Leopard geckos are small reptiles that require relatively minimal care to thrive, making them the perfect addition to any sized cage and enjoyable by both adults and children alike.
Repashy Grub Pie can make an excellent way to add variety and provide your reptile with high quality food sources, but live insects are usually best as the staple diet for their species.
Contents
Feeding
Leopard geckos, or leos, are one of the most popular reptile pets due to their gentle disposition and relative ease of care. These insectivores come in an assortment of colors and pattern types.
Captive leopard geckos should receive regular supplements of calcium from crickets or similar insects such as waxworms or locusts; waxworms or locusts may be added for variety. Be sure to lightly dust each meal with mineral powder such as Calcidust for optimal health.
Repashy Grub Pie is a popular supplement for leopard geckos that serves as a complete diet replacement, providing high levels of minerals and vitamins often lacking in feeder insects, along with black soldier fly larvae for additional protein intake. Some owners have noted that when exposed to moisture in an enclosure this product forms into wet sludge that makes access difficult.
Substrate
Leopard geckos interact with their terrarium substrate on an almost daily basis; from walking on it and eating from it to defecating and even laying eggs there. Finding an appropriate substrate is critical as its choice affects all these activities.
Leopard geckos normally live in environments consisting of hard soil with some sand mixed in; pure sand can be dangerous as it can get stuck between their toes as they move about, restrict their natural digging behavior, and prevent them from finding places to hide.
Some owners opt for non-ideal substrates for their leos such as dirt mix, reptile carpet or shredded paper; however, these substrates do not look natural and may contribute to issues like fungus or mold growth. They are also not effective at preventing mite growth and deny geckos the nutrition they require.
Temperature
Leopard geckos require a heat gradient in order to stay healthy – they cannot produce sweat so must move between hot and cold areas to stay comfortable. A thermal mass (such as cork sheets) or paper towels/natural slate tiles that can easily be cleaned are the best choices; both made of materials native to where leopard geckos live in nature (rocky semi arid regions). Sand or calcium sand could impaction while walnut shells could damage their soft underbellies.
Leopard geckos are strict insectivores and must receive crickets or dubia roaches as part of their regular diet, offering 2 appropriately-sized insects per inch of length on an infant, or every other day for adults. Supplementary proteins should include black soldier flies, dubia cockroaches or pinky mice which contain fat. Incorporating Repashy Calcium Plus into their regimen would also prove helpful as leopard geckos cannot convert carotene to vitamin A.
Water
Leopard geckos require clean, fresh water for drinking and shedding purposes. A water dish should be provided within their enclosure, with regular misting helping create small pools where they can drink. This also helps maintain humidity levels in the tank which are essential to maintaining good health for leopard gecko health.
Keep the leopard gecko out of sand substrates as these may cause impaction in their digestive systems, instead using something such as reptile carpet or eco-earth which are easy to maintain and won’t be inhaled by them.
Repashy Calcium Plus is an all-in-one calcium powder designed to meet all of your leo’s calcium needs, and provides other important vitamins. Simply dust on some feeder insects!
Use this as a complete diet for your leopard gecko or add it into other diets as a topper, slurry or gel. Also feed it as dessert to fruit-loving reptiles! Additionally it can serve as gravy/topper for dry kibble diets.
