You can keep a leopard gecko without much fuss as these are comparatively low maintenance pet. Also they need to feed four or five times a week thus it will not cost as much.
You can own a leopard gecko without much problem as they are pretty much easily available in pet shops. So bring home a new gecko and befriend it.
Contents
How much do Leopard Geckos eat?
Regarding feeding, this little cute pet reptile is greedy and it will keep eating as long as you are offering it some live insects and worms. But do not overfeed it, as that may make it ill. Also do not feed them wrong kind of food as that can cause severe health issue.
What are the best foods for leopard gecko?
As reported by the vets and experienced leopard gecko owners, live wiggling mealworms and cricket are the favorite food of leopard geckos. From the other varieties, you can feed it waxworm, butterworm, silkworm, beetles, sowbug, cockroaches or tomato hornworms.
Can a leopard gecko eat any kind of food?
You can give it worms which are live, but do not try to feed it dead worms under any circumstance. Also leopard gecko should never eat dried insect or any fruits and vegetables.
What should be the size of insects that are fed to leopard gecko?
The insects that the baby leopard gecko will eat should be three eighth of one inch. You cannot feed it any insect that is larger than this predicted size. It should not get choked by eating the live insect or worm.
For the adult ones, you can feed live cricket, but the insect should never be any bigger than the empty space between the eyes of the leopard gecko.
How many times a leopard gecko should eat?
You can feed your baby or juvenile gecko every day. If the gecko is not eating well, then you should keep a dish with worms in its cage, so it can eat any time it wishes.
The food is limited as you should give it two insects per inch of the body area.
As leopard geckos hunt in wild in the evening, you should give it the food at that time only. It can be after evening has set down.
What should not be fed to leopard gecko?
As leopard geckos are non-vegetarian, you should never feed them with fruits or vegetables. They will not be able to digest any fruit or vegetable as their digestion system will not be able to consume the fibers present in fruits and vegetables.
The digestive tract is much shorter in them and the excretion that exerts from their digestive system is alkaline, but to digest fruit or vegetable and acidic juice should be secreted.
Their jaw is made in such a way that they can easily eat meat but herbivorous creatures have stronger and wider jaw.
Feeding Guide:
Can leopard geckos get obese?
Do not over feed your leopard gecko. They originally belong to the dry region of South Eastern part of Asia, where they get scanty food. So they can process the daily food and store some part of it. For this reason they eat food in excess amount when available but store it on their tail part, in form of fat.
When they are in wild, this system helps them to survive. But when you keep them as pets, this fat stored in their tail can make them obese, though the body part looks the same.
Can leopard geckos eat earthworms?
Leopard geckos eat various kinds of worms, though there are certain kinds which are not suitable for them. However, earthworms are suited to the digestion of leopard gecko. They love these wiggling worms.
However, you can provide them with this worm, but do not make it a part of their staple diet. This is due to the ingredients present in the body of an earthworm. 83% of body of earthworm is made with moisture, which does not contribute to any nutritional value of the gecko.
Another reason of feeding earthworm sparsely to the leopard gecko is, this worm can contain parasites sometimes. Earthworms are wild in nature and they consume whole lots of organic matter. The items can vary from parasites to molds to fungus and bacteria. The soil in which they grow on can be the source of their food. So if you plan to feed your gecko with some live earthworms, it is better to get them from pet shops where the worms are bred professionally.
As we have already mentioned, you should not offer earthworm regularly or repeatedly to your gecko. For the gecko, the meal should be different, or it will get bored of eating the same kind of food. So offering earthworm once in a month is good idea, if you wish to feed it at all.
If possible try to powder the earthworm with calcium powder, which should be a part of every meal of the leopard gecko. The D3 supplement along with calcium makes the bone structure of the leopard gecko strong, so you can add it in every meal.
Can leopard geckos eat night crawlers?
Leopard geckos are the heartiest foodie. You give them food, and they will be excited anytime. They love to eat and then sleep. Regarding food choice, they prefer to stay insectivorous.
That does not mean that you can feed it with any object that can be called an insect. If you keep some random crawling or flying objects before the leopard gecko, it may not touch them. So you can say they are quite choosy in matter of food.
For leopard geckos night crawlers are safe choice, as there are plenty of other safe choices of warms. These insects are pretty nutritious so you can offer them for a change in the platter. But there are certain leopard geckos those do not like to eat night crawlers. There is certain smell or flavor about this insect which is not commonly liked by the geckos.
