Geckos come in all shapes, sizes and colors but all feed on similar things: insects such as crickets and cockroaches in their natural environments.
Oakland Zoo provides geckos with a diet consisting of nightcrawlers, Dubia roaches and hornworms to satisfy their need for insect-based sustenance as insectivores like these reptiles are important food sources.
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Insects
Geckos are opportunistic carnivores that feed on various insects in the wild. While their main diet consists of crickets and Dubia roaches, they’ve been known to feast upon other feeder insects including hornworms, waxworms, mealworms and feeder insects as well as even smaller geckos or baby mice!
Your leopard or African fat-tailed gecko should be given crickets, worms, grubs, moths, waxworms and fruit flies every two to four days in captivity; pinkie mice (infant mice) can also be given as treats every now and then.
Feed your gecko a variety of food items in order to prevent metabolic bone disease and other ailments caused by an inadequate diet. Fruit and vegetables may supplement their meal, though be mindful when giving these as certain kinds of vegetables contain high amounts of oxalates that prevent your gecko from digesting certain essential vitamins.
Meat
Geckos come in various species and sizes, but all share one trait in common: their diet is comprised of insects. Although some might find these creatures repulsive, insects provide geckos with essential protein-rich food sources.
Leopard geckos and other insectivores must be fed a varied diet consisting of superworms, waxworms, crickets, roaches, mealworms, fruit flies and earthworms in order to remain full. Feed them every two to four days; though babies under four inches should not receive mealworms due to too much chitin content that makes digesting mealworms difficult for their small digestive systems.
Leopard geckos, being insectivores, should never consume anything other than insects. Vegetables don’t break down easily in their digestive systems and produce additional acidity which causes long-term health issues as they don’t contain bacteria needed for digesting them properly.
Fruit
Leopard geckos are insectivores and should only receive meat on very rare occasions – for instance if sick, obese, or about to enter breeding season. Hatchlings and juveniles should consume mostly insects but can occasionally have fruits added into their diet as well.
Frugivorous and omnivorous geckos should be offered meats, eggs, fruit, vegetables and sweets occasionally or regularly as these food sources form part of their natural diet in the wild.
Fruits may contain too much sugar for their own good and posing a health risk to lizards; therefore they should only be offered occasionally (if at all). Furthermore, vegetables contain inadequate calcium-to-phosphorus ratios as well as potentially toxic elements such as oxalic acid, goitrogens and tannins which could pose potential hazards to their wellbeing.
Vegetables
Geckos in the wild tend to either be strictly insectivores or frugivorous omnivores. Omnivorous geckos have been observed consuming rice, eggs, fruits, plants, garlic sauce, chocolate cake cream and an alcoholic tropical beverage – though most lack essential nutrition for reptiles. Furthermore, many vegetables contain high concentrations of oxalic acid that binds calcium and forms kidney stones; nitrates which lead to metabolic bone disease; or goitrogens which affect iodine levels.
As such, new gecko owners should offer their pets live insects that have been gut-loaded to boost the nutritional value of each bug, and avoid feeding their gecko pellet foods which don’t stimulate its natural urge to hunt. Furthermore, owners should provide fruits and vegetables at least three times weekly in order to encourage healthy and robust body development – as well as dust them with calcium, phosphorus, and potassium supplements for extra boost!
