Leopard geckos require a diverse diet in order to thrive, which is why it’s crucial that any insects you feed your pet contain enough nutrition. It is best practice to feed gut loaded insects for best results.
Crickets, Dubia roaches, and mealworms can all benefit from being gut loaded – an easy process which increases their calcium to phosphorus ratio while simultaneously increasing their vitamin and mineral content.
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Calcium
Leopard geckos (Acheta domesticus) are attracted to crickets (Acheta domesticus) for many reasons; these insects do not cause much noise, are easy to catch and do not bite; in addition to providing protein and calcium rich diet options – always offer something with some form of calcium content when feeding geckos!
Gut loading feeder insects is an integral component of providing your leopard gecko with an ideal diet. By doing so, they provide essential vitamins that may not otherwise exist in their natural diet to the gecko.
Feed your feeder insects a variety of leafy greens, fruits and vegetables to ensure maximum success – some popular choices being acorn squash, prickly pear leaves and hibiscus flowers. In addition, dust them regularly with Repashy’s ReptiVite vitamin supplement at every feeding time for maximum effectiveness.
Vitamin A
Leopard geckos are insectivores, meaning they must be fed a wide range of feeder insects. Each insect should be gut loaded and dusted with calcium powder on a regular basis to ensure it contains all the essential vitamins and nutrients for its continued wellbeing.
Crickets, cockroaches and dubia roaches provide your gecko with high protein levels; for an added boost of nutrition try offering him superworms (also called zophobas morio beetles), waxworms or mealworms in addition to these lean insects.
Remember that, while gut loading feeder insects is an excellent way to ensure your reptile receives essential nutrition, feeding your lizard a variety of fruits and vegetables will also ensure they receive sufficient Vitamin A which is vital for his eyes and skin, as well as Vitamin D3 which will allow him to process any calcium that enters his system.
Greens
Leopard geckos require an array of vitamins and minerals in their diets. When living in their natural environments, leopard geckos ingest a range of plants as well as small animals; thus providing feeder insects with healthy mixes is vital for ensuring their species receives all essential vitamins and minerals.
Reptiles typically feed on leafy greens, fruits, and veggies in nature; providing crickets with these healthy food sources ensures they receive adequate nutrition to lead a long and fulfilling life.
As well as feeding crickets healthy foods, it’s also wise to dust them with calcium dust regularly to maintain optimal calcium levels and help avoid metabolic bone disease issues. Dust your crickets at least once every week as an added precautionary measure; some owners may offer treats like hornworms, superworms and waxworms as treats; however, these high fat content worms could contribute to obesity in their reptile. If geckos stop eating regularly without apparent cause please seek medical advice as this could indicate serious health concerns in them.
Vitamin/Mineral Supplement
Leopard geckos feed on an assortment of foods in the wild, such as fruit and leafy greens. Therefore, gut loading is an integral practice in providing them with optimal nutrition.
Gut-loading your geckos regularly will ensure the ratio between calcium and phosphorous in feeder insects (such as crickets and dubia roaches ) and their body will remain balanced; otherwise, their diets could contain too much calcium from one source, leading to them drawing necessary calcium from their own bones, leading to Metabolic Bone Disease. Thankfully, however, this problem can easily be avoided by providing various healthy, vitamin-enriched food options, in addition to providing them with vitamin-enriched feeder insects as part of their regular feeding regiment.
Attracting more lizards means adding a variety of fruits, vegetables and nutrient-rich powders to their feeder insects food – the ideal foods include acorn squash, bell peppers, carrots, prickly pear leaves and hibiscus flowers as examples of such food items. In addition, it would also be wise to regularly sprinkle geckos’ feeder insects with phosphate-free calcium supplements as this will also increase their health.
