Leopard geckos feed on various insects and small animals for sustenance in the wild, providing their diets with enough variety to maintain good health. This approach ensures leopard gecko inhabitants remain happy.
Feeder insects such as crickets and Dubia roaches contain high concentrations of proteins, calcium and nutrients; gut loading them or dusting them with multivitamin powder prior to feeding is another useful strategy.
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Mealworms
Mealworms can be an essential food source for leopard geckos, but should not be the sole insect fed to them. Mealworms stink, jump around and chirp excessively while distracting your pet from eating, plus are high in fat content – eating too many mealworms will lead to weight gain as well as health complications like fatty liver disease and xanthomatosis in reptiles that ingest too many of these mealworms.
Mealworms may form part of your leopard gecko’s diet if fed sparingly and supplemented with vitamin powder. While mealworms provide protein for your leopard gecko, other insects such as crickets, Dubia roaches and different kinds of worms should also be offered.
Mealworms should be gut-loaded with vitamin powder before being fed to your leopard gecko for maximum nutritional benefit, especially after visiting a veterinarian and having any vitamin deficiency issues. This step should also apply if your leopard gecko exhibits signs of vitamin deficiency after visiting a vet clinic.
Waxworms
Leopard geckos in their natural environment feed on various animals; for optimal health, their diet should consist of an assortment of insects to provide a well-balanced meal.
Waxworms may be given as treats but should not become part of a regular diet as they contain too much fat and lack essential vitamins and minerals. Too often feedings of waxworms could cause your geckos to become accustomed to them and stop accepting other feeder insects altogether.
Giant mealworms and superworms are an ideal source of nutrition as they contain less fat and have a reduced chitin shell thickness – sometimes referred to as King and Morio Worms.
Hornworms
Hornworms may make for an excellent treat, but should not make up the mainstay of their diet. Unfortunately, these insects contain too little protein and too much fat; thus they should only be offered occasionally as snacks.
Hornworms should only be offered occasionally and given by dealers who guarantee they do not contain toxins derived from tomato and tobacco plants, to avoid creating an addiction in your gecko.
To provide geckos with food, the best method is using small bowls that cannot be easily escaped from, lightly dusted with calcium powder and with small holes so the worms do not escape. Any insect with luminescent markings is toxic to them.
Silkworms
Leopard geckos are often promoted as ideal starter lizards for new reptile owners, leading many people to believe all it takes to keep one is providing adequate heat and some vitamin-enriched crickets. Unfortunately, however, this kind of diet won’t give your pet a full life experience and could actually result in premature death rather than providing it with what it needs for optimal living.
Feeder insects should ideally be gut-loaded for 12-24 hours before giving them to your leopard gecko pet, to ensure they contain plenty of essential vitamins and minerals. Doing this also helps combat obesity – which is often an issue among leopard geckos.
Grasshoppers
Leopard Geckos are adept hunters that will consume a wide range of insects and invertebrates in the wild, although they cannot digest plant matter due to being predominantly insectivores.
Leopard Gecko diets contain grasshoppers as a staple food source, providing great protein, fiber, fat and mineral benefits at a relatively inexpensive and easily accessible cost.
Leopard Geckos often rely on Dubia roaches as insect feeders. With high protein and moderate fat contents as well as an ideal calcium to phosphorus ratio, Dubias are nutritionally well-rounded feeders. To maximize their nutritional value, these insects can be coated in calcium powder or gut-loaded with supplements before being fed to further increase their nutritional value.
Feed your Leopard Gecko a variety of insects with various fat levels for optimal nutrition, taking care not to overfeed as this may lead to regurgitation and lethargy.
