Leopard Gecko Feed - Are You Providing the Right Diet?

Leopard gecko feed should include the appropriate nutritional dietary food and supplements. This will optimize their health and maximizes their life span. The young geckos must be fed more often than the adults to aid in the development of their growth. Geckos love to eat insects especially crickets and their diet may also be supplemented with meal worms and wax worms.

It is the keeper's obligation to learn the proper way of feeding leopard geckos and that includes following certain preparations. The preparation is very vital in providing them a well-balanced nutritional diet and supplements.

Here's how:

1. The first thing to do is to purchase your crickets in pet stores. Remember not to use any crickets found at home but use only those bred particularly as food for reptiles.

2. Before feeding the crickets to your pet, make sure to gut load them one day before feeding time. Gut loading means to dust the crickets with commercial calcium powder make sure that they are well coated all over. To make it more nutritious, serve the crickets with grated carrots. Crickets may also be served with grain meal such as oatmeal or wheat germ, dried dog food, and fish flakes. After 24 hours they are ready for feeding.

3. Serving crickets with water or a slice of orange is preferred.

4. Gut loading may be done one day before the lizard's feeding schedule.

5. Feed geckos with at least 4 - 5 crickets or less depending on their consumption. Feeding is best done at night since lizards are nocturnal by nature. Meaning they are active during the night and will tend to hide during the day.

6. Leave the crickets alive for the leopards to hunt on them. This will help satisfy their hunting instinct to catch prey for their food.

7. Adult leopard geckos feed only three to four times a week but the young that are seven month old and below must be fed twice daily.

8. After feeding always remove uneaten crickets and keep the tank clean.

9. To supplement their staple food, it is highly recommended to give them live mealworms at least once a week. Choose the appropriate worm size according to your pet lizard's size.

10. Place at least two to three worms in a shallow bowl or any container as long as the sides are high enough to prevent the worms from crawling and large enough for your pet gecko to get access.

11. Again, always clean the area and remove the bowl every time after eating.

12. Wax worms may also be provided the same way: follow steps nine to eleven.

Leopard gecko feed should only include waxworms and pinkies occasionally. These are just treats for your pet because they contain a very high ratio of prosperous to calcium. Pinkies on the other hand are good for breeding females or for leopards who are gaining weight.

Lily Green has been caring for Leopard Geckos for over 15 years and is an author on the subject. It is her goal to see to it that Leopard Geckos are cared for properly. To get more useful tips about Leopard Gecko feed [http://www.leopardgeckoinformation.com/leopard-gecko-feed/] or get a copy of her FREE 'Leopard Gecko Care' mini-course feel free to visit her site at Leopard Gecko Information [http://www.leopardgeckoinformation.com/]