Leopard geckos are strict insectivores; they cannot digest fruits, vegetables or meat. Due to their limited digestive tracts and lack of cecums, their diet must consist solely of insects.
Feeder insects come in various varieties – to ensure optimal results, these should be dusted with calcium powder prior to feeding them to reptiles. Be wary of all-you-can-eat power feeding as this may lead to obesity in reptiles.
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Dubia Roaches
Dubia roaches are a favorite among leopard gecko owners because they are easy to breed and don’t emit an offensive smell. Plus, their non-jumping characteristics enable owners to easily contain them – and their high protein and low fat content makes for a healthy source of nutrition!
As Dubia roaches contain high calcium levels that help prevent metabolic bone disease, optimal nutrition for adult geckos requires two per inch of body length while babies require five to seven no larger than 3/8″.
Mealworms are another popular staple food source for leopard geckos as they’re easy to feed and don’t smell, making them easy to keep contained. While more costly than Dubia roaches and with higher protein and fat contents; additionally they have poor calcium-to-phosphorus ratios which may need correcting by dusting with powder prior to feeding to your leopard gecko.
Mealworms
Leopard geckos can also benefit from eating mealworms, which provide them with protein and calcium while being easy to raise and breed – not to mention low in fat! A great mealworm staple!
While you can purchase them in pet stores, for the best deal and price online is your best bet. Start off by buying enough for at least a week or two to see how long they last before making a final decision on their usage.
Gut loading insects before feeding them to your leopard gecko is crucial in order to ensure all their essential nutrients reach your pet when eaten. You can do this by either providing feeder insects with salad or using commercial gut loading diets like Repashy SuperLoad for 24 hours before offering the insects as food to your leopard gecko.
Crickets are another excellent feeder insect choice for leopard geckos. Easy to buy and care for at home, crickets require slightly more space than mealworms due to being noisy creatures that frequently try to escape their cage or dish. In order to provide leopard geckos with enough sustenance and nourishment without becoming obese over time.
Crickets
Leopard geckos are insectivores and only have the capacity to digest insects. Without an organ known as a cecum, they cannot digest fruits and vegetables which contain high concentrations of cellulose fibres.
Leopard geckos typically feed on insects killed by their predators in the wild. When feeding your gecko wild caught prey, be wary as there may be risks of disease and pesticide contamination; also remember that wild caught insects could contain fertilizers or chemicals from your lawn that they could ingest during digestion.
Crickets are one of the most frequently fed insects to reptiles, particularly leopard geckos. Crickets provide protein and calcium. Before feeding them to your gecko(s), make sure you gut load them with additional nutrition so they pass it along to them. Click here for instructions on this subject.
Baby and juvenile geckos should be fed two insects of appropriate sizes per inch of body length each day. Adult geckos should be fed every other or three days.
Other Insects
Leopard geckos are predominantly insectivores in their natural environment and their digestive systems have evolved specifically to process insect matter, making it impossible for them to properly process nutrients from plant matter or meat sources such as fruit, vegetables and fish. Because these geckos do not consume raw meats such as chicken, pork, fish etc containing parasites which could make them sick, they should never be fed raw meat products, including raw chicken breast or any raw pork cutlets (this includes their skins!).
Leopard Geckos should be fed a variety of feeder insects (such as crickets, dubia roaches, waxworms and superworms ) in order to meet all their nutritional requirements. Insects should first be gut loaded on leafy greens for 48 hours using Repashy SuperLoad powder before being offered as treats to your gecko. This will ensure they remain healthy before feeding to them as food sources.
Leopard geckos should not be fed too much food, as excess fat storage can lead to serious health complications like fatty liver disease. Therefore, it’s recommended to only feed them a set amount that has been predetermined by you in order to avoid overfeeding and obesity.