Wax worm query.

Hi everybody,

I have just bought my Leo some wax worms for a treat, I usually give him 5-6 mealworms a night as he is a juvenile and I was going to give him one wax worm a week as a treat. Firstly, can I give him more than one a week? Also, do I need to gut load them the same as the meal worms?

Another feeding question, I am dipping my meal worms in water then dusting them in calcium/vitamin and my Leo doesn't seem to eat many when I do that, why is that? Is there any other way I can feed my Leo his supplements?

Many thanks Craig.

I never feed my juvenile leo more than two wax worms a week as there really fatty, I would limit it to 2 a week. And no you dont need to gut load wax worms they wont eat it the food it will just go mouldy and kill them off.
and for your meal worm question my leo was the same so I bought some locusts and i now just dust them and not the meal worms and i leave a bottle cap lid full of pure calcium in my leos viv.

I never dust my feeders anymore. With mealworms there exoskeleton is so smooth any way that most of the dust wont stick to them and another thing i have noticed is that if you dust your mealies and leave them in the viv the ones that dont get eaten die off with in a day or two so you have to clean them out. Now since i have stopped dusting my worms the ones that dont get eaten the first nite actually live till they get eaten so i can just leave them in the dish and not have to worry. Just leave a small container of some sort with Calcium without D3 in the viv at all times. Leo's know how much calcium they need to maintain proper health and will lick the calcium powder whenever they feel they need the calcium.

Vitamin D3 is essential to provide to captive raised leopard geckos as they won't be able to get D3 anywhere else unless you provide UV, and UV can actually be bad for them so that's another discussion. D3 is necessary for them to process & absorb calcium. You want to at the very least dust a couple of times a week to provide not only D3 but other multivitamins to your gecko. Mealworms alone without dusting are not nutritious enough if you want a healthy leopard gecko.

I'm not sure about dipping them in water, I don't really do that myself. But you want to shake & bake with a multivitamin supplement at least 2-3 times a week. It doesn't have to be every day. While leaving calcium inside a bottle cap in the tank is a good idea, there's no guarantee your gecko will use it. Just read up on the nutritious values for mealworms and you'll know it's low on vital nutrients, and it's calcium to phosphorus ratio (CA/P) are way out of whack. This is why dusting is actually essential especially for a growing gecko under a year old.

In my experience Zoo Med's Reptivite sticks best to all feeder types that I use, that include mealworms, superworms, crickets, dubia roaches, etc.. Repashy Calcium Plus is probably the better multivitamin supplement because it contains a safe level of D3 for dusting daily, and it also contains protein.

If you dust 2-3 times a week and find that they don't eat as many mealworms when you dust, that's ok. You at least know your gecko is getting some vital nutrients in the body.

Actually you can gutload your feeders with foods high in D3 to assist with suppliment deficient feeders. I use the repashy calcium plus icb and it sticks just fine to my superworms. Also dipping mealies before dusting them will drown them and you don't need a thick coat of suppliment, we don't want them to look like they're fixin to be deep fried in batter, just like someone sprinkled talc on them.

Ya srry about my post i didnt realize i missed a sentence or 2. I keep calcium w/out D3 in there tank at all times so they dont overload on D3 and i dust my Dubia's every other feeding with Repashy Calcium plus. I apologize for my post. I just miss worded it a little bit.

Hello, the best way to give the calcium is like the others says. Just leave a bottle cap with calcium without D3 and they take what the need. Here is a video that I took long ago. I capture my Leo licking his calcium.