Giant crickets

[killazilla]

Okay, yesterday I had a great idea for feeding crickets. I went out and got my crested a kritter keeper for cricket feedings. I figured that if I place him and some dusted crickets in there about once a week, he would have a much easier time catching them. The problem is that even when the crickets were right next to his mouth, he wouldn't eat one. My best guess is that the crickets are too big. They seem to be adult crickets... and they do look like a mouth-full for him. Will he not strike at them unless they are a certain size smaller?

[smith710]

Or he might just be nervous being fed in a different container instead of his home.

[warnersister_2000]

make sure the crickets are no bigger than the distance between the gecko's eyes.  also, put them in a tall, smooth container such as a plastic cup or jar inside of the regular enclosure.  the crickets can't get out but the gecko can climb in.

[killazilla]

His normal enclosure has reptibark and things that I want to avoid him swallowing. The jar idea sounds like it may work out. I really wish that he would use the kritter keeper for feeding so I could see him catch one. I haven't had a chance to see his hunting skills yet.

[smith710]

Why do people get reptibark for their geckos?  Why would anybody risk the chance at all?  Definately don't feed crickets in there... I will never understand why people are willing to take the chance if their gecko swollowing a piece of bark for nothing.

[Liz]

he might accidently attack the bark for no reason my geckos attack stuff in the cage all the time for no reason... But your probably freaking him out by moving him to the other cage with all the crickets running every which way. you could go with liek coconut fiber... it looks nice and safer than bark.

[killazilla]

Well I'm not really emotionally attatched to the bark Smithy, I could switch to the cocunut fiber next time I clean out his cage. I figure that I'll have to replace his substrate monthly, anyway. I'm still learning, this is my first herp. I may just keep him off the crickets for a while and try feeding him in the kritter keeper after he's a little more comfortable being taken out his tank. Maybe some smaller crickets could help, too.

[smith710]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be mean, I was just curious... Just there was so many people that use the bark even after so many people tell them what can happen because they think it looks nice.  Definately would recommend getting rid of it though.

[monster]

i feed crickets to my guys outside of their houses in kritter keepers.
the nervous factor should diminish with regular handeling. some geckos are just not cricket lovers, and that's that.

[killazilla]

Hooray! He ate the crickets in his kritter keeper. He seems to prefer eating at dusk, so that's when I'll feed him. Also, I got to seem him fire up for the first time... he looked very different than normal... his olive colors turned dark, really dark, and his flame pattern stood out more. I wish I'd got a pic to compare to his daytime color. Way cool.