Nutrition

[jemjdragon]

So I have to write a paper on a companion animal and its behavior, nutrition, diseases, or physiology while comparing it to its wild ancestor and how we replicate its needs from the wild to successfully raise them in captivity. I am choosing to write about leopard geckos and their nutrition. I can only use scientific papers/journals or magazine/newspaper articles as sources.

Its been really difficult to find sources that are specifically about leopard gecko nutrition. What my question is, does anyone know of or have any sources I can use about leopard gecko nutrition? Or maybe just reptile nutrition? Any help would be awesome. =]

 

[Embrace Calamity]

Leopard geckos wasn't a great choice, since we actually don't know a whole lot about their wild behaviour or nutrition compared to other reptiles. And since they're such a hardy species, they tolerate a lot of things, which means there are a lot of different opinions out there about what's right and what's wrong, even between different vets. Some people say do this, some people say that's bad, some say it doesn't matter, etc. You get the point. Here are a few articles I found, but again, since there are differences of opinion, nothing is set in stone.

Vitamin A deficiency in Insectivorous Geckos | Gecko Time
Pet Health Resources | Reptiles | Eye and Skin Problems in Leopard Geckos | University Animal Hospital
To Pinkie or Not to Pinkie | Gecko Time
I'm not sure if it's useful, but here's a comparison on the nutritional values of common feeders for leos: Leopard Gecko Care Sheets

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. I'm surprised at the lack of information there is regarding the issue. But, again, that's probably because they're such a hardy species. =/

~Maggot

 

[DrCarrotTail]

You can't use books? If you can there are two by Ron Tremper that have a ton of information. If you can't use books these probably have source references that might include the sources you need. Older one he wrote with Vosjoli anbd it is called the Herpetoculture of Leopard Geckos. Not sure what the newer one is called.

 

[jemjdragon]

I realize that this topic was most likely not the best of choices but thank you all for your help. I actually found many papers from research that had been done in zoos about reptile care and nutrition, and many of them used the leopard gecko as part of their research. I would have preferred leopard gecko specific papers but the zoo papers worked too.

And if I had my books with me, I would have used them but I left those at home when I moved here. I didn't think I would need them in college and since I've already read them several times

 

[jemjdragon]

I realize that this topic was most likely not the best of choices but thank you all for your help. I actually found many papers from research that had been done in zoos about reptile care and nutrition, and many of them used the leopard gecko as part of their research. I would have preferred leopard gecko specific papers but the zoo papers worked too.

And if I had my books with me, I would have used them but I left those at home when I moved here. I didn't think I would need them in college and since I've already read them several times

 

[Embrace Calamity]

Do you have any links to those studies? I'd be really interested to read them (even though I'm a little wary of zoos).

~Maggot

 

[jemjdragon]

I have links to all of them, though some of them might be hard to access. I used my student account on the university's library website to access them and read them. Some of the journal websites, without access through a school, may ask you to make an account or pay to read the journal.

Reptile Embryology
Reptile Embryology - Springer

Gut loading to enhance the nutrient content of insects as food for reptiles: a mathematical approach
Gut loading to enhance the nutrient content of insects as food for reptiles: A mathematical approach - Finke - 2003 - Zoo Biology - Wiley Online Library

The maintenance and breeding of the Leopard gecko
The maintenance and breeding of the Leopard gecko - THOROGOOD - 2007 - International Zoo Yearbook - Wiley Online Library

Nutrition and disease in zoo animals
Smithsonian Digital Repository: Nutrition and disease in zoo animals

Pet lizard conditions and syndromes
ScienceDirect.com - Seminars in Avian and Exotic Pet Medicine - Pet lizard conditions and syndromes

I also used Beautiful Beardies Nutrition Content page.

On of the main reasons I picked leopard geckos is because if I don't go into veterinary medicine for exotics, there is a likely chance I might go into genetics and do research into genetic disorders in reptiles like enigma syndrome. See what gene it is connected to and if anything can be done. My professor for this class actually studies and does research in genetic disorders in dogs, and when I brought up genetic disorders in reptiles she encouraged me that it might be something I should look into doing in the future since there are problems and very few choose to study them.

 

[JM_Daniels]

Hey there, I'm not sure if you've already submitted this paper by now, but I figured I'd share this just in case. This was a study published in the Zoo Biology journal. It is not exactly about Leopard Geckos per se, but is about nutrition for feeder crickets that are meant to be fed to insectivorous reptiles (which of course includes Leopard Geckos). The study was to find what type of food caused feeder crickets to retain the most antioxidants for the longest amount of time.

Here is the link to the actual Zoo Biology abstract: Differences in carotenoid accumulation amon... [Zoo Biol. 2012 Jul-Aug] - PubMed - NCBI

And here is an article of mine, which summarizes the results of the study: Crickets, Carotenoids, and Nutrient Absorption :Guide to Breeding Feeder Crickets

Might be a nice addition to your citations. Or, if you've already submitted this paper, then maybe this info might help someone else.