Feeding

When it comes to feeding Leopard Geckos, one word must be kept in mind 'Variety!'. As owners we must strive to provide our geckos with a variety of feeder insects - though understandably that can be difficult at times.

I'm sure in the wild Leopard Geckos would predate upon a range of prey such as beetles, grub, roaches and even smaller lizards! Now first things first, we don't want to be offering small lizards to our geckos - that's just mean! And another big reason you don't house baby leopard geckos with adults, it will all go terribly wrong.

There are a range of feeder insects readily available for our geckos such as crickets, locusts, mealworms, morioworms, wax worms, calci worms, hornworms, dubia roaches, silk worms, and much much more! Personally I only have experience with a few of these prey animals, here's a video I did on how much and how often you should offer these to your geckos:

Crickets

I’ve used crickets the longest and the geckos seem to enjoy them, partly due to the taste but also due to the thrill of the hunt. Crickets tend to be high in protein, low in fat and have a rather good calcium:phosphorus ratio, which is very important. They do however have a bit of a bad reputation for smelling bad, and being noisy. Both points are somewhat true. However you can buy ‘silent crickets’, which tend to stay that way until they get fairly big, and the males develop their wings. The smell can also be a little bit disturbing, but if you keep their tank clean and remove old food often, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem. I tend to have to buy new crickets monthly.

Mealworms

For the last two or three years I have introduced mealworms into my geckos’ diets. These seem to be the most commonly fed feeder insect since most people put a few in a bowl and leave them in their gecko’s tank - simple! However mealworms on their own aren’t particularly healthy. They’re lower in protein than crickets, and much higher in fat. Their calcium:phosphorus ratio is a little off too. Overall I believe these should be offered as part of a varied diet, and not alone! One thing you’ll find when you buy a small box of mealworms is that they pupate really quickly, meaning you’ll soon be overrun with Darkling Beetles. But do not fear - I have found that the pupae can be fed to both Leopard and Crested Geckos, or you can let them hatch out and you’ll have a breeding colony of Darkling Beetles, meaning lots of free mealworms in the future!

 


Wax Worms

Most Leopard Geckos will go absolutely crazy for wax worms because they’re basically like sweets/candy for geckos. They have less protein and more fat than both mealworms and crickets. Therefore they should only be given as a treat. The way I do it is offer my geckos 2-3 waxworms, every 2-3 weeks. Pretty easy to remember! Wax worms eventually turn into Wax Moths. I have been in a scenario where a wax moth has flown out of the pot of wax worms, and into a gecko’s tank! My gecko jumped pretty high and caught it. In general though, I tend to release the wax moths outside, rather than feeding them to my geckos.

Dubia Roaches

These roaches are pretty popular at the moment, everyone in the reptile community seems to be recommending them, and for good reason - they seem to be extremely healthy. So I jumped on the bandwagon and bought a small colony of Dubia Roaches. I intended on breeding them, and feeding the nymphs to my geckos. Everyone said that they breed extremely fast, they don’t smell and the animals will go crazy for them. Unfortunately for me, they didn’t produce any new nymphs (after I had them for nearly a year), they smelt like wet dog, and only one Leopard Gecko was somewhat interested in them - though he wasn’t overly enthusiastic. Maybe I just had some bad luck with my roaches. Personally I would recommend trying them out for yourselves before ruling them out.

 

Calci Worms

These are sometimes also known as Phoenix worms. Their calcium:phosphorus ratio is pretty much ideal. They’re quite low in protein, and really low in fat, but generally people will agree, they’re pretty healthy. I’ve only tried them once, though I plan on buying some more and trying again in the near future. When I first got them I was pretty surprised at how small they were! They were so small I don’t think either my Leopard Geckos or Crested Geckos realised they had bitten anything. The other downside I found is that they turn into Black Soldier Flies, which are a bit of a pain when you’re opening up the tub of calci worms, and they fly out! Anyway, I am sure these make a great addition to a gecko’s diet, I just need more experience with them before I can really tell you their pros and cons.

Morio Worms

Morio worms should only be given to your Leopard Gecko occasionally. They are certainly not the healthiest of foods. I offer 3 per feeding, and they are part of a varied diet. So my Geckos usually get them once a fortnight. 

Gut Loading

Definition: "Gut loading is the process by which an animal's prey is raised and fed nutritious foods with the intention of passing those nutrients to the animal for which the prey is intended." This unfortunately is overlooked quite often, but to optimize the health of your gecko, you will want to make sure their prey is well fed. Personally I offer a range of fruit and vegetable scraps, bug gel (for extra hydration) as well as using Insect Fuel by Arcadia.

Make sure that you dust your feeder insects with the appropriate supplements. For more information about supplements, click here!