A nutritious diet for leopard geckos is essential for their healthy development and long, contented life – particularly for babies and juveniles.
Leopard geckos typically feed on crickets, dubia roaches, mealworms and Phoenix worms. These sources of protein, calcium and phosphorus are high in energy while being low in fat.
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Mealworms
Mealworms make for a great option for leopard geckos as they’re both readily available and cost-effective. Furthermore, these nutritious creatures provide protein and calcium.
Be cautious when feeding mealworms to your gecko, as they can cause bowel impaction due to their hard exoskeleton and high fiber content that makes them difficult to digest.
When feeding your leo mealworms, be sure to start by providing them with healthy foods like fruit, vegetables and leafy greens as a pre-meal-worm snack to maximize their vitamins and micronutrients.
Finally, don’t forget to provide your leo with a variety of feeder insects as this will help maintain their digestive system optimally.
Crickets are a widely-available, inexpensive feeder insect. Unfortunately, they’re noisy and may escape if not kept in an appropriate container.
Waxworms
Leopard geckos often feed on waxworms as part of their diet. Not only are these insects high in calories, which is essential for maintaining a healthy body weight, but they provide essential nutrition as well.
They’re also delicious and can help relax your lizard if they are feeling stressed out. Additionally, offering these foods to an underweight or sick leopard gecko can help them gain weight back.
However, waxworms lack the essential nutrients other feeder insects possess; thus, if you want to ensure they get all of the essential nutrition, supplementing their diet is necessary.
Prior to feeding your leopard gecko waxworms, always coat them with calcium powder. Doing so helps them absorb essential calcium for strong and healthy development.
Crickets
Crickets are a staple food item for leopard geckos due to their ease of access and affordability, plus their distinctive chirp that stimulates their natural hunting instincts.
Baby leopard geckos should be fed 5-7 small crickets or mealworms each day until they reach approximately 4 inches long. At that point, you can transition them onto larger crickets or cockroaches every other day.
Adult leopard geckos should be fed 6-7 large crickets or mealworms two to three times a week. As treats, you can offer them hornworms, wax worms and superworms.
Mealworms can be a beneficial alternative to crickets for geckos, but they should be fed along with other insects in order to provide your pet with all of the micronutrients it requires. Mealworms have an elevated ratio of chitin to meat, making them less nutritious than softer insects and harder for geckos to digest.
Other Feeder Insects
Leopard geckos are strictly insect eaters, so providing your lizard with a variety of feeder insects is recommended. Offering multiple kinds of insects keeps your lizard healthy since each has a different nutritional value and stimulates their hunting instincts.
Leopard geckos often feed on Dubia roaches, black soldier fly larvae and superworms (Zophobas morio). These insects provide high nutritional values while being low in fat.
These insects don’t jump or make a stink. Additionally, they’re easy to breed and maintain in the right environment.
These worms make an ideal staple food for leopard geckos due to their low fat and high calcium content. Plus, they’re easy to gut load and won’t bite your lizard.