However, if you want to experiment with the food of your leopard gecko, you can offer it night crawlers. But the insect must be given in chopped way. Do not offer nightcrawler in whole as that is not safe for your leopard gecko.
If you wish to add variety to their dish, do offer it nightcrawlers, but not more than twice a month. You need to give it other feeders and make the balance right.
Getting nightcrawlers from your lawn is not a good idea. Some pet owners may find it exciting to catch some night crawlers themselves and feeding them to the leopard gecko. But you must be aware of the fact that the nightcrawlers lying in your garden may contain parasites. Consuming them can be fatal for your leopard gecko. Other than that, it also can contain pesticides or fertilizers which you may have used in the garden. All these are poisonous chemicals and can make your gecko sick.
So if you are planning to get nightcrawlers to offer to your pet, you must get it from pet show, where you will get varieties of different worms. Also nightcrawlers are available with bait stores, as this insect also comes handy when it comes to fishing.
Can leopard geckos eat ants?
Ants are not exactly the right option for geckos. As for the matter, leopard geckos are not supposed to eat anything that is dead. So you cannot offer them dead ants. In case of live ants, they are quite poisonous and can bite or injure the leopard gecko.
Now there can be some confusion. How can ant, such a small insect can harm a leopard gecko, which are much bigger in size? The answer to this confusion is, one single ant cannot make much difference to the existence of the leopard gecko.
But you will not provide your leopard gecko with one single ant. Ants are usually social insect by nature, and together, they can kill and consume much larger creatures than themselves. This can be severe if your gecko goes near any ant hill or ant habitats residing at the lawn or backyard. You must be alert of not getting the leopard gecko be in touch with any such kind of nuisance.
If you find that the leopard gecko has eaten any stray ant, then make sure from where it has got hold of it. If the gecko found the ant while roaming on the backyard, then it is not very frightening. But if the gecko has found the ant on its own vivarium, then it can be surely a risky affair.
Ants can find the feeders of geckos tasty and if they once get hold of it, they will start visiting the vivarium regularly and in groups. So first thing you should do about finding the ant in the vivarium is, replacing the leopard gecko to another vivarium.
If you find more than once ants moving near the pet leopard gecko, then you must take the leopard gecko to the vet to see what damage is done to it.
If you are not sure about taking it to the vet, wait for 6 to 8 hours to see any kind of symptom found in the leopard gecko. If it has consumed a few ants, it may cause some problem in its digestive or respiratory system.
Can leopard geckos eat spiders?
Different kinds of lizards usually eat spiders. In fact house lizards often keep the number of spiders in control in our household. When it comes to leopard gecko, which is a different species of lizard, then there is debate regarding feeding it with spiders.
According to some pet owners, leopard gecko can eat spiders. They love to give it a chase as spiders often run before getting eaten. As leopard gecko is a hunting reptile, they love to hunt for it before consuming it.
Keeping geckos at home also keeps the number of spiders less, as leopard geckos also eat the food of the spiders, thus decreasing the chance of breeding of spiders. However, that does not mean you can catch a spider moving around your house and feed it to your leopard gecko.
The insects that you wish to feed must be safe for your pet. When you are feeding it any random spider, you may be sure that it is not of poisonous breed, as most of the spiders in our household are not, but are you sure that it is not carrying any kind of parasites? Spiders that are moving around may have parasite or any other kind of germs in their body. It may contaminate the digestive system of your spider and damage it severely.
So we suggest staying away from feeding the random spider to your leopard gecko. if you wish to feed it one, go check the pet store in your locality.
Can leopard geckos eat grasshoppers?
Grasshoppers are so far has been declared as safe feeding item for grasshoppers. No variety of grasshoppers is yet found harmful or poisonous for leopard gecko. You can get good quality and well bred grasshoppers to feed your pet.
However, grasshoppers, like any insects, are lacking in calcium. When you decide to feed the leopard gecko with grasshoppers, you must gut load them with calcium and D3 powder.
There can be another kind of problem when you try to feed grasshopper to your pet leopard gecko. Sometimes the grasshoppers are large in size to be fitted into the mouth of the leopard gecko. Especially when it is a baby leopard gecko, the large sized grasshopper may choke it. As we have mentioned earlier, you must maintain the size of insect proportionately with the size of the leopard gecko.
According to some pet owners, grasshoppers are not good choice for the diet of leopard gecko as it contains mandibles. Innards of the gecko can get hurt by the mandibles and that can cause cut or damage in stomach.
