One of the most important factors in the health and well being of your Leopard Gecko is a healthy diet. Leopard Geckos are insectivores, they prey on insects, such as spiders, moths, mosquitoes, and worms.
Adult geckos can be fed live prey every other day while baby leopard geckos should be fed daily. This is not always the case, but it is a pretty good rule of thumb.
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| Eublepharis macularius1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
You can also feed your gecko crickets, but when giving a gecko crickets as prey, you need to make sure that you use crickets that are small enough for your gecko to hunt.
Two appropriately sized mealworms for each inch of the geckos length is a good amount. but you can treat your pet to waxworms or superworms once a week. Although some geckos have been known to have a sweet tooth and enjoy eating fresh fruit or even honey. They should be given live insects that are small enough for the gecko to deal with.
You can feed your gecko anywhere from 4 to 8 crickets at one time, depending on the size of your gecko and the size of the crickets. If the crickets aren't eaten within a couple of hours they should be removed and used for the next feeding, so that they don't cause your gecko any unnecessary stress. It is normal for geckos to eat the skin that they shed, so they may not always need the same amount of food for each feeding.
Super-worms, mealworms or anything else that can be contained in a dish can be left within the cage without putting the gecko in any danger.
If you wish, as a treat you can offer your adult gecko an occasional tiny pinkie mouse. One that is only a few days old will be little enough for a fully grown gecko to manage. In fact, pinkie mice are a wonderful choice to offer breeding females.
Wax-worms are also a good treat for your gecko however, because wax-worms can become additive for geckos, they should only be given sparingly. Even though geckos love wax-worms, they are very fattening and generally unhealthy for geckos.
The prey that you offer your pet should be no larger than half the width of your gecko's head, this will ensure that your gecko doesn't choke on it.
The skin that the gecko sheds, and then eats, does help to provide them with protein and other healthy nutrients.
One of the best ways of keeping your leopard gecko healthy in regards to feeding it, is to gut-load your geckos prey 24 hours prior to feeding it to them. Gut-loading is feeding the crickets or other insects a highly nutritious, high quality meal prior to feeding them to your gecko.
Offering your gecko a healthier insect in turn makes a healthier gecko. You can buy a feed the insects things like chick or hog mash, fruits, vegetables and grains. They also make and sell products that come in a powdered form and can be fed to the prey. Along with gut-loading, you can offer your gecko calcium and vitamin supplements by sprinkling the prey with powdered supplements prior to feeding them to your gecko.
Calcium and vitamins supplements are very important to the overall health of your leopard gecko. Dusting the prey does run the slight risk of the cricket cleaning it off or even getting the dust in your geckos eyes. So, gut-loading and leaving the powder in a lid might be best.
Dusting is also a good way to enrich the diet of baby leopard geckos and breeding females.
Water should also be given to your gecko and kept fresh at all times. Stagnant water is a breeding ground for bacteria which can lead to illness in your gecko so the water should be changed frequently.
Debbie Miller is a pet lover and leopard gecko expert. Article Source: EzineArticles |
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