With the holiday season coming around the corner, being a reptile keeper means not always being the easiest to buy gifts for, but with a few questions and some suggestions that are typically universal for all species, things can become easier.  

Start with These Questions: 

- Do you have tropical, desert, or subtropical ecosystems? 

It's important to note that each of these set-ups is different and can cause the health of the reptile to decline if they are being improperly kept. Ingredients for each setup can vary as well; you'll want to be precise about the proper product being given. 

- What products are your favorites when it comes to keeping your reptile happy? 

This is a broad question, but the idea of a favorite product being given when there are many brands to pick from can make the difference for the keeper. Some products vary in quality, which can also make a difference in preference. 

- What are some of your favorite feeders for reptiles? 

Having a list of feeders or diet plans from the reptile keeper can help you provide what's most wanted on a proper dietary level. Each reptile will have a different need. A way that you can safely gift dietary needs would also be to provide a gift card to the company that is favored. 

- Do you have a preference for a company for supplies? 

Knowing a favorite company can also dwindle down the need for buying a physical item and rather a gift card. 

With the guidance of these questions, being able to plan when to get the proper item can make a difference to a reptile owner. For a more personable approach, here’s a list of different prices ranged items to best gift your reptile keepers a physical item. 

Budget-Friendly / Stocking Stuffers

Compact, practical, and widely used across many species.

• Tongs / tong kits

• Heat hoods

• Substrates

• Heating pads

• Feeding bowls and cups

• Cleaning products

These products make a great stocking stuffer because they tend to be on the budget friendly side of the market along with being on the more compact side, making it easier to keep it as a smaller gift. Most of these items are universally used for many broad species for someone who is trying to give a surprise gift. 

Mid-Range Main Gifts

Great for most setups; functional and impressive.

• Misting units

• Foggers

• Branches & cork bark

• Thermostat controllers

• Custom species name signs

Items such as these make awesome main gift giving products. They can range from all species needs along with making them a main present. These items can have a higher price point than others but still make things affordable. 

Premium Gifts (High Impact for Care Quality)

A great choice if you want to “go all out.”

• Reptile enclosure

• Solarimeter (UVB meter)

• Heating panels

Reptiles are not cheap, and investing in items that every reptile keeper needs is a big help. When going full out to give gifts to your keeper, items such as these are very pleasing to receive. These items are more expensive but can change how an animal is kept.  

As the days grow shorter and the temperatures drop, your reptile’s needs can shift too. Cooler weather means slower metabolisms, less insect activity, and changes in how live feeders behave or ship. Whether you’re keeping a bearded dragon, leopard gecko, or amphibian, adjusting your feeding routine for fall can help maintain your pet’s health and appetite all season long. 

At Fluker’s, we’ve been raising feeder insects for over 65 years, and we know which ones do better in chilly temperatures. Here’s our guide to the best feeders for fall to keep your reptile’s diet varied, nutrient-rich, and ready for the season ahead. 

Dubia Roaches 

Why they’re great: 
Dubia roaches are hardy, high in protein, and more tolerant of cooler temperatures than crickets. They ship well during seasonal transitions and provide balanced nutrition with a healthy calcium-to-phosphorus ratio. 

Fluker’s Pro Tip: Gut-load your Dubia with Fluker’s High-Calcium Cricket Diet or fresh veggies to boost their nutritional value before feeding. 

Black Soldier Fly Larvae

Why they’re great: Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) are a fall favorite because they’re easy to digest and naturally rich in calcium. That means you can often skip the dusting powder. They’re also less active in cooler temps, making them easier to feed than other active feeders. Black Soldier Fly Larvae are great feeder options for Bearded dragons, leopard geckos, chameleons, frogs, and turtles. 

Superworms

Why they’re great: As your reptile’s metabolism slows with the cooler weather, a little extra fat can help maintain energy. Superworms are high in both protein and healthy fats, making them a great supplemental feeder during fall. 

Hornworms

Why they’re great: Hornworms are packed with moisture, which helps your pets stay hydrated when humidity drops indoors. Their bright color and movement also stimulate picky eaters by encouraging natural hunting and foraging behaviors. Hornworms are a great treat for Bearded dragons, monitors, chameleons, and other insectivores that need a hydration boost.

Crickets

Why they’re great: Crickets remain a staple feeder year-round for their activity and balanced nutrition. However, they’re more sensitive to temperature changes, so be sure to keep them warm and dry during fall months. 

