Hemidactylus frenatus, commonly known as the common house gecko, is a tropical reptile which has successfully established breeding populations throughout warm climates around the globe. They are diurnal but tend to hunt insects at night.
House geckos are insectivores, eating insects like grasshoppers, moths, flies, roaches and mealworms as a diet staple. Offering crickets as treats is one way to provide additional vitamins and minerals.
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Crickets
House geckos are insectivores, feeding on insects like crickets, mealworms, waxworms and roaches. When feeding prey ensure it is smaller than the width of your gecko’s head to avoid choking; crickets and other insects should also be gut loaded and dusted with calcium powder prior to being offered for feeding to your gecko.
Your local pet store and online vendors offer a variety of crickets for purchase, making sure that these gut loaded crickets can provide your crested gecko with proper nutrition. Worms and other feeder insects should also be purchased if possible for feeding purposes.
Mealworms
House geckos are insectivores, and should be fed a variety of live insects small enough not to choke. While geckos can also be fed prepared diets, this should never become their sole source of nutrition.
Common foods for your cockatiels to feed on include crickets, mealworms, waxworms, fruit flies and beetle/moth larvae. All feeder insects should be gut loaded with an appropriate vitamin supplement powder (we suggest Repashy Calcium Plus LoD) before being fed to them.
Feed young and adult geckos three to four times each week with four or five appropriately-sized insects in each meal, and provide them with access to water each day in their water dish.
Waxworms
Waxworms provide your gecko with an abundant source of fats, making them an excellent treat. As part of their regular afternoon or evening snack routine, offering these treats could be ideal.
Waxworms share similar calcium/phosphorus ratios as crickets and mealworms. A diet rich in waxworms may lead to Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD), in which calcium is drawn out of bones by the body leading to weakening skeletal structures and organ failure.
To avoid MBD, dust your waxworms with calcium powder before feeding them to your leopard gecko. This can easily be accomplished by placing the insects into a container with some powder and shaking.
Silkworms
House geckos are one of the world’s most beloved pet reptiles. Easy to care for and adapt well to indoor environments, these graceful lizards have proven themselves an enduring favourite pet choice.
These fish are insectivores and feed on insects such as crickets, mealworms, waxworms, silkworms, fruit flies, cockroaches and the occasional bug or worm. Before feeding insects to your aquatic friends make sure that they are gut loaded to ensure additional nutrient benefits are gained from each feeding session.
Before every feeding, dust the feeders with calcium and multivitamin powder (we recommend Repashy) to ensure your house gecko gets the maximum benefit out of their diet. Also provide clean fresh water in a shallow dish for them, misting their enclosure daily to maintain humidity levels.
Fruits
House geckos are a familiar sight in homes and natural habitats alike, often found clinging to dark corners of walls or surfaces for warmth. Ectothermic in nature, house geckos utilize various behavioral thermoregulation strategies to maintain optimal body temperatures – making them extremely hardy creatures that often remain hidden until disturbed by humans or other predators.
In the wild, they hunt by slowly creeping up to their prey and pouncing – sometimes at porch lights – thus helping control wild insect populations. Florida was introduced to these hunters back in 1915.
These lizards are true insectivores, preferring insects over plant-based foods. To provide their diet with enough protein, feed crickets, waxworms, mealworms, roaches and silkworms on a three to four times weekly basis.
Vegetables
Pet geckos may be popular choice as pets; leopard and crested varieties in particular have long been known to be insectivores while others can be frugivorous omnivores. Both types will enjoy eating vegetables and fruits that contain high concentrations of calcium to phosphorus such as papaya, figs and raspberries.
However, most wild geckos feed primarily on insects; many land in homes and other buildings during the day to look for such creatures as moths, flies and cockroaches that are attracted by light sources like lightbulbs. Fruit and fungi may also form part of their diet.
