How Often to Give a Leopard Gecko Meal Worms

Meal worms are the most common food alternative to crickets when it comes to feeding leopard geckos. There are advantages to both, but meal worms are much easier to house because of their inability to jump, chirp, and infect the gecko. The key is knowing just how much should a leopard gecko be fed the meal worms?

  1. Feeding the Gecko

    • Meal worms will essentially sit in a feeding dish until the gecko eats them --they have no means of escape. More often than not, the leopard gecko will regulate its food intake more than the owner will. As long as there is food in its bowl, the gecko decides when and when not to chow down. As a rule of thumb, fill up the bowl whenever it is empty. The gecko will not harm itself with over-eating as long as the owner is preventing it from dying of starvation.

    Feeding the Meal Worms

    • Meal worms may be much easier to keep than crickets, but as far as nutrients goes, crickets are best. A way to rememdy this lack of nutrition is to first feed the worms carrots, or other veggies with, a splash of milk. By fatting up the meal worms, the owner can provide the leopard gecko with more protein and calcium than if they had just been given straight from the store. In addition, there are many powder products sold that can be used to dust the meal worms and give them more nutrients. This is a much quicker process than waiting for the worms to eat, but may not be as effective.