Fluker’s Pro Tip: Store crickets in a well-ventilated container between 80–85°F, and offer Fluker’s Orange Cube Complete Diet for easy hydration and nutrition. During shipping or colder weather, feeders may become dormant. We advise placing them under a gentle heat or light source to warm them up and restore activity before feeding. 

Supplemental Diets 

When temperatures drop below safe shipping levels, shelf-stable feeders are a reliable way to ensure your pet never misses a meal. Fluker’s Fresh Feeder Vac Packs and Freeze-Dried Insects, including crickets, mealworms, and river shrimp, make excellent backups that retain key nutrients and flavor. These convenient options are perfect for supplementing your reptile diet, especially during cold weather or unexpected shipping delays. 

Seasonal Feeding Tips 

Keep feeders warm: Store live insects in a warm, insulated space, around 80°F, to help maintain their activity and lifespan. 

Support hydration: Offer moisture-rich feeders like hornworms or black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) to keep reptiles hydrated as indoor humidity drops. 

Expect slower appetites: A mild decrease in appetite is normal during cooler months as some reptiles prepare for brumation.  

Don’t skip gut-loading: Always gut-load feeders with nutrient-rich diets to ensure your reptile gets complete, balanced nutrition with every meal. 

The paper “Three-generation simultaneous selection in two quantitative traits of Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and seasonal effects on phenotype expression” examines whether can be bred for faster development and higher biomass production without sacrificing other key traits.

Across three generations of carefully controlled selection, the research team selected two traits simultaneously: Larval Development Time and Pupal Weight. The results were conclusive; you can select for both traits without having to give up one or the other. This demonstrates that targeted breeding can yield a more efficient mealworm without sacrificing quality or survival.

Evaluating the mealworm over three generations also revealed interesting data on seasonality while growing mealworms. Even when kept in highly regulated conditions, mealworms performed differently in the summer than in the winter. The most noticeable thing was that mealworms developed faster in the winter months than in the summer.

These findings make an important step forward in the science of insect agriculture. By applying standardized and structured breeding programs, producers can potentially reduce development time while also increasing yields leading to a more consistent and sustainable insect farm.

The study was conducted by Juan A. Morales-Ramos, M. Guadalupe Rojas (USDA-ARS), and Damian Tweedy (Fluker Farms/Beta Hatch Inc.). Published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, 2025. DOI: 10.1093/jee/toaf197

Understanding Your Species

Before diving into preparing for this change of the year, it's important to understand which species of reptile we're dealing with. Learning how to tend to your species of reptile will make the process much easier to follow. Each species will have a different process because of the environmental factors that need to be taken into preparation.

Recognizing Behavioral Changes

The most confusing part about determining if it is truly time for a reptile to go into brumation is going to be the change in behavior. Behavior is a big indicator for many different changes in an animal's life, but learning the key factors in the difference between each is how to determine what could be going on. Contact a vet to properly learn what the difference in health changes are to understand what is going on. Owners that are more experienced are typically able to point out the exact symptoms of the start of a brumation. Experienced keepers that have witnessed brumation may even be able to plan for when their reptile is going to go into near exact dormancy. The reduced activity and loss of appetite are always flags to watch out for, but there is more to it than just watching for the signs.

Veterinary Health Checks

When preparing for the season change, always be sure your animal is in the highest health to have an easy transition. Reptiles need to be in the best form of health before undergoing this long term of slumber. The reason this is important is because the process of coming out of brumation takes a lot of work and stress; the healthier the animal is, the easier this becomes. Having a full veterinarian health check 2–3 months prior to the cooler season is a great start to determining what needs to happen prior to brumation. When visiting the veterinarian, ask questions such as how your habitat properly reflects the environment that is needed to support your reptile in slumber. An important factor of a health check is to also ensure your reptile isn't going into brumation in a sickly manner.

Nutrition and Weight Preparation

Veterinarian checks are also a great time to ask about proper weight and nutrition management. Your reptile needs to have adequate fat reserves to ensure there is still sufficient nutrition for your animal to metabolize during slumber. Asking your veterinarian questions such as how to properly hit each nutrition bracket, along with how much to serve, is a great way to understand how to be better prepared. Each life stage will need a different source of extra nutrition; it's important to understand how much your pet may need. Something your veterinarian may also talk with you about is gradually reducing feeding until feeding has nearly stopped closer to brumation time. Although we can't foresee the exact time your animal will undergo this change, paying attention to the amount consumed per meal will be a big flag.

