Gecko Food
Tips On Choosing Gecko Food
What does gecko food consist of? If you have a gecko for a pet then knowing its dietary needs, as well as what it likes, is important.
To begin with, geckos are predatory animals and therefore they enjoy hunting for their food. Their diet is mostly made up of insects that they can catch, although they tend to prefer crickets. Placing the crickets and other insects inside their containers is a good way to not only feed them, but to encourage them to hunt as well. When feeding your gecko, however, you should ensure that the cricket is in proportion to your gecko’s size. Never feed a gecko a cricket that is too large for it to digest properly.
When in captivity, gecko food can also consist of wax worms and mealworms. The wax worms should mostly be used as a treat and not given to the gecko more than 3 times per week.
In the beginning, geckos should be fed twice a day. Once they are seven months old, however, their food can be cut back to once every other day. Still, it is very important to make sure that they get enough to eat. Some people prefer feeding their geckos in a different container from the one that they sleep in so that they are able to monitor their diet and food intake. It can also give you the chance to clean out their living quarters.
Before feeding crickets to your gecko, you should gut load them. This means ensuring that the crickets are full so that they can pass on their nutrients to the gecko itself. You can purchase cricket food at most pet food stores. Leaving out a piece of carrot or potato in the gecko’s cage will help draw the crickets out. As an alternative, you can also remove the back legs of the cricket so that it is easier for the gecko to catch them.
Mealworms, on the other hand, can be put in a food dish and are a little easier to deal with. Make sure that the food dish has smooth sides so that the gecko can’t get out as easily. Although leopard geckos like wax worms, they are too fatty to be consumed everyday and should be left as a treat. Once a gecko has laid eggs, however, wax worms can be a good way of putting weight back on the gecko.
Gecko food can be supplemented with nutrients and vitamins, too. Calcium is very important to a gecko and should be included as part of their overall diet. One way to do this is by placing a dish containing calcium powder inside the cage. You can also try coating the insects that you feed your gecko with calcium powder, too. For females that are breeding, as well as baby geckos, the insects should be coated every day. For adult geckos, however, it only has to be done once or twice per week. You can coat the insects by placing powder inside a plastic baggie, along with the insects, and gently shaking the baggie.
Geckos also need water as part of their gecko food. You can encourage them to drink water by placing a small water dish inside of the gecko’s container. It is better to use a shallow dish that insects can get out of if they get trapped inside. If they can’t get out, then they are likely to drown and make the water distasteful and undrinkable. In order to keep the dish from growing fungus or bacteria it should be cleaned out every couple of days. A fresh water supply should be added on a daily basis.