparkle
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I feed crickets but only because the hubby used to be an exterminator and flips out at the thought of me intentionally bringing roaches of any kind into the house. ;)
If you don't have it, I highly recommend "Rhacodactylus: The Complete Guide to their Selection and Care" by Philipe De Vosjoli. The reason you dust the insects is to maintain the potassium/calcium balance of the gecko. Insects are high in potassium, and not dusting them with calcium can throw their levels off. I'll see if I can find a weblink to that information to verify it... The D3 is a whole different subject, and I think we hashed that one out in a different Q&A thread.
I have heard that mealworms can cause impaction because of their thick shell, you may want to stay away from those. I tried waxworms with my crew and they weren't really interested because they didn't move enough. If it doesn't move, they don't see it... Check out this lady's videos, she has several feeding her cresteds both crickets and roaches: http://www.youtube.com/stolenmilkcrate She also has a couple hysterically funny "gecko porn" vids if you want a laugh.
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 6:52:22 PM
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JohnJohn
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For my Leos and my collared lizards their staple is crickets. I dust mine only once a week, but I make sure my crickets get a good healthy diet all the time, not just before feeding the geckos. I feed my crickets veggies, high calcium chicken scratch, and cheap dry cat food. I give my leos super worms sometimes, especially if I'm trying to fatten them up. This is not the only way, but it works well for my leos. My Collareds hate super worms and tend to regurge them.
I'm tellin ya Betty, you need to set up a good cricket breeding tub or two. I'm so glad I did. I have huge supplies of free crickets now and my animals are always well fed because of it. It's really easy. and....uhhhh....free!
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 7:10:51 PM
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Sparkle
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HA - found it - and my bad, the insects are high in PHOSPHORUS not potassium. From http://www.pangeareptile.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22195&page=3 :
If your feeding nothing but crested gecko diet without any bugs then it's fine they don't need any extra suppliments. If your feeding bugs then you need to dust them with calcium to complete the nutritional value of the feeder insects. Crickets for example are high in phosphorus. Reptiles need calcium to help break down phosphorus and they need D3 to absorb the calcium.
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 7:32:13 PM
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Sonja K. Reptiles
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I vote for the Dubias, too... get yourself a little colony going... I've seen people offer them on Craigslist for free, too - they are easy to breed, and once the colony gets going, before long, people have more than enough and often like to give them away : )
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Author Comment
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8/27/2009 7:40:02 PM
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hupababy83
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ok dubias and crickets! got it. now send me step by step info on how to's lol i think kate had a blog about this. DUH betty!!! now you think of it!!
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Author Comment
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8/27/2009 7:40:29 PM
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 7:45:15 PM
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Blaise and Echo
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Dubia are definitely ok. The one problem might be since they aren't climbers an arboreal gecko like a tokay might not notice them. Of course, with a Tokay I don't think you have to worry too much. My leopard geckos handle adult males fairly well, but I usually feed sub adults. When you get some, just find ones that are the right size and let your geckos do the rest. I think a Tokay could handle an adult male. However, I don't think there is a gecko on earth that could handle an adult female. They're really bulky and I just keep them around to breed, not to feed.
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 7:47:06 PM
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Krestie Kate
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Dubias are fine for any bug eating reptile. They come in all sizes. I've offered multipule times to sell you dubia. I'll send you some if you wanna try them out. I'll do 100 for $25 shipped. Yes you were right I have a blog on how to set up dubia roaches check it out. As for Nate wanting me to correct him. That amount of calcium isn't that bad because crested geckos store there extra calcium in sacs on the roof of there mouths. Betty you joined the pangea forums correct? You can get cheap dubia from there I got 100 adult pairs for $25 shipped. That many adult roaches are usualy $1 a roach. There an investment worth making. I love both roaches that I breed but I love the dubia WAY more.
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 7:48:27 PM
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Krestie Kate
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They also are alot more meat than crickets are. Crickets are basicly legs and a little meat. Roaches are all meat with hardly any legs. PM me if you wanna buy some roaches.
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Author Comment
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8/27/2009 7:48:58 PM
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 9:21:50 PM
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TVR
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I like the Blatta Lateralis much better. I had a few 1000 dubia breeders but when feeding they hide everywhere. The lateralis just run around the ground and are easier to catch and are cricket size. They breed faster and are a lot cheaper too. You can find them $33 for 1000 when they are in stock.
Let them start breeding and you will never have to buy crickets again
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 9:42:12 PM
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Krestie Kate
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bugpros.com sells lateralis. I don't like how fast they are. They also smell a bit more than the dubia do. I only feed them to my frilled dragon because he likes to hunt. The dubia are much better for geckos. They don't hide as much when you feed them out of a dish.
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 11:10:05 PM
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TVR
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Dubia or Lateralis are good but neither are "much better" than the other, just what someone prefers over the other.
I havent noticed a bad smell with either of them.
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Member Comment
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8/27/2009 11:30:10 PM
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Blaise and Echo
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Roaches are better than crickets is the jist of it. I like both but I work with Dubia now because they are a bit bigger so I can feed one or two to each of my leos. I want to get some lateralis for my adult Lygos (freaking 3 inch long geckos) since a dubia is a bit of a mouthful for them. Going to roaches over crickets was one of the best decisions reptile wise I have ever made (minus the types of geckos I decided to buy) :)
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