Leopard geckos are insectivores, meaning their bodies don’t possess the capacity to digest cellulose-rich fruit and vegetables, so feeding your leo with various feeder insects is vital.
Lean insects such as crickets, dubia roaches and hornworms make for excellent healthy choices as they provide protein, calcium, fiber and phosphorus while remaining low in fat and chitin content. Also consider providing waxworms and superworms.
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Feed Insects
Leopard geckos require easy-to-find feeder insects in their diet, such as meal worms, crickets, wax worms and super worms (though these should be given sparingly due to their high fat content).
Black Soldier Fly Larvae are another highly nutritious option. Also referred to as BSFL, soldier grubs or nutrigrubs, these larval feeders stay alive in your refrigerator for weeks or even months and contain less fat compared to other options. Furthermore, their high calcium content may help avoid Metabolic Bone Disorder – another serious medical condition.
No matter the species of feeder insect you select, it is crucial to gut load them 24 hours prior to giving them to your gecko. Simply place them in a bag with some type of supplement such as multivitamin powder or calcium supplement and cover them in powder so that when fed to them, their gecko can also ingest this dietary aid.
Feed a Multivitamin
Fluker’s multivitamin powder will ensure that your gecko receives all of the vitamins it requires from its diet. With high calcium content – essential for leopard geckos – and other essential vitamins such as Vitamin A acetate for maintaining eye health, as well as Niacin for supporting digestive and nervous systems health, Fluker’s powder can ensure it will meet all its vitamin needs.
As leopard geckos cannot obtain enough vitamin D3 through their natural diet alone, supplementation is absolutely necessary to maintain good health. Without sufficient D3, metabolic bone disease could occur; to provide this vital nutrient easily use dusting and gut loading feeder insects with Zoomed’s ReptiVite powder which features both fat- and water-soluble vitamins for maximum benefit and has proven its efficacy in providing both a balanced calcium to phosphorous ratio as well as providing essential amino acid complex with essential vitamins.
Gut Load Insects
Before feeding insects to your gecko, it is vitally important that they be gut loaded for at least 24 hours prior to being offered as feeder insects. This ensures they receive a high-protein, nutrient-rich diet; especially true with feeder crickets, dubia roaches and mealworms which have low phosphorous-to-calcium ratios. Gut loading also serves to correct for low calcium ratios in their bodies.
Feeder insects can be fed a wide range of foods, from greens and vegetables low in oxalates and phosphorus such as greens to low-oxalate vegetables like acorn squash, bell peppers, prickly pear leaves and hibiscus flowers that contain beta-carotene – processed by their gut bacteria into vitamin A which leopard geckos can use.
Experts advise using black soldier fly larvae, hornworms, and waxworms as food for leopard gecko diets, since these insects are easy to raise at home and contain an abundance of fat, protein, calcium, and phosphorous. Unfortunately, however, most leopard geckos need easier-to-access crickets, mealworms, or dubia roaches for sustenance.
Offer Treats
Leopard geckos may also benefit from eating some fatty treats, such as waxworms, silkworms and Phoenix worms (otherwise known as black soldier fly larvae or calci-worms). These treats should only be offered occasionally to add variety.
Baby geckos should be fed 5-7 appropriately-sized insects daily until they reach four inches in length, at which point it’s wise to switch over to larger foods such as mealworms, dubia roaches or hornworms which provide higher amounts of protein, calcium, fiber and phosphorus than crickets or mealworms while still remaining low in chitin and fat content.
Many leopard gecko owners enjoy feeding their lizards by hand as this provides both entertainment and an opportunity to bond. However, it is important to remember that if your leo declines food it may be an indicator of illness so don’t force him or her to consume anything if this occurs – leopard geckos store fat reserves in their tails which enable them to go anywhere between ten days to two weeks without needing food!