Mealworms make an excellent addition to a leopard gecko diet, and when combined with crickets can provide added nutrition while providing hours of entertainment as they wriggle and crawl about!
Be sure to feed your mealworms a variety of healthy vegetables and leafy greens to help prevent calcium deficiencies or overfeeding. This will also ensure your mealworms can feed optimally without becoming overweight or developing diseases from too much calcium in their diets.
Contents
They’re easy to find
Mealworms are an essential food source for reptiles and can be found at many pet stores or raised easily at home, providing an alternative to live crickets as a food source. However, it should be noted that mealworms may contain pesticides.
Mealworms typically start off looking white to cream in color with soft shells. After being purchased, they shed their shell and become pupae – an inactive stage whereby they resemble tiny beetles.
At this point, it is time to begin gut-loading them. This involves feeding mealworms vegetables to increase their micronutrient content and make them easier for your gecko to consume and provide him with a more well-rounded diet.
They’re easy to prepare
Feeding mealworms to your crested gecko can be done in several different ways. Either use your hand to place individual insects before the reptile and let it eat it freely, or use tongs to pick up multiple insects at a time and place them all into a dish so it can be offered directly.
No matter how you feed your mealworms, be careful not to discard any uneaten ones in the trash can – doing so could result in unwanted surprise visitors in the form of beetles! This could put someone who cleans up after your trash at risk as well.
To keep mealworms fresh and lively, use a 3-inch coating of food-grade substrate (such as oatmeal) inside an enclosure where they cannot escape – this serves both as bedding and food for them.
They’re easy to store
Mealworms make for easy storage and transport for your leopard gecko, and also serve as a tasty snack when on-the-go. However, it’s essential that uneaten mealworms be disposed of appropriately; otherwise they could end up getting eaten by predators of your gecko or anyone who comes across your trash bins.
Mealworms should be stored in an airtight plastic or glass container that’s large enough to avoid suffocation; Tupperware works well, or an empty ice cream box should do. Just label the container with its expiration date so you know when they need replacing when necessary.
They’re high in fat
Mealworms are a high-fat food source, which may lead to your Leopard Geckos becoming overweight and at greater risk for metabolic bone disease – this condition especially affects females laying or planning to lay eggs.
Overfeeding of mealworms can also put undue strain on a gecko’s digestive system. They must break down their indigestible shell.
Crickets and dubia roaches are easier for geckos to digest. However, their nutritional content does not match that of mealworms so should only be fed sparingly. You should also feed them fruits and vegetables for extra vitamins such as carrots, potatoes or apple pieces; additionally it’s wise to gut load your feeder insects with fresh foods before feeding them to your geckos.
They’re easy to overfeed
Mealworms should only make up a small part of your gecko’s diet as they contain little in the way of fiber and protein, but are high in fat content, making digestion difficult for pets. Overfeeding may result in weight gain or health complications for your gecko.
Live mealworms can be purchased both online and at many bait and tackle stores, while for an easier option you could purchase freeze-dried mealworms instead.
Mealworms alone cannot provide your Leopard Geckos with all of their nutritional needs; other feeder insects like crickets, Dubia Roaches, and Black soldier fly larvae should also be offered as diversifying feeder insects. Incorporating nutritional mealworm-feeding practices before feeding them directly to your gecko can help the worms retain more of the vitamins and minerals that pass onto their prey when consumed by your gecko.
