Mealworms make an excellent food option for leopard geckos as they can be gut-loaded with different types of foods, and all feeder insects should be gut-loaded before being offered as snacks (unless they are freeze dried).
Bear in mind that mealworms kept at normal room temperatures will change into darkling beetles within three weeks.
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Waxworms
Waxworms, typically sold at fishing bait stores and some pet stores, provide geckos with essential nutrition. Rich in fat content and packed full of proteins, waxworms can serve as an energy-dense treat that also supplies important protein sources. Just be careful not to overfeed your leopard gecko with too many waxworms at one time as too many fat calories could lead to obesity; aim to offer no more than 2-3 waxworms at any one time.
Ideal, waxworms should only be offered as occasional treats to leo gecko reptiles, otherwise they may become addicted and refuse to consume anything else besides waxworms – this could result in them becoming overweight and lacking essential vitamins. In addition, waxworms are more difficult to gut load compared to crickets or dubia roaches; additionally it’s essential that they’re dusted with calcium powder prior to feeding them to your reptile!
BSFL
Leopard geckos are obligate insectivores with an affinity for insect-feeders such as feeder insects. Leopard geckos require certain levels of calcium and phosphorus in their diet in order to avoid developing bone thinning issues or soft bones, which would otherwise pose health issues for their skeleton.
Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL), an increasingly popular feeder insect for lizards, can provide them with essential protein, chitin and fat sources in both whole or ground form. Furthermore, these low-fat feeder insects offer superior weight management in comparison with crickets or mealworms – making BSFL an excellent option for reptiles needing to manage their weight more successfully.
BSFL have an advantage of having higher concentrations of calcium than crickets and mealworms, which could reduce the need to supplement feeder insects with vitamins or feed them vitamin-rich fruits such as mango or papaya. Unfortunately, recent research indicated leopard geckos fed exclusively BSFL experienced nutrient deficiencies like hypovitaminosis A due to poor calcium digestibility from whole BSFL food being digested by geckos.
Black Soldier Fly Larvae
Black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) is an ideal feeder insect for reptilian species and should be kept at room temperature, although to prolong its lifespan keep in a cool environment for best results. As they contain little chitin and possess an ideal Ca-P ratio they provide high protein sources with excellent Ca/P ratios that last weeks at room temperature without spoilage.
BSFs are well-known as highly efficient converters of organic waste to edible biomass that contains proteins, oils, lipids, peptides, amino acids, chitin and vitamins and minerals – an attractive alternative to conventional feed sources like fish meal or conventional pellet feed.
Studies have demonstrated that leopard geckos, Eublepharis macularius, can easily digest whole BSF without needing dusting or gut loading. One trial included 24 geckos fed either whole needle pierced BSF or whole non-gut loaded BSF for four months; those fed the whole BSF showed better overall health than their counterparts who consumed only needle pierced or no BSF at all.
Crickets
Crickets may not contain as many nutrients as superworms, but they still offer sufficient levels of protein and phosphorus. Furthermore, these insects are easily available at most pet stores and can easily be fed to leopard gecko fish tanks.
Before feeding them to your leo, crickets must first be gut-loaded by placing them in a container containing ample calcium powder or multivitamin powder – this will make them more nourishing and easier for their gecko to digest.
Keep a keen eye out for paler, recently-molted crickets as these will be easier for leopard geckos to digest. In nature, leopard geckos typically consume an array of feeder insects that meet all their nutritional requirements, so aim to provide as much natural variety in captivity as possible. Make sure every time you feed, to add some calcium supplements (Repashy Calcium Plus or ReptiVite are great choices) into their food source so they can absorb these important vitamins more readily from their diets.