Geckos require various feeder insects such as crickets, worms and superworms for proper nutrition.
Smaller superworms may bite, so close supervision is recommended. Furthermore, these worms contain high amounts of phosphorus which can contribute to metabolic bone disease in leopard geckos.
These insects require additional care, as they’re noisy and inclined to run away. You can provide them with food sources (like salad), and dust them with calcium powder for enhanced nutritional value.
Contents
Crickets
Crickets are a reliable feeder insect available at most pet stores, providing active insects with high food-to-shell ratios and ample nutrition. Unfortunately, however, crickets do come with some drawbacks such as biting potential and dying rapidly within an enclosure; additionally, they must be gut-loaded with mineral supplements before feeding to them.
Leopard geckos typically feed on crickets, earthworms, dubia roaches, waxworms and hornworms as their primary food. You can also offer other feeder insects like giant mealworms and black soldier fly larvae (BSFL); simply make sure all feeder insects are dusted with vitamin powder prior to feeding to your gecko! Occasionally larger adult geckos will consume newborn rodents known as pinkies.
Mealworms
Mealworms are an extremely popular feeder insect and packed with protein and other essential nutrients for leopard geckos’ diets. Mealworms offer your leopard gecko an essential source of nourishment!
Contrary to crickets, they contain less chitin (a fibrous material). This makes them easier for your reptile to digest while providing a higher calcium-to-phosphorus ratio and being gentler on its stomach than crickets.
Mealworms are easy to breed and keep, making them a delicious part of your gecko’s diet. Just remember to regularly clean and sterilize their container to avoid disease or contamination.
Mealworms, members of the Tenebrio Molitor beetle family, begin life as nearly undetectable whitish eggs which hatch into larvae that are rich in proteins and fats.
Waxworms
Leopard geckos are insectivores, so the staple diet for them should consist primarily of live insects like crickets or mealworms; for added variety you could try offering other items like flies or waxworms as well.
These insects provide your gecko with quick bursts of protein and fat, and don’t contain as much chitin, meaning you can safely feed them without risk of impaction. Plus, their long lifespan makes keeping enough for their needs easier than other feeder insects!
Feed these to your gecko in a bowl so they do not become too large, and remember to dust all feeder insects with calcium powder to prevent metabolic bone disease. Furthermore, make sure to gut load with healthy fruits and vegetables 24 hours before feeding to maximize nutritional value.
Dubia Roaches
Dubia roaches make an excellent alternative to crickets for feeding leopard geckos, offering more nutrients per insect while still being low-fat and having reduced risks of metabolic bone disease (gout) when gut loaded and dusted with top quality supplements prior to feeding them to your leo.
Less odorous than crickets, mealworms are easily fed in shared rooms without fear of them escaping and infiltrating your home. Plus they digest easily, can be gut loaded for nutrition with reduced risk of impaction and can even be dusted with powders such as calcium to prevent deficiencies.
Superworms
Superworms make delicious treats for Leopard Geckos, but aren’t nutritionally dense enough to serve as a main part of their diet. In fact, their high fat content could lead to obesity if overfed – similar to crickets they should be gut-loaded (with nutritious veggies and grains like oats, sweet potatoes, and carrots) before feeding to prevent obesity from setting in.
Another drawback of these feeders is their high fatty content and large size, along with hard exoskeletons that may make it hard for geckos to consume them. Furthermore, baby and juvenile geckos may struggle with eating such large-size worms; therefore BSFL feeders would make more suitable options as they allow the gecko to wriggle more freely when exposed to cool temperatures.
