Leopard Gecko FAQ: Feeding & Care Questions

Babies up to about 3 months eat every day. Juveniles from 4 to 11 months eat every other day, and adults from 12 months eat two or three times a week. Feed in the evening, when leopard geckos naturally hunt, and remove uneaten crickets afterward. The feeding chart and insect calculator show how many insects to offer per feeding at each age.

A common guide is 5–7 small mealworms per feeding for babies, 6–8 for juveniles and 6–10 for adults. Serve them in a smooth-sided dish so they cannot burrow into the substrate, and gut-load them for a day or two first. Adjust by body condition rather than by the number alone: a tail about as wide as the neck is a good sign, while a tail wider than the body means your gecko is eating too much.

Many leopard geckos do well on gut-loaded, dusted mealworms as their main food, and some keepers have fed them this way for years. Still, mixing in crickets, dubia roaches or black soldier fly larvae improves the balance of nutrients and keeps picky eaters interested. Superworms and waxworms are much fattier, so treat them as occasional extras for adults rather than part of the regular diet.

No. Leopard geckos are insectivores, meaning they eat only insects, and their digestive system is not built to process plant matter or sugar. Offering fruit can cause digestive upset. Instead, feed gut-loaded insects: the vegetables, greens and gut-load food you give the insects for a day or two before feeding pass those nutrients on to your gecko in a form it can use.

Common reasons are a warm side that is too cool, stress after a move, an upcoming shed, breeding season in males, or cooler months. Check the warm-surface temperature inside the hide first, since leopard geckos need belly heat to digest. See a reptile vet if your gecko is losing weight, its tail is getting thinner, it has not eaten in more than two weeks, or it shows other signs such as runny droppings.

A healthy adult with a thick tail can go one to two weeks, and sometimes longer, without eating, because it stores fat in its tail. Babies and juveniles have little reserve and should not go more than a few days. If your gecko stops eating, weigh it weekly on a kitchen scale and watch the width of the tail. Steady weight loss or a shrinking tail needs a vet check.

Yes. Dust insects with plain calcium at most feedings, calcium with vitamin D3 once or twice a week, and a reptile multivitamin about once a week. Many keepers also leave a small dish of plain calcium in the enclosure. Without enough calcium and D3, geckos can develop metabolic bone disease. Our schedule generator spreads these supplements across your feeding days.

They can survive without UVB if they get vitamin D3 from supplements, which is how they were kept for decades. Many vets now recommend low-output UVB (a “shade dweller” tube of about 2.5–7%) across part of the enclosure, with plenty of shade, because it lets the gecko make its own D3 and supports natural behavior. If you add UVB, reduce the D3 dusting so your gecko does not get too much vitamin D3.

The tail stores fat, so a thin tail usually means your gecko is using up its reserves. Causes include underfeeding, a warm side that is too cool for proper digestion, stress, and illness, especially intestinal parasites. Check temperatures and feeding amounts first, and weigh your gecko weekly. See a reptile vet if the tail keeps shrinking, your gecko is not eating, or its droppings are runny or smell unusual.

Yes. A leopard gecko can drop its tail when frightened or grabbed and grow a new one over several weeks to months. The new tail is usually shorter, smoother and rounder than the original. Because the tail holds fat reserves, feed your gecko steadily while it regrows. Keep the enclosure clean, use paper towel for a while, and see a vet if the stump looks red, swollen or infected.

Young geckos shed every one to three weeks as they grow; adults shed about every four to eight weeks. The skin turns pale and dull a day or two before, and most geckos eat their shed afterward, so you may never see it. Stuck shed on toes, the tail tip or around the eyes needs attention, because it can tighten and cut off circulation. A damp humid hide prevents most problems.

They do best alone. Some keepers house females together in a larger enclosure with extra hides and feeding stations, but fighting, bitten tails and stress are common, and one gecko may quietly stop eating. Never house two males together, because they will fight. Only put a male with a female for planned breeding, since constant breeding exhausts females. A single gecko does not get lonely.

Signs of an overweight gecko include a tail much wider than the neck, bulges or bubbles in the armpits, and a round belly that drags on the floor. It usually comes from feeding adults too often or offering many fatty worms such as waxworms and superworms. Cut back to two or three feedings a week, focus on staple feeders, and compare its weight with our growth chart.

Current guidance recommends at least 36 × 18 × 18 inches for one adult leopard gecko, about 50 gallons, and 48 × 24 × 24 inches is even better. A 20-gallon long is enough only for a hatchling. More space makes it easier to build a proper warm and cool gradient and gives your gecko room to explore at night. See our enclosure setup guide for a full layout.

Keep a warm surface of about 90–95°F under the heat source, a cool side of 70–77°F and nights of 65–75°F. Measure the floor inside the warm hide with a digital probe or infrared thermometer, because leopard geckos digest using belly heat. Every heat source should run on a thermostat. Our temperature guide includes a checker for your readings.

For young geckos, paper towel or slate tile is safest, because they can swallow loose particles while hunting. Adults can live on a naturalistic mix of organic topsoil and play sand that holds its shape and allows digging. Avoid calcium sand, walnut shell and pure fine sand, which are linked to impaction. Feeding insects from a dish or with tongs reduces the risk of swallowing substrate on any surface.

Adults usually measure 7–10 inches and weigh 45–80 grams, while giant bloodlines can reach 80–120 grams or more. Most are close to adult size by 12 months and finish filling out by about two years. With good care, leopard geckos commonly live 10–20 years, so they are a long-term commitment. See the leopard gecko weight chart for month-by-month ranges.

Many leopard geckos tolerate gentle handling once they are used to you, but they do not need it to be healthy. Give a new gecko about two weeks to settle before handling. Start with short sessions low to the floor, scoop from the side rather than grabbing from above, support the whole body and never hold it by the tail, which it can drop. Wash your hands afterward.