You got it as a present last Christmas, and you simply couldn’t get enough of those piercing eyes. You don’t give a damn about the constant taunting by your so-called friends as you enjoy cuddling and rubbing its soft skin against your cheek. Before you wish for that stuffed gecko to be real though, know for a fact that big or small pets need to be cared for in special ways. You have to spend a little extra time, effort and money into providing your pet the things it needs to stay alive and happy. Once you’ve made that bold decision to get a gecko for a pet, do remember the following tips when feeding them:
Main feeding instructions
- Crickets are the staple food for geckos, so you can perish the thought of giving your pet gecko a bite off that potato chip. Crickets offer your gecko the superior nutrition it needs, as these insects have a higher amount of calcium, protein and vitamin C.
- When preparing crickets for your pet gecko’s meal, be sure to gut load them at least one day before. Every other feeding day, dust the crickets with a commercial dusting supplement which has calcium. Give your gecko veggies, oatmeal, fish flakes together with the cricket gut load. For added water content, throw in a slice of orange.
- Since geckos are nocturnal beings, it’s best to feed them up to 3-4 crickets at night. For geckos under 7 months, feed them for 5-20 minutes, twice a day. Older geckos can eat 3-4 times per week.
- As an occasional treat, you can give your pet gecko mealworms. Sorry, still no chips allowed! Do not make mealworms a staple food for your gecko as these worms have an exoskeleton which is more difficult for the gecko to digest. They have a higher amount of fat than crickets but not as much essential nutrients. A mealworm treat once a week should be enough. When feeding mealworms to your gecko, be sure to put the worms in a container with sides high enough, so they won’t crawl out.
- Feeding your pet gecko properly will give it the nourishment it needs to live for many years. Remember that young geckos need more feeding times in a week to help develop their bodies. Give your gecko fresh water to drink everyday, and give it vitamin and mineral supplements every week.
If you are a responsible pet owner, you shouldn’t find the above tips hard to execute. Otherwise, you’re better off with that stuffed gecko.
ImageCredit: 1.
This article is wrote by Amanda Jacobson – health and self improvement blogger and also a petlover who is sharing her ideas on http://www.weightlossherbs.org/ and http://catweightloss.org/