Leopard Gecko Blog

Looking for a good source of mealworm feeders for your geckos? I now have enough geckos that the cost of buying mealworms at the pet store in containers of 500 worms is getting expensive. I did some research and found several vendors that carry mealworm feeders.

Here are some sources that ship mealworms. I was surprised that the price of bulk mealworms varies considerably. While price may not be the only thing to consider, it is a primary concern if you are trying to raise geckos in the most cost effective way possible.

Some of these sites do not offer a 10,000 mealworm size option but I have determined the price you would pay for 10,000 mealworms. Most do not include shipping so you would need to check the shipping to your home.

Grubco.com
$50 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, super worms, wax worms.

ReptileFood.com
$54 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, wax worms, super worms.

SouthernCricket.com
$57.50 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, super worms, wax worms.

ArmstrongCricket.com
$60 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, super worms, wax worms.

FlukerFarms.com
$60 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, super worms.

NYWorms.com
$69.99 for 10,000 mealworms (includes shipping!)
Also carry crickets, super worms, wax worms, butter worms, roaches.

Ghann.com
$72 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, super worms, phoenix worms.

CricketsOnline.com
$74 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, hornworms, super worms, wax worms.

MulberryFarms.com
$99.95 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry super worms, silkworms, roaches, phoenix worms, wax worms, butter worms, horn worms.

PremiumCrickets.com
over $100 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, wax worms, super worms, butter worms, Phoenix worms.

Wormman.com
over $100 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry butter worms, wax worms, super worms, crickets.

Technorati Tags: crickets, feeder insects, mealworms, shopping, superworms

After laying on top of her humid hide/lay box for about 24 hours, my Bell Albino, Bella crawled inside last night. This morning there were 2 eggs in the coconut fiber. Since I wasn’t really expecting to have eggs so soon I don’t have an incubator. You see, I purchased this female a week and a half ago at a Reptile Expo and didn’t know what I was getting.

It is still unclear if she had been with a male, or if these eggs are infertile duds. I guess I will find out in about 8 weeks.

I followed the directions on incubating leopard gecko eggs at Albey’s site. I wired up a six inch piece of heat tape that I had and put a tile square on it to get a more even heat and plugged it into the thermostat that regulates my gecko rack. It took a little playing around but I have the temperature between 82-84 degrees F.

Poor Bella was only about 40g with the eggs and now is only 32g. I tried to get her to eat tonight but she seems like she would rather rest.

Technorati Tags: bell albino, egg, gecko pet

This week I discovered that one of the female leopard geckos I purchased last weekend at a reptile expo is gravid. I noticed she was strangely plump but only 40 grams. Then I noticed that there was a white egg-shaped object in her abdomen. I am a little concerned because she is not yet full grown.

I hadn’t expected this, but also hadn’t looked so carefully at the expo when I bought her. I should have asked how the vendor housed the geckos etc to make sure she had not been introduced to a male.

Never having had a pregnant gecko, I went to the Gecko Fourms to ask some questions. I learned that sometimes when a female ovulates for the first time, she can produce and egg even if she has not mated. She can either lay the infertile egg or resorb it.

I turned her humid hide into a lay box by adding some damp coconut fiber to be ready of she lays an egg (or eggs). Not sure what I will do if it is fertile. Guess I will have to make an incubator and see what happens. To be continued…

Technorati Tags: breeding, egg, gravid, Leopard Gecko

I took a few more pictures this morning. Here is a carrot tail stripe, a Mack Snow and a hypo tangerine. Also added a picture of the Bell albino male with the snake eyes.

Stripe Carrot Tail Male - he wasn't too happy about being woke up.

Mack Snow female - Uncia

Hypo Tangerine male - Halloween

Snake Eyes on Bell Albino Male

Technorati Tags: gecko pet

Had my daughter help me get some pictures of the geckos. A couple are shedding today so I’ll get their pictures up in a day or two.

Mack Snow Male

Bell Albino Male

Bell Albino Female

SHTCTB Female with intense carrot tail from Wally and Nanette at Supreme Gecko

SHTCT Female from Aliza at Geckcessories

Dark Female

Female with intersting pattern on head.

Female with some interesting patterns

Raptor Male - two snake eyes

Raptor Female - one snake eye and one eclipse eye

George - Tremper Albino Jungle Male

Peaches - Tremper Albino Female

Halloween - Tangerine Male from Petco

Technorati Tags: bell albino, gecko pet, Leopard Gecko, mack snow, Morphs, pet store, pets, RAPTOR, tangerine, tremper albino

I’m beginning to think I have a gecko hoarding problem…

After getting buying 5 geckos on Saturday, I visited a local breeder and came home with three more on Sunday. Aliza lives a couple towns over and I had wanted to see how she is set up for breeding geckos. She had some nice tangerines and a nice normal leopard gecko with some interesting coloration and head patterns. She wasn’t asking much for them so I decided to add them to my collection.

I have a few months to decide which of the geckos I will breed, and which ones to possibly sell/trade. I am really enjoying this hobby. Now I just need to stop expanding the collection and focus on enjoying the ones I have. Although there are still two unused shelves in my gecko rack…

Technorati Tags: gecko morphs, tangerine

Last weekend I built a new shelf (rack) system for my geckos. I made it from sheets of 3/4 inch melamine. I had to buy 2 sheets at Home Depot and have them cut them into 16 x 48 inch pieces. It would have been great except that they didn’t cut them all the same width and didn’t even cut them square! Anyway, I used my router to make some grooves (dados) in the upright pieces and then cut the shelves to 36 inches. So the rack will hold 18 of the 16 quart Sterilite brand boxes, 3 bins on each shelf.

To make the plastic bins I used sixteen quart Sterilite plastic boxes and melted air holes in the sides with an inexpensive soldering iron. (if you do this make sure you do it in a well ventilate area – like outdoors!).

I bought the 4 inch wide FlexWatt heat tape from Reptile Basics and a Johnson Controls thermostat. I soldered the cord to the Flexwatt, but it might have been worth it to order it with the cord already attached. Seems to work great at keeping the bins at 90-92 degrees F.

I started out the week with only 3 geckos in the rack. But on Wednesday the SHTCT female I ordered from Supreme Gecko arrived. I turned on the heat tape on the second shelf and now had 2 empty spots on that shelf.

Off to the Manchester Reptile Expo

The New England Reptile Expo was in Manchester NH on Saturday so I took my daughter and told her to help me find 2 new gecko. Drove up in the pouring rain and arrived at about 9:45. Overall I wasn’t too impressed with the Leopard Geckos that were there. Didn’t find any amazing ones. Olivia found a male tangerine with a great carrot tail and a very dark “normal” female. Then I saw a large Mack Snow male that was a ‘proven breeder’ and a pair of Bell Albinos. The male Bell had snake eyes and looks cool. So ended up getting 5 new geckos.

The rack is only half full so I might add a few more…

Technorati Tags: bell albino, carrot tail, eclipse, Leopard Gecko, mack snow, Manchester, reptile expo, reptile rack, snake eye