Reptile owners tend to find insects an inexpensive and convenient source of nutrition, yet many species often lack essential minerals that could be supplemented through mealworm feedings or gut loading feeder insects like crickets or mealworms. Gut loading feeder insects is an easy and cost-effective way to increase nutritional value for leopard gecko pets.
Feeder insects such as crickets, roaches, dubia cockroaches and mealworms can all be gut loaded prior to feeding them to Leopard Geckos.
Contents
Feeding
Reptile owners find insects an affordable and convenient food source, but it is crucial that any insect-eating reptile be provided with additional foods containing essential vitamins to ensure its overall wellbeing. Reptiles who only rely on insects as their food source run the risk of nutritional deficiencies like Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) as well as other serious health complications in captivity.
Mealworms are darkling beetles commonly fed to Leopard Geckos as feeder insects. While mealworms can form part of an adult gecko’s diet, due to their high fat and protein ratio they should not be fed to babies or juveniles.
Before offering mealworms to your gecko, it’s advisable to gut load them as this will make them more nutritious and easier for him or her to digest. Mixing some apple puree into their mealworms may also help them absorb essential vitamins. In addition, dust your mealworms with multivitamin powder or calcium supplements prior to feeding.
Preparation
Once mealworms have been gut-loaded and dusted, they can be fed to your Leopard gecko. Make sure they’re at room temperature before giving. Mealworms are easier for leopard geckos to digest than crickets or dubia cockroaches and more nutritious; however they should still be used alongside other feeder insects for an optimal diet.
Your gecko may show preference for one type of mealworm over any other food source; however, for optimal health it is advisable to feed them a variety of items to prevent overweight status and metabolic bone disease.
Gut load foods that you should give to reptiles include crickets, dubia cockroaches, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae and hornworms. You should also offer fresh vegetables, bug grub and other natural, nutritious foods – such as avoid giving pet food which contains colourants, additives or chemicals harmful to reptiles.
Storage
Refrigerated mealworms will slowly warm to room temperature, starting wriggling as soon as they are ready to be fed. They should ideally be fed and dusted weekly depending on your leopard gecko’s health status and results of vet checkup. For instance, if he or she suffers from vitamin D or calcium deficiency it would be wise to dust more often with gut-loaded mealworms.
Be sure to gut load ALL feeder insects 24 hours before offering them to your reptile, to ensure that they contain adequate amounts of water and nutrients – this is particularly important with crickets, dubia roaches and mealworms, which have smaller digestive tracts that absorb less. Malnourished feeder insects could not only become poor sources of nutrition for your reptile but could even lead to Metabolic Bone Disease, fertility issues or even death!
Dusting
Gut loading your feeder insects is an easy and effective way to ensure the health of Leopard Gecko reptiles. By feeding them nutritious foods that provide essential vitamins and minerals, feeding your Leopard Gecko prevents metabolic bone disease – an issue common among reptiles – while making calcium absorption simpler, and ultimately contributing to growth.
Place your mealworms in an airtight storage container with a lid, and pour in some apple puree. Allow this mixture to sit for at least two hours before feeding them to your reptile.
Mealworms are a good food choice because they’re cheap and more nutritious than many of the popular feeder options, like crickets, dubia cockroaches, waxworms or CalciWorms(r). Be wary when feeding waxworms to your leopard gecko however; too many may lead to crippling obesity; instead use as occasional treats instead – this is particularly important when feeding juvenile or baby leopard geckos who require maintaining proper weight levels.