Adjusting the Habitat

Food and how you feed your pet is a major part of preparation, but environmental adjustments—such as pressure changes—are the reason brumation happens. This plays a large part in understanding how to adjust the habitat to your species of reptile. Your veterinarian can help you understand how you need to do things such as gradually reducing daylight hours and temperatures to mimic seasonal changes. As nature switches seasons, pressure changes will follow, which will sometimes help your reptile understand it is time to undergo brumation.

Following the natural changes and matching the length of shining light will help your reptile adjust easier. It's not all about the lighting, though—you'll want to be sure there are plenty of hiding houses that help support and maintain proper humidity levels for your specific species. When reptiles go into brumation, depending on personality, your reptile will more than likely find somewhere that has coverage and clean bedding. By also providing proper humidity levels throughout the brumation season, you will keep your reptile in a healthier state. Your reptile won't be able to make the choice of regulating themselves, which means you will have to step in to help do it for them.

Supporting a Natural Process

Proper preparation for brumation is not just a matter of convenience—it can be the difference between healthy and sick for your reptile. Brumation is a natural, biologically programmed process that reptiles have evolved over millions of years, and supporting this process correctly helps maintain their needs.

Inadequate preparation can lead to serious health complications, including metabolic disorders, immune suppression, and weight loss beyond safe levels. Reptiles that enter brumation in poor health or unsuitable conditions may never wake up. Conversely, when done correctly, brumation can contribute to longevity, proper reproductive cycles, and overall well-being. As responsible caretakers, our role is to bridge the gap between our reptiles' evolutionary programming and their captive environment, providing them the opportunity to express natural behaviors safely.

NARBC is an abbreviation meaning “North American Reptile Breeders Conference”, in other words, an event you've got to attend at least once if you're into reptile keeping. These shows range mostly all over the United States but featured in the same major cities, making it easy to plan for. When you walk into the doors of any of those locations, it's almost like you can taste it in the air that you're officially at NARBC. Each booth dressed for the best, filled with happy owners and excited guests; you can tell by it all! As we’ve progressively experienced all the different regions of expos, the city of Dallas has some of the most ranged keepers. For this expo specifically, we asked our social media followers to stop by and share with us your new, niche pet and you guys did not disappoint. From specialty spiders to large monitors, we became just as excited as the new owners.  

Let's start at the beginning, where we began our crazy two-week travels at NARBC Dallas. We had a lot of fun with this expo specifically because we started a new tradition that might be worth bringing back in the future. Everyone loves the game of an easter egg hunt but this time we added a twist to it, we made it all about the scales! During set up, we hid three critter figurines around the expo hall with winner tags, all with surprise values. Tori was excited to get the news to our visitors, so we quickly posted information about needing help finding these escapee figurine critters.  

When purchasing tickets for NARBC, they allow guests to have the option to upgrade tickets to the VIP hour of the expo. This is an awesome chance for those who like to get first peeks and claim those awesome deals. Our first lucky winner happened to be a VIP guest, which made the experience all that much better. A dad and his son came up to us with such excitement, holding one of our small animal figurines. Since it was VIP hour, we gifted these two awesome people a brand-new Fluker enclosure. Before you knew it, they were on their way, smiling ear to ear! 

Not long after, normal guest hours came around in which followed with our lucky winner #2 and then #3. What was special about these two winners was giving them the ability to spend a visa gift card how they would like. One of the winners purchased his first personal reptile, since all his siblings already had their first! He showed us his adorable new pet sulcata tortoise. The two smiled back at each other just as much as we did. Creating these moments is what visiting expo’s is all about, putting smiles on others faces, even the critters! 

We left from Dallas NARBC and practically turned right around to head off to the other side of the states, California. California has an amazing expo hall that is easily the size of a football stadium. The LA Reptile Super Shows are some of the most diverse expos to find the species of animal you've never seen before. From black headed pythons to bells phase lace monitors and even your niche bugs like emerald roaches, you're bound to see something new. 

Our team very excitingly arrived and immediately became fascinated with the Anaheim set up and people. Everyone being so welcoming and friendly just made the excitement that much more. We set up our booth with the Chewy crew and set for a weekend of plenty of fun. Something fun that we did at our table was doing five-dollar spins on our winner wheel. All of the proceeds ended up going to USARK which made the game that much more fun! Not only would we have to potentially pay more to the donation box in different increments, but we also ran a Fluker enclosure give away specifically for the spin wheel participants. Luckily, we had such a good turn out that quite a few people spun and won a sign up for the giveaway. Naturally having kids spin something for the fun of it also made for a memorable time, we taught them the importance of USARK and why it's important to support such organizations. 

Altogether, expo’s have made such a great place for keepers of all sorts to come together. Whether that's local or out of state, it's worth seeing these shows!