Sometimes when your Leopard gecko becomes sick or injured, it may need to be forced-fed with a mixture of chicken or turkey baby food mixed with crushed feeder insects coated in calcium powder and vitamin supplement. Diluting it with pedialyte helps thin out and rehydrate it to provide enough nutrition.
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Feeder Insects
Leopard geckos are insectivores, so their jaws don’t provide adequate tools for chewing and pre-digesting plant-based foods like fruit. Without teeth to do the job properly, eating fruit may also increase their risk of metabolic bone disease which kills more pet reptiles than most owners realize.
Wild leopard geckos obtain the necessary calcium and phosphorus from insects they consume; captive leopard geckos require additional supplements. Feeder insects provide an ideal option as they can be gut loaded with calcium powder and coated with vitamins to provide captive geckos with all the nutrients they require without overeating and leading to digestive issues.
Feeder insect options for gecko feeders include dubia roaches, butterworms, hornworms, crickets and wax worms – these can all be mixed together and fed to him directly as liquid food slurries to encourage him to eat more! You could even provide baby food as nutritional support and aid rehydration of an injured or sick gecko.
Calcium Powder
Leopard geckos in both captivity and the wild require a calcium:phosphorus ratio of 2:1 or greater in their diets; unfortunately, most captive diets contain only low levels of calcium relative to high phosphorus content, so gecko owners will require supplementation to achieve this ratio.
Supplements come in both powder and liquid formulations that can be dusting on insects or fed directly into geckos using a syringe. Cuttlebones (sometimes known as sepia bones) provide additional calcium sources which can either be crushed and added directly into their diet or used as water dishes for them.
If your leopard gecko suddenly stops eating, they could be suffering from metabolic bone disease (MBD). Signs of MBD include loss of appetite, deformed legs or tails, limited jaw flexibility or no jaw movement at all. Preventative measures can include providing appropriate supplements and maintaining an ideal habitat.
Vitamins
Leopard geckos can be very picky eaters. If they seem disoriented or something changes in their environment, they may stop eating altogether. If this occurs, take them to your veterinarian immediately so a proper diagnosis can be given; it could simply be something as minor as moving the tank or it could even be something more serious such as fatty liver disease (caused by eating too many high fat diets) or another illness affecting them.
Leopard geckos don’t consume fruit for several reasons: insectivores do not possess the digestive tract needed to process plant matter properly, while high sugar intake could result in diabetes or cause other health complications.
Baby food can provide leopard geckos with a supplemented liquid meal, though this should only be done under veterinary guidance as it can be difficult to safely place insects into their mouth. Furthermore, certain varieties of baby food contain too much sugar content which could potentially pose problems.
Water
If your leopard gecko stops eating, it could be an indicator of serious health issues. Please refer to our article on reptile appetite loss for further insight.
Most leopard geckos will stop eating for several days before shedding, which is quite natural and expected. Once their skin has been shed they’ll resume eating as normal.
Leopard geckos do not eat fruits and vegetables because they are insectivores that lack the organs necessary for digesting plant matter, including fruits and vegetables. In addition, leopard geckos don’t possess a caecum (or cecum), like most herbivorous and omnivorous reptiles that helps them break down undigested food into digestible forms in order to digest plants such as fruit.
Fresh water for your leopard gecko is absolutely essential, as dehydration can compromise its digestion and lead to malnutrition. Regular fecal float tests for parasites is also beneficial, with Cryptosporidium needing special testing available only from veterinarian clinics.
