What do I feed my reptile to keep it healthy?

When caring for a reptile, you want ReptileDirect to do whatever you can to keep your pet happy and healthy. And what you feed your pet reptile plays a big part in that. From prepared foods to fresh, here’s a look at what you can feed your pet reptile to keep him healthy.

Reptiles fall into four categories when it comes to their food preferences:

Carnivores: Meat-eaters, like snakes and monitor lizards
Herbivores: Plant-eaters, like green iguanas, most tortoises, and uromastyx
Insectivores: Insect-eaters, like chameleons and geckos
Omnivores: Eat a mix of plants and meat, like bearded dragons, box turtles, and many skinks
Within these categories, each species also has its own unique nutritional needs. Serving species-specific prepared foods (like extruded pellets) with a mix of fresh food is a great choice for most reptiles — except for the few carnivores that prefer whole prey.

In the sections below, you’ll find a guide to the types of food you can offer your pet, from prepared foods to whole prey and fresh veggies.

Prepared Foods
Prepared foods are a good way to ensure reptiles of all kinds, from carnivores to omnivores, get the extra nutritional makeup of vitamins and minerals their species needs. If you only feed fresh or live food, keeping track of the vitamins and supplements your pet gets each day can be difficult to ensure he doesn’t get sick. Often, prepared food is available in pellets, powdered food, or freeze-dried mixes. Below are four examples of prepared foods your pet might prefer.

Pellets
Extruded pellets are a great choice because they typically provide ready-to-eat formulas blended to provide the precise ratio of vitamins, minerals, and proteins your pet needs. Be sure you get the kind designed for your particular species — you don’t want to feed a green iguana pellets designed for a tortoise! (And make sure the instructions say the pellets were made to serve as your pet’s primary diet, not a supplement or snack.)

Three examples that can be the primary diet or mixed with fresh food include:

Land Turtle and Tortoise Extruded Food Pellets: Best for land turtles and tortoises that prefer plants, berries, flowers, and some insects.
Aquatic Turtle Extruded Food Pellets: Designed for aquatic turtles that prefer a diet with fish and crustaceans.

Bearded Dragon Extruded Food Pellets: Specifically made for your bearded dragon’s omnivorous diet, which consists of plants, flowers, and insects. Includes the precise amount of proteins, vitamins, and minerals needed for healthy growth and color.

Powdered Mixes
Powdered mixes are a common prepared food choice for fruit-eating geckos, like the crested gecko. Powdered mixes provide an easy way to make sure your pet gets all the vitamins and nutrients he needs. However, even for fruit-eating geckos, you might still want to occasionally supplement with live insects.

The Gecko Gold Powdered Diet is designed for fruit-eating geckos and includes the fruits, protein, vitamins, and minerals that geckos need.

Dehydrated Protein
Dehydrated meat products are a great choice for certain insectivores or omnivores because you can deliver all the nutrition your pet needs in a tasty, easy-to-serve product. But read the directions closely; while some can be your pet’s whole diet, others are designed just to be a treat. Three options include:

Reptile Munchies Omnivore: Designed for omnivorous species like bearded dragons, water dragons, box turtles, and tegus. This can be your pet’s entire diet or supplemented with fresh food and pellets.
Reptile Munchies River Shrimp: Nutritious enough to be your pet’s entire diet or can be fed with pellets and leafy greens. Great for turtles, salamanders, and axolotls.
Reptile Munchies Mealworm: Dehydrated mealworms are meant to be treats, not primary food. Great for bearded dragons, leopard geckos, and chameleons.

Dehydrated Fruits and Vegetables
Some omnivores and herbivores will love dehydrated fruit or veggie mixes because they deliver all the nutrition your pet needs in a tasty, easy-to-serve product. Three options that can be your pet’s sole diet or part of a mix of fresh food and pellets include:

Reptile Munchies Vegetable Mix: Ideal for herbivores like iguanas, tortoises, and uromastyx.
Reptile Munchies Vegetable and Fruit Mix: Great for bearded dragons, iguanas, tortoises, and uromastyx.
Reptile Munchies Fruit Mix: A good choice for iguanas, blue-tongued skinks, tegus, box turtles, and red- and yellow-footed tortoises.