Leopard Gecko - Diet

Diet

These geckos are insectivores meaning that they feed on crickets, wax worms, mealworms, super worms, and other insects. In captivity, most individuals will prefer hunting food themselves. The majority of captive leopard geckos will also refuse to eat dead prey (unless you force feed them.) Crickets are the most common food source to give them as they can hunt them in their enclosure the way they would in their natural environment. When food is scarce in the desert, they can rely on their ability to store excess fat in their tails. Sufficient calcium and vitamin D3 is also very important for their diet: How they obtain it in the wild is still unknown, although they likely receive this from their varied prey of moths, spiders, ants, and other insects. In captivity, it is near impossible to completely duplicate the diet they will have in the wild, so the most nutritious insects known are offered, usually dusted with a fine calcium powder with added vitamin D3 and sometimes gut loaded by feeding. Also, their keen sense of smell and sight allows them to search for food in the wild, they will stalk their prey just like an actual leopard will, move their tail, and then strike when they are satisfied.

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