What Do Leopard Geckos Eat? Complete Diet Guide
Staple feeders
Crickets, dubia roaches, and mealworms form the backbone of most diets, offering a good protein-to-fat balance and being easy to gut-load. Rotating between two or three staples adds nutritional variety and keeps a gecko interested.
Treat and occasional feeders
Waxworms, superworms, hornworms, and silkworms are higher in fat and best used as occasional treats or fattening food, not daily staples. Wild-caught insects should never be fed due to pesticide and parasite risk.
Supplementation
Dust feeders with a calcium powder at most feedings, add a calcium-with-D3 powder roughly weekly if the gecko isn't getting UVB, and use a reptile multivitamin sparingly (once every week or two). Gut-loading the feeder insects themselves for 24–48 hours before feeding matters as much as dusting.
Portion sizing
A simple, reliable rule: feeder insects should be no wider than the space between the gecko's eyes. Oversized prey is a common cause of regurgitation and, in juveniles, impaction risk.
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A single adult leopard gecko needs a 20-gallon long tank as an absolute minimum, with a 36x18 in (40-gallon breeder) footprint now considered the recommended standard — plus a secure lid, an under-tank heater on a thermostat, a thermal gradient, at least three hides, and a shallow water dish.
Set up in this order: substrate, then heat source wired through a thermostat, then hides and water dish, then decor — and run the whole enclosure for at least 24–48 hours to confirm stable temperatures before your gecko moves in.
Hatchlings can start in a 10-gallon tank or tub, juveniles do well in 20 gallons, and adults need a 20-gallon long as an absolute minimum — with 36x18 in (40-gallon breeder) now the widely recommended standard, not just an upgrade.
Heat a leopard gecko enclosure with an under-tank heater and/or overhead heat source (halogen or deep heat projector) wired through a thermostat — a thermostat is mandatory, not optional, and heat rocks should never be used.
Leopard geckos can survive without UVB using dietary D3 supplementation, but current husbandry guidance now recommends low-level UVB (roughly 2–6% T5) as best practice — it improves D3 synthesis, bone density, and natural behavior, and views on it have shifted significantly from older nocturnal-species advice.
Keep ambient humidity around 30–40% across most of the enclosure, with a dedicated humid hide raised to roughly 70–80% to support smooth, complete sheds.