ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How to Feed a Pet Leopard Gecko

Updated on April 18, 2013
Source

The Size of Prey

The size of prey that a leopard gecko can devour, depends on the size of the gecko. The size of the prey that one feed a pet leopard gecko should be no longer than the length and should be half the width of the leopard geckos head. Baby geckos should be fed small meal worms or small crickets. Mid-sized geckos should be fed large cricket, medium to large meal worms, and/or small to medium super worms. Adult geckos should be fed large crickets, large meal worms, large super worms, and/or pink mice (pink mice should only be offered to adult geckos no more than once per month due to the fact that pink mice are very fattening).

Leopard Gecko Diet Selection

There is a large variety of insects when it comes to feeding a leopard gecko.

  • Crickets

  • Wax worms

  • Meal worms

  • Super worms (adult geckos only)

  • Pink mice (adult geckos only)

The best diet for leopard geckos are the appropriate sized, commercially raised crickets and meal worms. Adult geckos can eat a more variety of foods which may include super worms and/or pink mice. He market today offers owners with a variety of dried and frozen meal options for leopard geckos. Most geckos need to be conditioned to eat dried and/or frozen prey. Some geckos take to these stagnant food options, others refuse to eat them (it all depends on the individual geckos food preference).

How to Prepare Leopard Gecko Food

Upon purchase of live leopard gecko food it is important to gut load crickets or meals worms prior to feeding a leopard gecko pet. To gut load live food for a leopard gecko, put the crickets, meal worms, etc in a plastic container and provide high quality food for the bugs to eat (before feeding them to a gecko). There are commercial cricket meals and gut load that are filled with vitamins and minerals that are essential for a leopard gecko to consume. One can also gut load gecko food by placing carrots, orange slices, and kale in the plastic container overnight with the gecko live gecko food (these foods will also provide necessary water to keep the bugs alive).

Vitamin and Mineral Supplementation

Leopard geckos are very tolerant creatures to do not require as much vitamin and mineral supplementation as other lizards do. One essential supplementation that leopard geckos do require is calcium. Minutes prior to feeding the pet leopard gecko, once should dust the food with calcium powder. Some breeders will tell an individual owner to keep a small dish of calcium in the enclosure at all times, while also dusting the food with calcium prior to feeding. Immature/baby geckos should be supplemented at every feeding, while adult geckos only need to be supplemented every other feeding (but it won't hurt them to dust the food in every feeding).

When and How to Feed a Leopard Gecko

Most lizards need to eat a wide variety of food everyday, leopard geckos are not as high maintenance as other reptiles/lizards. Leopard geckos only need to eat once a week (or biweekly at the least). A leopard can go a very long time without food, but to ensure the health of the pet leopard gecko one should feed the gecko several times each month, while offering the gecko a variety of food. A leopard gecko should be fed at least twice, preferably three or four, times per month. A baby leopard gecko should be fed everyday or every two days. Ideally, each time a leopard gecko is fed, it should be a different type of food (if one feeds the gecko crickets, the next time the gecko is fed one should offer meal worms, or super worms), but many owners have been successful in keeping leopard geckos healthy by only offering properly gut loaded and calcium dusted crickets and/or meal worms. The food provided to a leopard gecko should be placed in shallow ceramic dishes, an clean ashtray, plastic jars, or small plastic pet dishes. This will help prevent the meal worms and/or super worms from escaping into the enclosure and burrowing and hiding in the substrate. If crickets are fed to the leopard gecko placing them into a dish will help reduce the rate at which the crickets disperse into the enclosure.

Gecko eating superworms dusted with calcium in a small dish.
Gecko eating superworms dusted with calcium in a small dish. | Source

Watering a Leopard Gecko

A pet leopard gecko should have a filled water dish in the enclosure at all times. A leopard gecko needs to drink water on a daily basis just as any other living creature. Even though a leopard gecko can go a period of time without food and water, an owner should still provide clean water every few days. Water should be provided in a shallow container similar, but separate from the feeding dish. The water needs to be visible to the gecko, and the dish should be shallow enough so the gecko can drink out of it in the same manner as a dog or a cat would. Some say to remove the water dish after a few hours and offer water again in a day or two, but if the water stay in the enclosure at all times, it is very important to change the water every few days to prevent bacterial growth and fecal contamination for these things can cause infection and illness in the leopard gecko. All dishes in the enclosure should be cleaned and disinfected once a month (the same as cleaning and disinfecting the entire enclosure).

Source

Philippe de Vosjoli, Roger Klingenberg, Ron Tremper, and Brian Viets. The Leopard Gecko Manual. Irvine: Advanced Vivarium Systems, Inc. 2004. Print.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)