New Leopard Gecko

[Catherine]

Claire may have been scared when she lost her tail It can't be a very nice experience for a lizard and I think it takes a lot out of them. She might feel calmer with Charlie because he is calm. Animals take their cues from each other.

It sure helps when you can grow your own food. The babies will be very tiny at first, but they grow very fast.
It is not worth raising your own crickets. They are just too much work and too messy. Can you get other "bugs"?

[Libby]

I can get superworms and waxworms. Superworms sound like they are pretty easy to breed as well. Very close to milworms. I know nothing about waxworms tho.

Some of the milworms are actually getting close to feeding size 1 or 2 molts away and then 1-3 after that they become pupates then beetles. I'm probably going to let about 50 of the millworms grow into beetles but the rest will be food. That's how many beetles I originally started out with and that's how many I got for my pre-starter beetles. I think it's a good number considering how many millworms I got out of the first ones.

[Catherine]

The supers are not so easy to breed. The beetles are nasty, they bite and they smell bad. You don't want to let one escape into your tank as it will harm your lizards. They are meat eaters and they can attack a sleeping lizard.
I feed the supers to my beardie, but I am careful and I hold the dish and make sure he eats them all.

The little guys are great because they will breed and multiply with just some oatmeal and vegetable peels. It sounds like your colony has got itself going quite well.

[Libby]

I've had to give Jack most of the superworms cause the others let them die or they keep escaping and I know he will eat them fast. I usually get them pretty small so they can't escape. it's not until they haven't been eaten and they start growing that it becomes a problem and to Jack they go. He's my clean up eater. he will eat anything I feed him.
I check under their mats too to make sure no one has escaped and gone into the pupate stage without me knowing.

[Catherine]

The supers are good food, but even the worm itself can bite.
I am afraid to use them for my skinks because the burrow at night to sleep and one escaped beetle could really hurt them.

I feed them the regular small ones and they do just fine.

Good for Jack. It helps to have one good eater who cleans up any leftovers.

[Libby]

If it wasn't for Jack I don't know what might go to waste. Although he did let a pinky mouse go to waste the other day. none of the others eat them. I think he's about to shed and wasn't in the mood.

[Catherine]

You can put pinkies in the frig. Sometimes it keeps them long enough for the lizard to be hungry again. I find most reptiles won't eat when they are shedding.
Jack is a real treasure if he eats the leftovers. If you are like me, you hate wasting, but you can never predict how much food you need. Having one who eats anything and everything is a real help.
My beardie, Eric, will always eat pinkies and the Berber Skink will eat anything, anytime. The Pine snakes never turn down a leftover mouse. Reptiles can be tricky to feed can't they.