Feeding Your Leopard Gecko

The Leopard Gecko is a carnivore. They eat only meat proteins in the form of insects or worms. The staple diet of this lizard includes but is not limited to: crickets, mealworms, silkworms, superworms, and roaches.

The size of the insects offered should always be smaller than the space between the reptile's eyes. This prevents injuries that can occur when trying to swallow something that is too large.

Always gut load your feeder insects. This means to provide them with highly nutritional food, either commercially prepared or your own mix, before you feed them to your lizard. The insects will also need to be dusted with a calcium supplement.

Also be sure to provide a piece of potato or fruit to keep the insects hydrated. A wet sponge also works well. Giving your reptile hungry or dehydrated insects can cause your pet to become lunch for the insects. They will bite and burrow into your lizard - and will blind them as they see the moist eyes as a source of water.

This makes it important to remove any leftover feeders as soon as your reptile is no longer interested in eating.

You may also leave calcium in a shallow dish for the geckos and they will lick it as they feel the need.

If you give your Leopard Gecko insects or worms that are hungry and dehydrated they will not be receiving the high level of nutrition they need for optimum health.

As a general rule, the larger and older a cricket is, the less nutritional content and more chitin it contains. Chitin is the hard outer shell that is not digestible.

Hatching Leopard Geckos do not eat for about the first three days. Their yolk sack is digested during this period. They will shed and defecate before they are ready for their first meal.

Be sure to have insects small enough for them to consume. Tiny crickets and the smallest mealworms are good starters.

There is some controversy about feeding pre-killed prey, but live prey allows the Geckos to actively seek and find their own food providing activity and stimulation.

Kat Magnus has been caring for geckos for over 25 years. Her newest book, "Gecko Care Made Easy," teaches Gecko owners absolutely everything they need to know about caring for their reptiles. http://www.reptilegecko.com/beb.html

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