Leopard gecko feeding guide

[ItsTom154]

Hey everyone,

I'm new to this forum and I'm also new at Gecko world.
So recently i bought 2 females geckos from my team colleague, they both are around 6 years old. I went to Pets At Home shop to ask for advice about feeding them and etc, but they could really answer my questions. And i have some questions.
1. How often you feeding your leopard gecko's?
2. If i feed the crickets or locust, how many of them each should have
3. Calcium? Do you put the food in it before giving it to them, or just leave some of it in vivarium? (Because i've seen some people just leave some of it in vivarium)

Thanks for your answers!

 

[acpart]

Hi and welcome.

Elizabeth Freer has a very detailed leopard gecko care guide on the forum here and I imagine you'll be hearing from her soon. She has more of a focus on details than I do, so here are my short answers:
1. How often you feeding your leopard gecko's?
I feed my geckos, all adults, on Monday and Thursday evenings (i.e. twice a week). I do have some geckos that give me the "hungry look" at other times and if I can, I give them something. If I didn't, they'd be fine.

2. If i feed the crickets or locust, how many of them each should have
I generally plan to give my geckos about 4 feeders each. There are guides that say you shouldn't leave crickets in the enclosure because they'll bother the geckos. I have generally not found that to be true. I have a few geckos that seem to need to be hand fed and I plan to give them 4 feeders each. Otherwise, unless I'm really low on crickets and super worms, I put a bunch of feeders in there, and let them have at it.

3. Calcium? Do you put the food in it before giving it to them, or just leave some of it in vivarium? (Because i've seen some people just leave some of it in vivarium)
When I started keeping leopard geckos 20 years ago, there was a feeling that we should leave calcium in the enclosure because the geckos knew when they needed calcium and would eat it when they needed it. Later on, the feeling changed (I say "feeling" because I'm not sure exactly how much scientific study went into every detail). There was a concern that leopard geckos really don't know how to regulate their calcium intake and that it's easy for them to get oversupplemented, in which case they may actually show symptoms similar to geckos that are under supplemented. Based on all that information, I do the following:
a. I don't leave calcium in the enclosure (when I was breeding I did leave calcium in the hatchlings' enclosures because I saw some early signs of MBD [metabolic bone disease] with some of the hatchlings. Leaving the calcium in their enclosures cleared that up. Even the breeding females at the time didn't get calcium left in the cage and none of them showed any sign of MBD
b. I use Repashy Calcium Plus because it has calcium, vitamin D3 (essential for metabolizing calcium; make sure you're providing this), vitamin A in a form that leopard geckos can metabolize and other vitamins and minerals. I dust the feeders with this stuff once a week, or, every other feeding. So far, everything has been OK.

I hope this is helpful. Feel free to ask questions if you have more.

Aliza

 

[ItsTom154]

Hi and welcome.

Elizabeth Freer has a very detailed leopard gecko care guide on the forum here and I imagine you'll be hearing from her soon. She has more of a focus on details than I do, so here are my short answers:
1. How often you feeding your leopard gecko's?
I feed my geckos, all adults, on Monday and Thursday evenings (i.e. twice a week). I do have some geckos that give me the "hungry look" at other times and if I can, I give them something. If I didn't, they'd be fine.

2. If i feed the crickets or locust, how many of them each should have
I generally plan to give my geckos about 4 feeders each. There are guides that say you shouldn't leave crickets in the enclosure because they'll bother the geckos. I have generally not found that to be true. I have a few geckos that seem to need to be hand fed and I plan to give them 4 feeders each. Otherwise, unless I'm really low on crickets and super worms, I put a bunch of feeders in there, and let them have at it.

3. Calcium? Do you put the food in it before giving it to them, or just leave some of it in vivarium? (Because i've seen some people just leave some of it in vivarium)
When I started keeping leopard geckos 20 years ago, there was a feeling that we should leave calcium in the enclosure because the geckos knew when they needed calcium and would eat it when they needed it. Later on, the feeling changed (I say "feeling" because I'm not sure exactly how much scientific study went into every detail). There was a concern that leopard geckos really don't know how to regulate their calcium intake and that it's easy for them to get oversupplemented, in which case they may actually show symptoms similar to geckos that are under supplemented. Based on all that information, I do the following:
a. I don't leave calcium in the enclosure (when I was breeding I did leave calcium in the hatchlings' enclosures because I saw some early signs of MBD [metabolic bone disease] with some of the hatchlings. Leaving the calcium in their enclosures cleared that up. Even the breeding females at the time didn't get calcium left in the cage and none of them showed any sign of MBD
b. I use Repashy Calcium Plus because it has calcium, vitamin D3 (essential for metabolizing calcium; make sure you're providing this), vitamin A in a form that leopard geckos can metabolize and other vitamins and minerals. I dust the feeders with this stuff once a week, or, every other feeding. So far, everything has been OK.

I hope this is helpful. Feel free to ask questions if you have more.

Aliza

I really appreciate your detailed answer to all of my questions above. It's really helpful. I were trying to find some of the answers all week long, even went to the shops, but could get the right answer. Thank you for your time writing all this down. Thanks again!

 

[acpart]

No problem. Actually my reference to Elizabeth Freer is a different forum. If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.

Aliza