Your (Chahoua's) Favorite Feeder Insects

[Michael]

One of the things I like to do over the spring and summer when everyone's appetites are up is offer a wider variety of feeder insects. I've tried just about everything over the years and am always down to re-try, so I'd love to hear from some of you about what food items your geckos like most. I'd say:

LOVE:
Crickets
Wax Worms

LIKE:
Horn Worms
Superworms (but I'm afraid of them biting the geckos)

MEH:
Pinkies
Red Runner Roaches
Silkworms
Mealworms

DISLIKE:
Phoenix Worms
Dubia Roaches


Probably missing some. Specifically, I've been thinking about trying silkworms again. Has anyone had luck with those?

 

[Gray Sky Exotics]

Mine love crickets & dubias, but allergic to both so it can be a challenge on insect night for me. I’ll need to try wax worms.

 

[vitog123]

I have never been able to get my Chahoua to eat pinkies. They will kill them but spit them out after a few chomps.

 

[MelissaSR]

Mine love crickets and supers, babies love dubias. They will take wax worms, but they dont seem to like horn or silkworms

 

[Michael]

I have never been able to get my Chahoua to eat pinkies. They will kill them but spit them out after a few chomps.

This has generally been my experience also. I believe it was Ariel who recently posted a video of one of his chewies eating a pinky that had been dipped in fresh banana.

Pinkies are a bit of a hassle for me... my local shows never have them live, and I have some strange dislike for thawing them out.

 

[Michael]

Mine love crickets and supers, babies love dubias. They will take wax worms, but they dont seem to like horn or silkworms

Do you do anything to the superworms before feeding so they don't bite your geckos? I watched a superworm bite one of my female's lips years ago, and I could tell it hurt!

 

[StikyPaws]

Do you do anything to the superworms before feeding so they don't bite your geckos? I watched a superworm bite one of my female's lips years ago, and I could tell it hurt!

Sounds terrible but I used to chop the supers head off before I fed them to my leos. I once had a leo get bit in the eye by a superworm and had to give her eye gel for a month I've never actually fed my chahoua superworms though.... I always thought them a bit "tough" and go for pheonix worms/small dubia/and the occasional silk worm.

 

[Michael]

Sounds terrible but I used to chop the supers head off before I fed them to my leos. I once had a leo get bit in the eye by a superworm and had to give her eye gel for a month I've never actually fed my chahoua superworms though.... I always thought them a bit "tough" and go for pheonix worms/small dubia/and the occasional silk worm.

Doesn't sound terrible at all - I think that's a great idea considering that Superworms have sizable jaws for these geckos!

 

[Michael]

So I ordered a large group of feeders and have been cycling through them over the last week. Of course, hornworms continue to be pretty positive but the reception to silkworms was about as mixed as I remember. A few of my geckos took them down pretty willingly, and probably another 70% weren't really interested at all. Here are a few videos:

 

[Kerwell]

Has anyone tried feeding them grasshopper locusts?

 

[Michael]

Has anyone tried feeding them grasshopper locusts?

Is there a place to get them where they're commercially available and not wild caught? I'd be up for trying it if there's a way to get them safely.

 

[ArborealsAnonymous]

I just got excited about silkworms today because I am surrounded by mulberry trees and I remembered that's what they eat. Then I come to check and see if anyone has geckos that love them and find no good recommendations. Anyone?

 

[Rufus]

Horn worms are illegal here in the UK. I like the idea of silkworms however knowing my fussy eaters they will won't be keen!
Out of 4 chahouas, 1 ate dubias. 3 ate waxworms, all of them eat crickets, all of them eat isopods.

 

[Michael]

I just got excited about silkworms today because I am surrounded by mulberry trees and I remembered that's what they eat. Then I come to check and see if anyone has geckos that love them and find no good recommendations. Anyone?

I wish they were more popular with my crew, but I probably got an overall take rate of like 15-20%

 

[Rufus]

So today I tried small locusts and calci worms. I used tongs as I have bio active vivariums and I'm not keen on having gecko food wandering around... My eat anything female grabbed a locust, sucked out the juicy bits and spat out the skin (shell). No one wanted a calci worm.... Any tips on feeding these, bowls, dishes etc? My eurydactylodes ate calci worms straight away. I guess I have fussy chahouas!

 

[ArborealsAnonymous]

Calci worms are the same thing as black soldier fly/pheonix worms, and my crew hates them. The only way they will eat them is if i put them in smoothies or drizzle some honey on them. Honey isn't great to feed them often so i only do that as a treat if someone looks skinny.

 

[Michael]

Chalk up another group of chewies who don't like calci/phoenix worms. I've tried a few times with no luck.

 

[Canvas_geckos]

I was cleaning out my dubia colony the other day, and tried feeding off my excess adult males to the chahouha’s.... nobody was interested I ended up having to cull the excess. They will only eat the nymphs

 

[Canvas_geckos]

I just got excited about silkworms today because I am surrounded by mulberry trees and I remembered that's what they eat. Then I come to check and see if anyone has geckos that love them and find no good recommendations. Anyone?

I have an awesome silk worm vendor that does special bulk pricing for breeders. Beastmodesilks, they offer them at .12 cents for orders 2000 worms or more. Ends up only being less than $250!

 

[Michael]

I have an awesome silk worm vendor that does special bulk pricing for breeders. Beastmodesilks, they offer them at .12 cents for orders 2000 worms or more. Ends up only being less than $250!

Do your chewies like silkworms? I never had luck with them.