Foods to Substitute for Crickets for Lizards

Lizards may chow down on crickets like they are a fine delicacy, but a lizard who eats crickets alone is missing out on valuable nutrition it needs to survive. Depending on the type of lizard you keep as a pet, it needs fruits, vegetables, other insects or even small rodents to round out its diet. Whether your lizard is an insectivore, carnivore, herbivore or eats it all, knowing proper nutritional options helps ensure your lizard is healthy for a long time to come.

  1. Insects

    • Insectivorous lizards, such as geckos, primarily live on insects. Instead of just feeding crickets, offer other insects as well. Feed your lizard live tebos, mealworms, waxworms, locusts and flies. Check with your local pet store for insect availability. When choosing insects, never feed your lizard any insect that is larger than the lizard's head is wide. Before feeding insects to your lizard, however, gut load the insect. Gut loading is a process of feeding the insect foods full of nutrition that your lizard will ingest when eating the insect. Make a mixture for the insects consisting of store-bought insect food mixed with any vegetable high in beta-carotene and a sprinkling of calcium powder. Let the insects eat the mixture for two days prior to feeding them to the lizard. Leave mealworms or waxworms available all day, every day. When feeding other insects, only provide what your lizard eats in 15 minutes.

    Fruits and Vegetables

    • The green iguana, for example, is an herbivorous, choosing fruits and vegetables for consumption only. Avoid feeding your iguana the same food all the time. A variety of fruits and vegetables helps meet nutritional needs. Herbivores also eat grains, such as brown rice. Feed leafy greens, such as cabbage, lettuce and grass, by laying the food directly on the cage floor. Keep other vegetables and fruits, such as cucumbers, bananas and tomatoes, in a heavy bowl to keep the lizard from knocking it over. Offer your lizard fresh fruits and vegetables daily.

    Rodents

    • Carnivorous lizards, such as the monitor lizard, prefer a diet of meat. Although live rodents are an option, most lizards are happy with dead rodents as well. Using dead rodents prevents potential injury to your lizard by a fighting rodent. Keep the rodents frozen prior to feeding. Defrost the rodent in a bowl of warm water until it reaches a temperature above room temperature. Cold rodents lower your lizard's core temperature, which is unhealthy for the lizard. To avoid choking, offer rodents no wider than your lizard's head width. Depending on your lizards consumption rate, feed your lizard one rodent once every three to 14 days.

    Supplements

    • For herbivores, insectivores and omnivores, offer supplements to the lizard to keep the nutritional intake where it needs to be. During colder months when fruits and vegetables are out of season, added supplements help make up for missing nutrition. With insectivores, sprinkle the insects with a calcium supplement prior to feeding. Different lizards require different supplements. Speak to your vet about the right supplements for your lizard's needs.