If you are planning to get grasshoppers to feed the leopard gecko and the grasshopper has eaten something unusual then it can affect the gecko as well. So you should be cautious about feeding such super worms to your leopard gecko, especially if these are small in size.
The ratio of the grasshopper should match the proportion of the body of the leopard gecko. Usual leopard geckos are 7 to 8 inches and grasshoppers are sometimes 2 inches or more in length. If the size is too big for the gecko, then it may not be interested in eating the grasshopper, even if you offer it within its cage.
Can leopard geckos eat crickets?
Crickets are so far considered one of the ideal meal items for leopard gecko. When you feed the baby leopard gecko, you can provide it with at least 5 small crickets. But be cautious if the crickets fit the mouth of the gecko. If the gecko is too young then you can give it the cricket when it increases in size.
A matured leopard gecko can have 10 to 12 crickets a day. They love the taste of this insect and also this insect, if gut loaded with calcium and D3 powder, offers good nutrition to them. If you find large crickets, then the number should be within 7.
However, there are various types of crickets available. The ones that you get from the pet store are always safe option for the leopard gecko. But there are other kinds like the spider cricket which are wild. You or your gecko may find them in the yard. Do not feed this kind of stray insects to your gecko, nor encourage the gecko to eat such insects. These can be poisonous and cause some harm to your leopard gecko.
For the hatchlings of leopard gecko, you can arrange for the smallest crickets which are 3/8 inch in size. After 2 months when the geckos become juvenile you can feed them with ¼ inch crickets. For the matured geckos, large sized crickets are fine as those will fit their mouth easily.
Gut loaded crickets are the best and favorite option for feeding to the geckos. When the crickets are fed with necessary vitamins that are needed by the leopard gecko, then it becomes a gut loaded one. Cricket is one staple diet option for the leopard gecko.
You should keep the crickets in some feeder, or let them loose in the cage. Leopard geckos are hunting reptile and they will love to chase their food before consuming it. This also gives them due excitement that they enjoy in the wildness.
Also Read:
Can leopard geckos eat moths?
Moth is another safe diet option for leopard geckos, as has been reported by the vets and pet owners. You can add moths in the dishes of leopard gecko. Moths are somehow nutritious but you should powder them with calcium powder to ensure that it gets ample calcium with every meal.
Moths are pretty interesting for the leopard geckos as they flutter and that is how they excite the leopard geckos to hunt them down. Usually moths do not contain any kind of toxicity so there will be no harm caused by moths to your pet.
Some pet owners assure that moths have become a great way of exciting their otherwise lazy leopard geckos. The prior reason is that, they do not crawl on the floor like worms, which are easy to catch and eat. They flutter and that is how they are difficult to get hold of. If you own a lazy leopard gecko, surely try some moths with it to see how active it becomes.
The problem of feeding moth to the leopard gecko is that, they are not available in many pet stores. You can try to get some good quality insects which will be mite and parasite free, as wild moths can get your gecko infected after consumption.
Other than the regular version of moths, there are wax moths, which are the mature version of wax worms. This one is rather easily available, or else you can get some wax worms home and let them become the wax moths with time. These are safe for the leopard gecko as these will be bred inside your home and will be parasite or mite free.
As moths fly inside the cage, you should be cautious that the gecko does not hurt itself by trying to chase it. Usually the leopard geckos have a fatty tail and it weighs them down when they try to jump high. In the process of catching a flying insect they can get hurt or fall on the floor. You should be watchful while feeding it moths, and take care of the gecko immediately if you find it falling accidentally.
Can leopard geckos eat waxworms?
Among various species of worms, waxworm is one favorite species of leopard geckos. These are tasty, soft and juicy. They are easy to get and also easy to catch and consume. They are used to increase the fat part in the body of the leopard gecko.
The waxworms are much useful when it comes to the make a sickening leopard gecko healthy. It helps to regain the fat and also increases the weight. You can put some calcium powder on the insect to make it the ideal meal for your leopard gecko.
For the betterment of underweight gecko, you can feed this worm. But do not forget to dust it with the coating of calcium and D3 powder. It will help the gecko to regain the normal healthy body and also the tail fat will increase.
