Leopard geckos are insectivores, feeding on various feeder insects such as waxworms which they find irresistible. Waxworms offer extra nourishment for leos’ diet.
Avoid offering your gecko foods that are dried, cooked or frozen as these items will quickly degrade over time and won’t provide as many essential vitamins. Live prey offers greater nutrition.
Crickets make excellent feeder insects for reptiles due to their high protein/low fat ratio and coating them with calcium powder supplement 24 hours before feeding.
Contents
Gut Loading
Leopard geckos are insectivores, requiring them to consume insects as food sources. Their diet consists of crickets, mealworms, wax worms, super worms, dubia roaches (which provide plenty of essential vitamins and nutrients), tomato hornworms, fruit flies and moths; as well as dubias being easy to gut load with nutritional powder or vitamin flakes as needed.
Before providing leopard geckos as prey, it is wise to provide them with a diet rich in fresh, nutrient-rich foods 24-48 hours beforehand. This will ensure they get maximum value from their food intake.
Baby geckos must be fed every day; adults should be fed once every two or three days. When selecting foods to feed geckos, avoid those high in oxalates like spinach which bind with calcium and prevent its absorption; any signs of illness should prompt a visit from a veterinarian immediately.
Vegetables
Leopard geckos consume a wide range of vegetables, particularly those rich in beta-carotene (which they convert into retinol). Ideal foods for leopard geckos include bell peppers, squash, kale, prickly pear leaves and hibiscus flowers; avoid those high in oxalates, phosphorus and starchy substances like potatoes.
They may eat some of their shed skin to get proteins and vitamins they cannot get elsewhere – an instinctive action mimicking their desert habitat.
Leopard Geckos require a diet of 30-50% protein, which they can meet easily through feeder insects. If your gecko stops eating altogether, this could be an indicator of illness; alternatively you could add vegetables or add vitamin/mineral supplements like Dubia Roaches specifically bred for reptiles containing vitamins such as D-Lactate, D-Aspartate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Ferrous Fumarate, Choline Bitartrate L-Leucine Manganese Sulfate Riboflavin Vitamin A Acetate Niacinamide and Folic Acid.
Insects
Leopard geckos typically feed on various insects found in nature. Pinkies (newborn rodents) should only be given once every seven days as treats.
Feeder insects provide Leopard Geckos with essential vitamins and minerals essential to their diet, but for maximum benefit it is advised that feeder insects be “gut loaded” by providing healthy foods like leafy greens or commercial gutload diets (such as Repashy Super Load ) 24-48 hours prior to offering them to your gecko so as to guarantee all its nutritive value is delivered via its meal. This will ensure maximum benefits from its meal.
As leo feeders, some good options include crickets, dubia roaches, hornworms, soldier fly larvae and Phoenix worms are recommended as good food choices. It’s wise to avoid mealworms and darkling beetles which contain too much chitin; these may be difficult for their digestion. It is also advised to dust their feeder insects with calcium powder prior to each feeding session for maximum success.
Supplements
Leopard geckos are predominantly insectivores and lack the digestive tract to process plant-based diets such as grass. Furthermore, their bodies cannot convert b-carotene into vitamin A so must be given preformed forms in supplement form such as Fluker’s Repta Vitamin Reptile Supplement for proper nourishment.
Leopard geckos can be fed a variety of feeder insects; mealworms, wax worms, superworms, dubia roaches, black soldier fly larvae and crickets are popular choices. While any or all can be dusted with calcium powder and multivitamin supplements (ideally one with both calcium and D3) at each feeding, we advise opting for one containing both elements so as to maintain an ideal calcium-phosphorous ratio.
All feeder insects should be gut loaded and dusted with calcium before offering. Feeder insects for juvenile leopard geckos that are given every day or every other day should also be lightly dusted with pure calcium powder twice weekly and combined calcium + D3 once weekly.