Before you bring home a new baby gecko, it’s important to know what to feed your pet. Like most lizards, geckos are predators that love to eat a variety of insects. The exact type of insects, feeding schedule, supplements, and food amounts will vary depending on the gecko species, age, and activity level.
General Pet Gecko Food Guide
Most geckos are best at eating live prey. Unlike dogs and cats, geckos are generally not good at eating prepackaged kibble or prepared foods. This means you will need to buy or breed live insects to feed your geckos.
Some species of pet geckos eat fruit and insects. These geckos can eat fruit purees or fruit mixes formulated for geckos. However, most pet geckos are primarily insectivores, which means they eat insects and other creepy reptiles. African fat-tailed geckos, house geckos, and leopard geckos are pure insectivores. However, crested geckos and geckos are fruit eaters. This means they eat fruit.
what to feed your gecko
Feed bug geckos with various insects. Relying too much on one insect will not provide your gecko with a complete diet.
- cricket: These critters will form the backbone of most pet geckos’ diets. That’s not because they’re the healthiest — just because they’re the easiest to buy or keep at home.
- Mealworms: Mealworms are another major staple of leopard geckos, although they may be too large for some house geckos.
- Wax Bugs and Super Bugs: These insects are very abundant. Use them as a special treat, only available once a week or so.
- fly: These little guys are perfect for small geckos like the house gecko. Fruit flies are usually the easiest to buy.
You may find it easier in the long run to raise your own crickets and insects for your gecko. Regardless, a good setup for storing insects will help you avoid going to the pet store every few days to buy them.
warn
It’s best to avoid feeding your pet gecko wild insects — you just don’t know which ones can be poisonous or covered in harmful chemicals outdoors.
Geckos eat a mixture of the insects listed above, especially crickets, and a mixture of the gecko’s diet. Likewise, crested geckos usually eat a mixture of insects and powdered gecko food.
start the gecko’s prey
Be sure to load the geckos with their guts before serving them to the gecko. This just means feeding the insects a nutrient-dense diet for 24 hours before feeding them to your pet, so your gecko gets all the nutritional benefits! Most pet stores will sell prepared foods to feed your insects. Otherwise, a good combination of fruits, vegetables and grains will do the trick. You can also dust insects with nutritional powder you can buy at a pet store.
Feed fruity gecko fruits such as grapes, apricots and apples. Puree or cut the fruit into small pieces that are smaller than the space between the gecko’s eyes. Pieces that are too large can be dangerous for your pet! You can make things a little easier by purchasing prepared fruit mixes for day and crested geckos. In fact, most new gecko owners shouldn’t try to make their own fruit mixes for their geckos. When you’re a new owner of a gecko, keeping track of calcium and other health factors in a gecko can be tricky.
Amount and timing of feeding geckos
Most geckos are nocturnal, so it is best to feed them at night. Otherwise, they may not be awake or hungry for feeding time!
Young geckos should eat every day. As they mature, most adult geckos are best fed every other day. All geckos should have regular access to clean fresh water. Regularly spraying the tank will give your gecko the humidity he needs.
The amount of food your gecko needs will vary depending on his age and activity level. Feed him as much as possible and he’ll be eager to eat within minutes. You don’t want to have too many insects in his cage as they may escape, die and rot, or tempt your gecko to overeat. Simply introduce one or two insects at a time, slowing down as the gecko’s cravings to eat subside. Some geckos will happily eat with long tweezers, which makes it easier to control how many insects you put into his cage.
After the gecko has eaten, be sure to remove any uneaten fruit mixture or insects. Both fruit and insects can rot, creating an unclean environment for your pet.
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