If you have recently decided to adopt your first leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularis), one of the questions you may have is what to feed them. While many reptiles eat several types of food, including insects, commercial food, fruits, and vegetables, leopard geckos are insectivores and as such, thrive on a diet of insects.
If you want to provide your pet with the best diet possible, keep reading for our discussion on the types of insects the leopard gecko can eat. We’ll also discuss which types are better than others and why.
Top 4 Feeder Insects for Leopard Geckos
The easiest way to source insects for your gecko is through a pet shop or a breeder who raises them. However, the most economical and healthiest long-term way to source insects is to raise them yourself if possible.
Note: These insects are not ranked in terms of their nutritional quality; all of them are suitable prey options for leopard geckos and should be incorporated into their diet. However, if your gecko is a hatchling or juvenile, they might find some of these options too large to handle. For smaller geckos, pinhead crickets are recommended.
1. Mealworms
Mealworms are among the most popular insects to feed your leopard gecko. They are easy to find in most pet stores and are relatively inexpensive. They keep for a long time, and you can even breed them if you want a lower-cost method of feeding your pet. They’re also a “quiet” prey option, and suitable for places where noise is a concern.
The downside of mealworms is that they don’t move much. It’s too easy for the leopard gecko to catch them, so they don’t provide much of a hunt. Mealworms also like to burrow, so it can sometimes be hard to retrieve them at mealtime.
- Easy to obtain
- Easy to breed
- Suitable to feed daily
- Quiet
- Often don’t provide enough enrichment
- Burrowing is common
2. Crickets
Crickets are another fantastic food to feed your leopard gecko, and many owners prefer them because they jump, which triggers your pet’s instinct to hunt, which can help your gecko feel more excited about mealtime and provide exercise. Like mealworms, they are relatively easy to purchase or breed, and you can maintain low-cost food indefinitely if you have space.
While you probably never realized it before unless you’ve owned lizards in the past, crickets stink. Keeping even a few of them in a cage will fill the room with an unmistakable odor. The constant jumping and chirping can create quite a bit of noise, and they often find a way to break free, especially when you are collecting them for your leopard gecko.
- Easy to find
- Easy to breed
- Suitable for daily feeding
- Trigger hunting instincts
- Smell bad
- Noisy
- Can easily escape
3. Dubia Roaches
You can purchase several types of roaches for your leopard gecko, like the Turkestan cockroach, but the Dubia is by far the most popular. This roach cannot climb well, so you won’t need to worry about them escaping. They don’t make any noise and are relatively easy to breed if you create a warm and dark environment. They are easy to collect at feeding time, and since they move faster than mealworms, they trigger the gecko’s hunting instinct.
While there are several advantages to Dubia roaches, they are often much more expensive than the options we have discussed so far. Some owners have difficulty creating a suitable environment for breeding, so you might need to repurchase them several times, and they are not as readily available as mealworms or crickets.
- Low noise
- Cannot easily escape
- Trigger hunting
- Suitable for daily feeding
- Expensive
- Harder to breed
- Not as easy to find
4. Waxworms
Waxworms are often described as one of the leopard gecko’s favorite foods, and they will go to great lengths to get them, ignoring other foods in their path. Waxworms are nutritious but contain a lot of fat and can put weight on your pet. For this reason, most veterinarians recommend providing a waxworm as an occasional treat to prevent obesity and the health problems that come with it.
While it’s not difficult to breed waxworms, purchasing a few is usually better since they are unsuitable for daily feeding.
- Anecdotally a leopard gecko favorite
- Relatively easy to source
- Moderately easy-to-breed
- High-fat content
Other Feeder Insects
There are other feeder insects suitable for leopard geckos that you may consider. Hornworms, locusts, silkworms, superworms, and butterworms are all good for your leopard gecko to eat on occasion, and we recommend using them to provide a varied diet whenever possible.
Yard Bugs
It may be tempting to catch crickets, grasshoppers, flies, and other insects in the yard around your home, but doing so can be dangerous. Wild bugs often harbor pathogens that can harm your gecko, so it’s best to avoid feeding them. Others may contain naturally occurring compounds or excretions on their body which could be harmful for your gecko.
In addition, the myriad of insects and other critters you may see in your yard all play very important roles in the environment and ecosystems in which they live and as such, it’s considered unethical to capture them as food for your gecko.
Should I Feed My Leopard Gecko Commercial Reptile Food?
Unfortunately, your leopard gecko is unlikely to show any interest in eating commercial reptile food since they only eat live insects. Most commercial reptile food is designed for omnivorous or herbivorous reptiles and as such is not suitable for leopard geckos.
Should My Gecko Eat Fruits and Vegetables?
Fruits and vegetables are not nutritionally appropriate for leopard geckos. The best thing to do with fruits and vegetables is to use them to gut load your insects to provide a more nutritious meal for your pet.
How Do I Feed Insects to My Leopard Gecko?
Gut Loading
Before feeding your pet the insects, you should gut load them. Gut loading is the process of providing the insects with a healthy diet to reach their maximum nutritional value. It also helps hydrate them, so they are more filling. If you purchase your insects online, they are often distressed and dehydrated when they reach your home. It is advised to gut load insects for at least 24 hours before feeding them to your gecko.
Calcium & Multivitamin
All insects offered to your pet should be dusted with a reptile calcium supplement immediately prior to them being fed. Calcium is an essential nutrient that your gecko cannot get enough of without supplementation.
In addition, it is advised to offer healthy leopard geckos a multivitamin supplement at least twice a month; this supplement should be one that’s made specifically for reptiles. Human medication and supplements shouldn’t be offered to your gecko.
To dust your feeder insects, purchase a commercial calcium powder with vitamin D3 and place it on them before each feeding. Most Leopard geckos will eat about two crickets per inch of body size.
Final Thoughts
Leopard geckos can eat several insects as pets, each with their own merit. For example, mealworms are popular among most gecko owners because they are quiet, long-lasting, and easy to breed. If you have an outdoor shed or somewhere out of the way to store your insects, crickets are also a great choice. Other options include locusts, cockroaches, silkworms, and waxworms.
You should never offer your pet insects that you find or catch in your house or yard, as this can be a health risk for them and harmful to the environment as well. We hope you enjoyed reading this guide and that it helped you decide what you will feed your pet!
RELATED READ:
- Leopard Gecko Humidity & Temperatures: The Optimal Levels
- 5 Best Leopard Gecko Substrates — Reviews & Top Picks
Featured Image: Kuri afshen, Shutterstock
