No matter how repulsive an insect appears to us, house geckos love to feast upon them for protein-packed sustenance. Their favorite snacks include crickets, earthworms, waxworms, fly larvae, fruit flies, superworms and feeder cockroach nymphs.
To ensure that your pet’s diet remains balanced and nutritional, lightly dust all insects with calcium/multivitamin powder like Repashy Calcium Plus LoD before feeding. This will provide extra support.
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Insects
Geckos are carnivorous reptiles and should be fed a diet consisting of live insects like crickets or mealworms purchased at pet stores or captured around the house, either crickets or mealworms in small sizes to prevent injury to themselves from eating too big an insect. Dust feeder insects with calcium/vitamin supplements available from pet stores to further boost their nutritional intake.
Geckos have long been recognized for their ability to devour a wide array of insects in the wild, such as flies, mosquitoes, beetles, termites, ants grasshoppers moths butterflies and other isopods. In addition they will eat small rodents such as mice or rats.
Geckos have an ectothermic metabolism, meaning they don’t eat dry food and don’t chew their meals – both are normally beneficial in aiding digestion – instead, some geckos use stones or pebbles as “lithophagiacs” (lithophagy).
Fruits
Your house gecko should enjoy a healthy diet comprised of insects, fruits and vegetables for optimal wellbeing. Be sure to supplement it with calcium supplements as an extra safeguard against deficiency; and avoid giving him too many large insects, as he may be unable to swallow them all.
House geckos feed on various insects found in their environment, including crickets, grasshoppers, moths, flies, isopods, ants and roaches. As diurnal species they are active both day and night allowing them to regulate their body temperature by moving between warmer and cooler environments; their clinging abilities allow them to climb over surfaces quickly to seek refuge from predators while their ability to find high crevices provides shelter from them as well.
Vegetables
Young day geckos found in the wild are part of nature’s pollen and seed dispersal process by climbing onto plants to feed on 10 flowers at once, thus aiding with pollen and seed dispersion. When kept as captive pets, however, romaine lettuce and leafy greens provide essential vitamins and minerals. You could add powdered vegetable mixes or try including some garlic oil into their diet as an additional supplement.
Crested geckos are frugivorous omnivores and should be fed a variety of fruits, vegetables and seeds regularly. You should refrain from giving nuts as these contain high levels of sugar that could cause diabetes or hyperglycemia if fed on an ongoing basis.
Leopard and crested geckos can be encouraged to consume food by offering small portions of fruits, veggies and seeds, along with gut-loaded feeder insects. Misting their habitat twice daily helps increase liquid intake for increased drinking pleasure – an additional water dish or Flukers rock dish can add even more liquid for them to drink!
Seeds
Hemidactylus frenatus, commonly known as the house gecko, has proven an invasive species. Studies have documented its ability to displace similar-sized native gecko species from urban and suburban environments competitively; specifically its skill at preying upon insects that congregate around artificial light sources.
Leos are adaptable feeders that can survive on dried crickets alone; however, for optimal health they require access to live feeder insects as well. Cockroaches such as Turkestan and Dubia varieties make excellent meals, although waxworms or mealworms could also work just as well.
These lizards are quadrudiurnal and typically forage at night. Their strong circadian rhythm features an activity peak around midnight followed by reduced activity until dawn, so it is crucial that your pet has access to a basking area during the daytime so it can relax comfortably.
