What Do Geckos Eat?

Geckos food

Geckos are more than just mascots for American car insurance companies. They are a species of lizard falling in the Gekkonidae family. They are also considered unique for being among the only lizard species (Read here what do lizards eat!) that make audible chirping noises to communicate and socialize with other geckos.

There are currently over 2,000 known species of Gekkonidae in the world. These small and widely considered “cute” lizards make for wonderful small pets as well, and if you treat them right, have been said to bring great luck to those around them. If you want the best for your tiny companion, here are a few things you should keep in mind on what is best to feed them.

What do Geckos Eat?

Most species of geckos are insectivorous. Insect eaters. While wild geckos will eat most anything they can fit in their mouths, (including cannibalizing other geckos in some species) domesticated geckos that are kept as pets have a few specific nutritional requirements that will help ensure they live a long and happy life.

Mainstays of pet gecko diets include:

• crickets,
• locusts, and
• occasionally mealworms,
• silkworms and
• wax-worms in moderation as a treat, as they are high in fat.

Some species of larger geckos can even be feed a pinkie mouse from time to time. It should also be noted to check the sizes of the insects you feed your gecko, because you don’t want to create a choking hazard.

When feeding your gecko crickets, it is also best that you supervise their eating ritual, because crickets can bite and leave your gecko severely wounded. Overall, if a still living cricket is still uneaten in your gecko’s cage after a half an hour, it should be removed and saved for a later time to prevent injury to your gecko.

When feeding these tasty insects to your gecko, one should keep in mind at least once or twice a week to dust them with a coating of supplements for your gecko before putting the bugs in it’s cage.

The first is a reptile multi-vitamin and the other is a mixture of vitamin D3 and calcium. Additionally, any insects that you feed your gecko should be “gut loaded”, which means fed a nutrient rich diet of things like vegetables and whole grain cereals that your gecko will end up ingesting through snacking on the insect.

Leaving a small dish of calcium in your gecko’s cage is also a necessity. Another thing to be sure of when feeding your gecko is that to avoid what are called “gut impactions”, you should always feed them in a separate cage, on top of a piece of newspaper or paper towel.

This will keep any sorts of substrates like sand or other debris from their regular cage from being eaten on accident while they feed and will avoid serious impactions that could compromise their health. Young geckos should be fed four to eight times per day, while adult geckos can be fed four to ten times every two to three days.

We also wrote about:

• Tokay Geckos