Today we will respond to a reader who wrote to us about his breeding colony of leopard geckos. He was feeding them mealworms, but has developed an allergy to this food source. Now, he is looking for an alternative feeder insect to give his leopard geckos. He is curious about the possibility of using black soldier fly larvae. He wants to know if someone can have an allergy to their frass, which is their excrement.

Leopard geckos, which are known in the science community as Eublepharis macularius, have beed bred in captivity for decades and are one of the most common kept lizards today. Most leopard geckos live 6-10 years, but in ideal conditions some can survive past 20 years. While most people primarily feed their leopard geckos live mealworms, there are a lot of other options for the diet of these lizards. According to That Reptile Blog, the best way to ensure your leopard geckos are healthy is to implement a diet that includes a variety of insects such as cockroaches, butter worms, waxworms, silkworms, tomato hornworms, crickets, and sow bugs. All of these insects should be given a nutritious powdered diet for at least 12 hours before being fed to the lizards. In addition to the variety of insects, the lizards’ diet should include a vitamin-mineral supplement. There are several ways to ensure that the lizards receive this supplement. One option is called “dusting” and involves putting both the insects and the vitamin-mineral powder in a plastic bag and shaking it to lightly coat the insects’ bodies before they are fed to the lizards. Another option is to keep a small jar lid filled with vitamin-mineral powder in the cage with the leopard geckos. Since these animals know how much their bodies need, they will lick up the powder accordingly.

Although not mentioned above, black soldier fly larvae (BSFL for short) are another feeder insect option. These larvae are full of calcium and protein and have a low fat content, which makes them an ideal “health food” for leopard geckos. We encourage our reader to try out BSFL as an alternate food source for his lizards. We don’t know, however, if his allergy to mealworm frass might mean that he is also allergic or sensitive to the frass of other insects like BSFL. If our reader is concerned about his allergies or other aspects of his health, we recommend that he speak to a medical professional!

To wrap up, a reader reached out to us about food source options for his colony of leopard geckos. We have provided some information on the ideal diet for these lizards, and we see no problem with him introducing black soldier fly larvae as the main food source for his leopard geckos.

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