Very Best Diet?

Elliriyanna

New Member
Messages
29
Location
United States
I am planning to get a leopard gecko next week. I have been reading everything I can find online. I know most believe either crickets or mealworms are the best. Gutload, Calcium powder and multivitamins should all be on hand so the gecko is getting all it needs.

For my purposes mealies are the best main diet but how often should I provide other insects? And what other insects?

Also how much should I feed? I am getting different things everywhere online.
 

DrCarrotTail

Moderator
Messages
3,590
Location
Ridgewood, NJ
You'll get tons of different answers because so much depends on the gecko you get and it's living situation. Warmer temps mean faster metabolisms and cool mean slower. Geckos that will be bigger when they finish growing will more than likely grow faster. They will also eat and grow too fast (in my opinion) if you feed them as much as they want.

I feed my geckos 3 times a week until they are 40g and then 2x a week after that. I feed mainly mealworms and give them 10-15 each feeding. Every other week I'll give roaches instead of mealworms and I tend to feed more super worms in the winter when I don't have tons of babies that need mealworms. They get 2-4 appropriately sized roaches or superworms instead of the mealworms. I don't really feed crickets but I would probably give 7-10 large crickets in place of the mealworms if I did.
 

Elliriyanna

New Member
Messages
29
Location
United States
see thats whats confusing, everything is opinion. I just want the best for my gecko. Its been easy with my turtles, dog and cat. but with geckos it seems there is less hard facts on nutritional needs from what I can find.
 

Music City Geckos

New Member
Messages
269
Location
Nashville
There are plenty of hard facts. Nutrition is nutrition, it's the same as preferring one dog food to another. Or on flavor of cat food to another. The rule of thumb is : Feed your pet what he/she can consume in a 15-20 minute time period. It's just like any other animal including humans if we eat too much we gain weight, we eat too little we lose weight. There is no perfect diet everyone and everything is different and we all require different foods.
 

indyana

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,336
Location
Massachusetts, United States
The best diet is one filled with a variety of properly gutloaded and dusted insects. The more often you can switch it up, the better. I think most folks use mealworms out of convenience, not because they are the healthiest staple.

Healthy insects, can be rotated in frequently:
- roaches
- silkworms
- black soldier fly larvae (Phoenix Worms, ReptiWorms, Calci-Worms)

Other insects sometimes used as staples:
- crickets
- mealworms (all stages except dark beetles)
- superworms

Insects to be used in moderation:
- hornworms
- butter worms
- isopods

Most of these insects can be gutloaded with nutritious vegetables and greens before feeding, and all should be dusted with supplements except black soldier fly larva (because those are extremely high in calcium).

Frank Indiviglio has written some excellent articles on balanced diets for Leopard Geckos. I suggest you check them out:
What Do Leopard Geckos Eat? - Zoo Researched Diet | That Reptile Blog
Feeding Leopard Geckos - Beyond the ?Cricket and Mealworm? Diet - Part 1
Feeding Leopard Geckos - Beyond the Cricket and Mealworm Diet - Part 2
 

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