As we have mentioned, that waxworms are juicy and easy catch, feeding it regularly can spoil your leopard gecko. There is high chance that after continuous feeding with waxworm for 3 or more days, your leopard gecko will refuse to eat any other kind of insects. But you can use these worms while you will be hand feeding it, as that will increase the bonding between you and your pet. Because this is a tasty treat, the gecko will surely take the food from your hand.
Feeding waxworm has its cons too. It can make your gecko fat or obese, which will consequently make it a lazier one. As leopard geckos are hunting reptiles, they are able to work hard and hunt for their food through all day. While in captivity they are getting their food served in their enclosure. But the necessary part of activities is missed. So you should be conscious about not making it any fatter by feeding waxworm regularly.
Waxworms are considered as the chips or snacks for the leopard geckos. They are less nutritional and more addictive food item. They are tasty and when eaten in excessive numbers, can cause many ailments in leopard gecko. You can make it an occasional treat for your gecko. As there is less nutritional value in this worm, you must add other insects to the platter to make it worthy of eating.
Can leopard geckos eat mealworms?
Mealworms are called the best food item for leopard geckos. These are so nutritional that you can add them regularly to the platter of your leopard gecko and it will get ample nutrition from it.
This worm can handle the nutritional value part of the leopard gecko, but if you offer only this insect to the meal of gecko and that too daily, they will be bored. So you can give the gecko a mixed diet which will have a few crickets, moth along with mealworm. Not all the nutrients are present in mealworm, even after you powder coat them with calcium powder, so the deficiency of other nutrients can be filled by different kind of worms and insects.
Among other benefits of mealworm, one prior aspect is, you get good variety of mealworm easily from the pet stores. You will get parasite free and mite free mealworms which will be a healthy diet option for leopard gecko.
Most of the leopard geckos love to have mealworm in their diet. This worm contains 20% of protein and 13% of fat, among other ingredients like fiber and moisture. However the amount mentioned here is applicable to the live mealworms. You can also avail dried mealworms from the pet store which have higher concentration of protein and fat.
If you are not sure about which one should be fed to your gecko, the dry or the living one, then be aware that geckos have hunting nature and they love to see moving, wiggling critters before them. If your leopard gecko is not adjusted with dry food, then it may throw some tantrums after seeing the dried mealworm at their platter. Though in this case, the dried and lifeless food is healthier than the living one, it will take time to get adjusted with the food that does not move.
There are certain measures to be taken while you will feed mealworm to your leopard gecko. You cannot feed them a whole lot of mealworms just because they are pretty health. A baby leopard gecko should eat not more than 7 mealworms a day, while an adult gecko can safely consume up to 7 large mealworms, but that should be divided into 4 days meal.
Can leopard geckos eat dead crickets?
We have already discussed that crickets are counted as one of the favorite food of leopard geckos. But when we say so, we did not mention the dead ones. Regarding feeding the dead insects there are various debates.
According to most of the pet owners, feeding the geckos with dead or dried insect is not good. However, getting dead crickets is an easy job and you can feed your gecko with this as a version of dry food. There are certain pros and cons related to feeding dead crickets.
When you give your gecko more than 2 live crickets, they can attack the gecko itself. They cannot directly bite it but can try to grab the softer part of the gecko’s body like the eye or the tails. This can never happen with the dead crickets. Dead crickets, however, contain same amount of protein as the live one, or sometimes the ration is higher, as the dry and dead one comes with concentrated forms of protein after the moisture is evaporated.
Crickets are good source of vitamin and nutrients; also it contains protein as well as calcium. So if you are planning to stay out of town for a few days and handing the pet over to your friend or colleague who is not accustomed to feed the gecko, then this will be a healthy and easy option for them as well as safe for the gecko.
When you get any kind of live insects, cricket or others, it can affect the leopard gecko with mites or parasites. In case of dead cricket feeding, there will be no such issue happening. There are certain other benefits of crickets; they are easy to digests and also a budget friendly option for feeding the leopard geckos.
Can leopard geckos eat daddylonglegs?
Daddylonglegs are also known as cellar spider and they infest the human houses when a space is not occupied or cleaned for a long time. They breed fast and if you are not careful about cleaning the place even after it has been infested with this spider, the place will be full of such termites very soon. There are a few varieties of them but the common ones that are seen in our houses are mostly the harmless one. They may have some mild toxicity but that is not a harmful thing for human.
Now talking about feeding them to your leopard geckos, this is not in the list of favorite food of the reptile pet. But it happens so, that when you keep a leopard gecko at home, you do not always keep it locked inside the cage. Whenever you let it freely roam inside the house, the gecko, due to its hunting nature, can attack many insects or small creatures that are roaming on your house or the backyard.
