Zen feeder?

pixelgecko

New Member
Hello, I'm new to reptile keeping and absolutely love them, but I have a huge fear of bugs. I heard about this Zen Feeder by Zen Habitats and was wondering if anyone here has one?
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Watching videos on it, it looks incredible for those of us with bug issues that still want reptiles. However, they've been discontinued ):
If anyone has one they'd be willing to part with or sell, I'd be incredibly grateful!
 
Welcome on here! As for the Zen feeder, there are cheaper and easier options, like tongs or using paper towel tubes to collect the bugs to feed (I also only use gasket sealed containers and escape-proof feeder cups and galleries)! If your fear of bugs is too much, you might want to reconsider insectivores as pet, though.
Edit: as a pet, not as pet
 
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I can’t tell you anything about the Zen feeder, other than you could contact them and ask about it. I can share with you that I entered the hobby with an intense disgust for bugs. I started with crickets, which at first were really interesting to me and the least icky. Now I really don’t like crickets...they are stinky and just nasty. Very reluctantly I tried other feeders...bsfl were ok. Even though they are essentially maggots, they aren’t as disgusting as the type you find in your trash can. They are also best handled with tongs and are very slow to escape (unlike crickets). For the sake of my cham, I very reluctantly ordered some discoid roaches. Again, best handled with tongs and they don’t fly or jump and can’t climb smooth surfaces. They are similar to dubia, which are illegal where I live. I now have had a colony of discoid roaches for about 1 1/2 years. In all of that time, I am yet to actually touch one with bare hand. I use tongs. Eventually you may reach the stage of being desensitized and find roaches acceptable as feeders. In the meantime, I do urge you to try silkworms. They are absolutely harmless caterpillars and one of my favorite feeders. They are perhaps one of the few that I will hold in my hand. Check the forum sponsors. Both Serenity Silkworms and Mori Feeders sell excellent silks.
 
I can’t tell you anything about the Zen feeder, other than you could contact them and ask about it. I can share with you that I entered the hobby with an intense disgust for bugs. I started with crickets, which at first were really interesting to me and the least icky. Now I really don’t like crickets...they are stinky and just nasty. Very reluctantly I tried other feeders...bsfl were ok. Even though they are essentially maggots, they aren’t as disgusting as the type you find in your trash can. They are also best handled with tongs and are very slow to escape (unlike crickets). For the sake of my cham, I very reluctantly ordered some discoid roaches. Again, best handled with tongs and they don’t fly or jump and can’t climb smooth surfaces. They are similar to dubia, which are illegal where I live. I now have had a colony of discoid roaches for about 1 1/2 years. In all of that time, I am yet to actually touch one with bare hand. I use tongs. Eventually you may reach the stage of being desensitized and find roaches acceptable as feeders. In the meantime, I do urge you to try silkworms. They are absolutely harmless caterpillars and one of my favorite feeders. They are perhaps one of the few that I will hold in my hand. Check the forum sponsors. Both Serenity Silkworms and Mori Feeders sell excellent silks.
Thank you so much for the advice! Most worm-type feeders scare me more than roaches and crickets, but silkworms don't look so bad! I wanted hornworms because their blue colour makes them look much more appealing but they are illegal where I live, and not good as a complete diet.

Can silkworms be a complete main diet? (I don't think I mentioned, I want a fat tail gecko!)
Other than that, I was going to try my best to desensitise myself to dubia roaches.
 
Thank you so much for the advice! Most worm-type feeders scare me more than roaches and crickets, but silkworms don't look so bad! I wanted hornworms because their blue colour makes them look much more appealing but they are illegal where I live, and not good as a complete diet.

Can silkworms be a complete main diet? (I don't think I mentioned, I want a fat tail gecko!)
Other than that, I was going to try my best to desensitise myself to dubia roaches.
Silkworms can be one of your staple feeders, but I would suggest adding at least one or two others. I don’t like hornworms or superworms, both of which are treat feeders, because they can bite. Roaches are less icky when they are babies, or nymphs. When they grow big and ugly is when they get icky. Here’s the feeder graphic which may help. Also attaching what to feed your bugs so that they will be healthy and more nutritious. I pretty much stick with roaches, silkworms and crickets for my chameleons. I hate crickets, but my beardie likes them so I give to my chams too.
I feed my leopard geckos mealworms, wax worms, bsfl and silkworms. They are all too slow for crickets and roaches.
I hope this helps.
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