Feeding geckos

[billygs]

Hello I was searching about feeding geckos to the chameleons and I couldn't find a lot of information, I thought maybe some of you have some knowledge about it. I was thinking if it would be good for the chameleons to eat geckos that are breed in captivity in order to get calcium and more variety of preys or if these can be a problem for digestion? I can suppose in the wild they eat all kind of preys including small reptiles but I'm not sure if these is completley true, maybe they just eat insects. I just wanted to share opinions and talk a little about the topic.

 

[ChamLB]

What species of chameleon do you have? I don't think anything but insects and snails are recommended for most species.

 

[billygs]

I have panthers, it is just an idea I had because all the nutriments it can bring to them and I was just wondering if wild chameleons eat also small reptiles or if their diet is based just on insects. I think is an intersting topic to discuss and maybe hear some experiences and thoughts about it.

 

[poison]

Hi, I highly doubt a panther would pass up the opportunity to eat one of Madagascars beautiful colorful geckos. I don't see why you can't feed geckos. Maybe do a little more research on the nutritional value on the species you wanna go with. As well as you know find a healthy source.

 

[billygs]

That's just what I thought, I have a breeding project and I was thinking better ways of keeping the females as healthy as possible and the idea came across, I saw some flat tale house geckos being fed to a small snake and I said why not breeding some geckos for feeding? But it never came to my mind making some research about the nutrimental value of some gecko species, now you've given me some homework.

 

[jamest0o0]

could *possible high protein in a gecko contribute to gout? Just a thought, i could be way off, i have no idea.

 

[Andee]

No not really, from what I understand the only reason high animal protein is an issue is when it is usedifficult as a gutload for feeders and becomes a major part of a chameleons diet. It becomes an issue mostly with gutload because most tropical species of insects do not excrete excess protein well and it results in a build up of uric acid. But honestly you would only need to feed about one small gecko every other month to reach nutrient requirements as far as d and a vitamins. The real issue is, can you find a small enough gecko for panther females where it would be a viable resource? Geckos usually only breed seasonally and most only have clutches of one or two eggs. And they absolutely have to be incubated I need an incubator.

 

[poison]

From what I understand species like mourning geckos lay clutches year round. Though like you said only a couple eggs. I knew a man who kept his Leo's in a naturalistic enclosure and his geckos were breeding year round and the eggs incubated in the enclosure. (Burrowed under ground)There are plenty of species that glue eggs within the enclosure and if conditions are right they will hatch. Mourning geckos being one of these. They're also pseudocopulation. All females in this species.

 

[poison]

Personally I wouldn't bother with feeding geckos it does indeed seem like more of a hassle. Unless I was breeding large quantities I would just stick to a insect only diet but if it's something you wanna do it sounds interesting.

 

[Andee]

The problem with mourning geckos is they get too large for female Panthers rather quickly. Female Panthers are very small. And the issue of kepping eggs within an enclosure that is not huge with adults of most gecko species is they will eat their young

 

[poison]

Feed them off when they're young... as well as use the deli cup method if possible Ik it's not always. Mourning geckos stay very small I've seen colonies with plenty of babies. They don't seem to bother the babies (as far as they know). I have no personal experience with them yet but I've been talking to keepers and doing a lot of research lately just waiting for the right person to purchase from.

 

[poison]

Andee if you have kept them I would definitely like to know more. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[billygs]

Yes I was thinking in giving them 1 every 2 or 3 weeks and having them in a nice terrarium so they could breed naturally. I'm going to do more research about the species you mention and maybe some others and I will give it a try.

 

[poison]

Well there's the abvious common house gecko commonly used as feeders for lizard eating snakes. Skunk geckos reproduce at a good rate. Several day geckos but that would be an expensive feeder.

 

[Andee]

No I am not tasking about mourning geckos when referring to colonies that do badly together. I was referring to other types of geckos, like most day geckos species (surprisingly a lot of them do not do well when kept in groups unless in a rather large enclosure, have researched it and decided against the direction I was planning with that enclosure) phelsumas (a specific group of day geckos) definitely do badly. Most phelsumas of all types do pair bonding and you will be lucky to get them to because more often than not they don't pair bond. All chalendonia (sorry about possible spelling issues there) should not be kept together. I personally do not like having missing tails and stressed animals. Leo's depending on the size of the enclosure can technically be kept together but the size for a breeding colony is much larger than people expect.... mourning geckos start out as inch long. They are vertebrae prey, I would not feed passed 1.5 inches to a female panther.

 

[Andee]

There is no need to do it every 2 to 3 weeks. All the vitamins and nutrients that the insects won't provide that they will are fat soluble. You only need to do it every other month at most.

 

[jamest0o0]

Interesting stuff!

 

[poison]

Andee, you seem to know the nutritional value of geckos. Mind stating them for my own knowledge as well as where the info came from. Ty

 

[poison]

Considering a lot of species store fat in their tails the far content of them makes sense.

 

[poison]

If fat is really the only benefit to feeding them then maybe a simple pinky mouse would suffice?