Mealworms (Tenebrio Molitor) are an ideal food source for leopard geckos. When combined with nutritional food sources that provide calcium, vitamins, and minerals they make an even more nutritive diet option for them!
Begin by procuring mealworms from a source that does not use pesticides. Next, grind or blend apples until a puree forms; finally dust the mealworms with powder of a vitamin and mineral supplement for extra vitamin boost!
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Feeding Tips
Leopard geckos are insectivores and depend heavily on insects for protein, fats, vitamins, minerals and other micro-nutrients. Because they cannot eat vegetables or fruit directly, providing these essential vitamins through feeder insects or supplement foods is key.
Most people start off by providing their reptiles with crickets and Dubia roaches as feeder insects, although other offerings such as hornworms, black soldier fly larvae and waxworms should only be given occasionally for treat feedings as these can be hazardous for young or underweight reptiles.
Gut loading feeder insects is essential before providing them to leopard geckos for consumption, as this process requires only minimal ingredients and preparation steps. Gut loading ensures that these feeder insects contain essential vitamins and nutrients necessary for healthy leopard gecko diets; 48-24 hours before giving the insects to reptiles to consume they must receive nutritional food via infusing.
Gut Loading
Reptile hobbyists understand the importance of gut loading as part of feeding feeder insects to their pets; however, many are unaware of its optimal frequency and duration for best health outcomes in their animal companion.
Gut loading helps balance their nutrition and increase hydration prior to being fed to reptiles, thus increasing their health and vitality.
Many common feeder insects can be used as food sources for pets, including cat food, prepared reptile foods, bee pollen and fruits and vegetables. Dubia roaches are especially great at digesting plant material other feeder insects cannot digest – providing your pet with access to vital nutrients otherwise unavailable to it. It’s best to stay away from foods which aren’t intended for consumption by reptiles as their gastrointestinal tract will likely clear these items before digesting by your reptile.
Crickets
Crickets are the ideal feeder insect for Leopard Geckos as they are readily available and inexpensive; their high protein content makes them highly attractive. Unfortunately, crickets may introduce bacteria or fungi into an enclosure, or nibble at geckos if not handled appropriately.
To address this problem, it is advised that your geckos be fed two appropriately-sized crickets per inch of body length at each meal, in order to help them digest insects quickly and reduce any digestive issues caused by overfeeding them. This will also prevent overeating from leading to digestive disorders.
Before feeding crickets to your reptile, it is recommended to gut load them to provide added vitamins and minerals not found within their food source. This step is especially essential if using them as part of leopard geckos diet; crickets have one of the worst calcium to phosphorus ratios among feeder insects which could potentially lead to metabolic bone disease if left uncorrected.
Superworms
Leopard geckos feed on an assortment of feeder insects in their natural environments, such as mealworms, morio worms, dubia roaches, crickets and locusts. Such foods provide leopard geckos with sufficient nutritional diversity; however, as many insects are deficient in calcium and vitamin A content they should first be gut-loaded with high quality diet before being offered as food to leopard geckos.
As superworms contain high fat contents and hard exoskeletons that may be difficult for leopard geckos to digest, these insects should only be fed on occasion; otherwise they could lead to metabolic bone disease if fed too regularly. Therefore, leopard geckos should only receive superworm meals every other day. To ensure optimal health of their bones and maintain an appropriate weight.
