Nutritional diseases in geckos

Nutritional diseases are caused by an incorrect diet. They can occur if fed too much or too little of the necessary nutrients, vitamins and minerals needed to maintain good health. Nutritional disease is commonly seen in geckos, but it is preventable.

Malnutrition is the result of an incorrect diet; this may be too much or too little of any food.

It is vital your gecko is kept at the correct temperature to help the stomach and small intestine absorb all the nutrients from his food. Make sure you feed a varied diet to your gecko. Your gecko’s vivarium temperature should be warmer during the day and cooler at night. The vivarium should have a warmer and a cooler end to allow your gecko to control his temperature. Your gecko also needs a good source of UV light to help his body absorb calcium from the intestine, the light should be placed 30-45 cm away from the gecko most common bathing spot.

Most cases of malnutrition need specialist veterinary care.

Vitamin A is needed to keep the inside of the mouth, the eyes and the kidneys working. Lack of this vitamin can cause thickening of the eyelids and can also lead to kidney failure. Geckos get their  source of vitamin A from insects, so a varied diet is important to help provide adequate amounts. Feeding gut loaded insects can help reach this goal too.

Vitamin D3 and calcium are needed to keep your gecko’s bones strong and his muscles active. An insufficiency will lead to the bones becoming soft and bendy; they may even fracture. A common method of increasing the amount of calcium in the body is to dust the insects with calcium powder. Although sometimes the dust can fall off before consumed so gut loading the insects with specific calcium high insect feeds can be beneficial.

Keeping your gecko at the correct temperature helps his stomach and small intestine to absorb all the nutrients from his food. Make sure you feed a varied diet to your gecko. The variety of shop brought and bred insects is limited in the UK but try to give him as much variety of these as possible. Your gecko also needs a good source of UV light to help his body absorb calcium from the intestine.

If your gecko has a nutritional disease he may have to visit the veterinary practice for  possible hospitalization, so he can receive assisted feeding and vitamin treatments to help him recover.