Gut loading is a critical practice for leopard geckos as their diet primarily consists of feeder insects such as mealworms, morio worms, dubia roaches and crickets; hence feeding more nutritious insects by gut loading will ensure extra vitamins reach your gecko!
Crickets should be gut loaded for better calcium-to-phosphorus ratio, making their lives easier by providing them with nutritious diet for 12 hours prior to feeding them.
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Vegetables
Vegetables are an integral component of any healthy diet and can aid in gut loading for your Leopard Gecko. However, certain vegetables should be avoided as they can lead to metabolic stress in Leo.
Your leopard gecko should receive a variety of feeder insects such as house crickets, dubia roaches, hornworms and waxworms to provide all of its vitamins and minerals. It is important that these feeder insects be gut-loaded for at least 24 hours before feeding them directly to your gecko to maximize its nutrition value.
Before offering feeder insects to your leopard gecko, it’s a wise move to coat them in multivitamin powder and calcium powder for maximum vitamin intake and to balance out their calcium/phosphorus ratio in their bodies – this is particularly important if breeding females develop metabolic bone disease from insufficient calcium intake.
Fruits
Leopard geckos take in much of their nutrients through food sources such as mealworms fed them. To ensure they receive optimal nourishment from this source, be sure to include healthy options like prickly pear leaves, bell peppers, and hibiscus flowers when feeding mealworms to your gecko.
Your food for your lizard should also be organic and free from pesticides as reptiles are especially sensitive to chemicals when sick.
Although it might be tempting, giving your lizard fruits and vegetables is not recommended as this could do more damage than good. Insectivorous bodies do not possess the capability of digesting the cellulose found in fruit and vegetables while herbivores have longer digestive tracts which requires more water in digesting their food – this could result in a fatal blockage preventing digestion altogether.
Mealworms
Gut-loading diets can provide your leopard gecko with all of its required nutrients. In nature, geckos eat an array of insects and vegetables that cover all their nutritional requirements; since we cannot replicate this variety in captivity we must focus on providing high quality foods as much as possible.
Feeder insects such as crickets, dubia roaches, wax worms, mealworms and superworms can all be fed as feeder insects to provide your leopard gecko with essential vitamins and minerals. It is best to feed these feeder insects a nutritious diet 48 hours prior to giving them to your reptile.
Insects can be gut loaded with vegetables, leafy greens, fruit and commercial supplements for optimal results. The insects should receive this diet for 24 to 48 hours prior to being fed to your leopard gecko, and calcium powder should also be applied on top so they receive all of the essential vitamins and minerals they require for survival.
Crickets
Leopard geckos require a diet rich in proteins and minerals. While some nutrients can come from vegetables and fruit, feeder insects such as mealworms, Morio worms, dubia roaches and crickets provide more complete nutrition compared to these sources in nature. Furthermore, owners can gut load these insects to enhance nutritional benefits further.
Addition of vitamin, mineral and amino acid supplements can assist your geckos with eating more effectively. Dusting insects with multivitamin powder like Zoo Med Reptivite with D3 from Northampton Reptile Centre could make them more appealing to their reptile and increase appetite.
Maintaining optimal health for leopard geckos requires providing them with an array of vegetables such as acorn squash, broccoli, butternut squash, carrots, kale and green beans.
