Leopard Gecko Feed - How to Do It Properly?

Leopard gecko feed is one of the most challenging parts of caring for this exotic pet animal. Geckos are one of the most docile, intriguing, challenging, and pretty colorful reptiles and feeding them properly will definitely impact on their overall health and appearance. Don't get intimidated! Let me show you how.

Feeding them is quite amusing and informative as well, it is not the simple fill-a-bowl type. Although there are numerous nutritional and complete diet commercial pre-packed leopard gecko food in pet stores it is best to provide them with a variety of food. Feeding them is not just to satisfy their hunger but most importantly is to meet their natural instinct to hunt for food or catch prey for food.

So, what are the foods leopard's desires? They love to eat crickets. Purchase the crickets from a pet store and not from the outside garden that you commonly found. Who knows where those crickets have been, they might have gone to yards with fertilizers, weed killers, or even pesticides. If given geckos with this kind of meal, the poisonous chemicals they have consumed may transfer to your pet and may affect their health. The crickets I was referring to are the specially bred ones that are in captivity and are raised solely as reptile food.

When purchasing the cricket in your favorite reptile store, make sure that it is the correct size. How to determine the correct size? Just look at your gecko's head. Leopard gecko feed on crickets that are not wider than half the width of his head. For the young leopard's they prefer the pinhead crickets while the adult gecko can devour the full size adult cricket.

Preparing the feeding time - Do not just feed the crickets yet, there are preparations that needs to be done first. With a plastic bag, place the desired number of crickets for feeding. We will "gut load" the crickets one day before the scheduled feeding. What is gut loading? It is the adding of calcium and other nutrients to your crickets to make them very nutritious to your geckos. How to gut load? Inside the plastic bag, dust the crickets with calcium powder, close the plastic and shake it until the crickets are coated all over. After which these crickets may also be served with grated carrots and water to feed them as well during the 24 hours of gut loading. Calcium powder is an essential element for your pet's bone.

Quantities may vary depending on the age of your pet however, a start of 5-6 crickets per meal is sufficient. If ever geckos cannot finish all just decrease the number next time around. Baby leopards must be fed daily while the adult may be fed once for every two days.

The next day your leopard gecko is ready to feed on the gut loaded crickets. Just place them inside the tank they are not appropriate for bowls since it is in their nature to be jumping around. More so, that is the purpose why crickets are fed to your geckos in order to stimulate their hunting instinct for food. Your gecko will be just happy and satisfied in catching their food.

Lily Green has been caring for Leopard Geckos for over 15 years. It is her passion to share her knowledge through her writing with other owners. If you wish to read additional Leopard Gecko Feed [http://www.leopardgeckoinformation.com/leopard-gecko-feed/] info or get a copy of her FREE 'Leopard Gecko Care' mini-course feel free to visit her site at Caring for Leopard Gecko Properly [http://www.leopardgeckoinformation.com/]