Daddylonglegs can be found randomly in the houses, and there is high possibility that the leopard gecko may eat it. Until you see any difference in its movements, do not panic. If situation worsens you can always seek help of the vet. Till now no researches have proven the amount of toxicity caused by this kind of spider. They seem to be more on the harmless kinds.
However there is one more kind of insect which is known as daddlylonglegs. This is one kind of insect and it does not contain any kind of poison in it. They are also known as adult crane flies. They are totally harmless and they even do not bite human. If your gecko seems to eat one such insect there will be no harm for sure.
Regarding the nutritional value, neither the cellar spider, nor the crane flies contain much of the nutrition. These can make the leopard gecko interested as they are different kinds of insects that are provided on their platter. Also hunting a real insect instead of getting them inside their cage will excite them. So you should let it chase the insects until there some deadly poisonous ones.
Can leopard geckos eat lettuce?
As we already know, leopard geckos are not a fan of herbs of vegetables. They do not like the taste of the vegetables. Some fruits which have a strong smell can allure them, though not all leopard geckos will like to taste that. But regarding vegetables they have a distinct dislike.
Lettuce is one such vegetable that never attracts leopard gecko, unless it is severely dehydrated. Or else if it is starving for a few days, it may try the greens like lettuce. These greens can be fed to the live commercial insects before feeding them to the leopard gecko, and that is the only way the goodness of lettuce will be achieved by the leopard gecko.
The digestive system of leopard gecko is not ideal for consuming lettuce or other greens. You can try them by chopping them into small pieces and offering them in a platter, but chances are very less that they will consume it.
The reason that leopard gecko does not like to consume lettuce is that, they do not get them in the native place where they have originated. So the necessary enzymes that are required to digest vegetables are not functional in their body.
Leopard geckos live on insects and other non-vegetarian kind of foods. So forcing them with lettuce or any other vegetables will not show any impact. Their digestive system will not be able to extract the nutrition from green vegetables like lettuce or such other options.
Can leopard geckos eat scrambled eggs?
Leopard geckos love to hunt for their food. That is their instinctive nature. When you offer them food in captivity, it should be something live and moving. It will give them the pleasure of killing for food.
All the leopard gecko owners know that they only prefer non vegetarian food. But in terms of non vegetarian, it will not accept cooked food like scrambled eggs or boiled eggs. They are wild creatures and are not used to with cooked form of food. Anything that they get to fill their stomach does not come in cooked form.
However, if you are curious about their taste and want to try their choice, then you can offer them scrambled eggs. They may get curious about it and try it. But leopard geckos are not okay with food that are not wiggling or moving.
Egg contains protein which is a good nutrient for leopard gecko. Also it is not much difficult to gobble down. The small pieces can easily be consumed by leopard geckos. But the problem is, they are not used with the smell and look of the scrambled eggs and thus will not find it interesting.
Can leopard geckos eat bird eggs?
Eggs of different varieties are loved by most of the geckos and lizards. So bird eggs are supposed to be liked by leopard geckos. You can offer them bird eggs, when these are fresh and see their reaction.
Leopard geckos, when in wild, are somehow used to with eating eggs of other creatures. This is another form of hunting as they have to search for eggs in the shelter of other creatures. They will try to eat the eggs if those are smaller and manageable. But if you offer them eggs which are huge in size, that may threaten them.
However, providing them with raw eggs may attract them, but you should not offer them boiled egg or any other form of egg. The smell of raw food is different than the cooked one and it will not be liked by them. Leopard geckos prefer their food to be in natural raw form and they would not be able to eat or digest any cooked form of protein.
Female leopard gecko sometimes lays infertile eggs and later it eats that egg. This is considered to be a normal habit among the geckos. But when you give them raw chicken eggs, it must be within a bowl or shallow dish; else it will get messy if the egg is broken by the leopard gecko.
Bird’s raw eggs can offer them required protein which is a good nutrient for leopard geckos. They can eat the eggs as part of their diet. But a whole egg is too much even for a matured leopard gecko.
You can offer small bird eggs which will be easily digested by them. Along with chicken eggs, quail eggs or duck eggs can be offered to them. Do not give them eggs that have soiled shells, as the unclean shell may contain germs or parasites which can damage the digestive system of the gecko.
We have similar guide for iguana food.
