The Most Common Nutritional Deficiencies in Pet Reptiles — And Which Feeders Prevent Them
People often worry that they’re not taking good enough care of their pet reptiles. And that’s a natural thing to worry about when you care about your pet. But the truth is that good husbandry solves 90% of your pet’s potential health problems. If you’re missing something your pet needs to stay healthy, there will be warning signs… but ideally, you can prevent nutrient deficiency before it gets to that point.
So in this article, we’ll talk about how to spot nutrient deficiency in reptiles, and more importantly, how to prevent it. Let’s hop to it.
Reasons Reptiles Become Nutrient Deficient
If you’re a newbie reptile person, you probably spend a lot of your time thinking about what you’re feeding your reptile. And true, this is a big part of what goes into good reptile husbandry. But it turns out that’s only part of the puzzle when it comes to nutrients.
A Healthy Reptile Diet
Understanding your pet’s specific needs is crucial to keeping it healthy. Pet reptiles are usually carnivores or omnivores, and both have their own dietary needs.
As an example, bearded dragons are a classic omnivore. Feeder insects make up part of their diet, and the rest is made up of healthy leafy greens and yummy fruits. They need a good mix of foods to stay healthy (especially if your pet doesn’t like to eat its greens).
On the other hand, leopard geckos are a classic example of a carnivore. They eat a mix of feeder insects, which provide them with all the nutrition they need. You can always supplement their diets by gut loading and dusting, but we’ll get to that later.
In either case, you might notice the key here is variety. Reptiles need lots of different kinds of foods to stay healthy. Using one staple feeder is okay, but supplementing it with another complementary feeder can help fill in gaps in your pet’s diet.
Light
The other major thing we’ll mention in this article is light, particularly UVB. While light isn’t a nutrient itself, it makes several key nutrients available to your pet’s body. If your pet doesn’t get UVB, it can’t convert dietary calcium into vitamin D3. We’ve written whole articles on this topic before, but for our sake it’s enough to say your pet also needs UVB light in addition to a balanced diet.
Symptoms of Reptile Nutrient Deficiency
Let’s talk about the things to watch out for in case your pet starts developing a nutrient deficiency. Luckily, these things are pretty easy to spot. But again, our goal should always be to prevent stuff like this from happening. A pet that has a serious nutrient deficiency is in serious danger and needs a trip to the vet immediately.
Calcium/Vitamin D3
The big nutrient deficiency we talk about is calcium. As we mentioned earlier, this has two parts: first is the calcium your pet gets from its food, and second is the UVB light it needs to turn it into vitamin D3. Without vitamin D3, your pet will rapidly develop metabolic bone disease, or MBD.
MBD commonly manifests itself through lethargy and reduced appetite (which is almost always the case with a health issue). More specifically, it leads to tremors and muscle twitching, and finally, it causes a reptile’s bones to become soft and easily breakable. It can cause bone deformities, bowed legs, and broken limbs.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A deficiency is something to watch out for if you have a box turtle or a leopard gecko. It commonly presents itself with swollen eyes, bad sheds, and skin infections. It can also lead to respiratory infections and mouth rot.
Protein
Protein is one of the key nutrients all reptiles need. Not getting enough of it leads to severe lethargy muscle loss, weight loss, stunted growth, and low appetite. Reptiles without enough protein will be extremely lethargic, even unable to walk.
Fat
Reptiles also need fat for clean-burning energy. Some species have specialized fat stores, like leopard geckos, who store it in their tails. Fat deficiency will result in loss of normal stored body fat, lethargy, protruding ribs, and wrinkly “folded up” skin at the joints.
Best Insects to Prevent Nutrient Deficiency
Before mentioning specific insects, it’s important to note that the easiest way to avoid nutrient deficiency is to dust your feeders with a nutrient supplement and gut load them before feeding. There are several nutrient supplements on the market, usually with calcium, but sometimes also with vitamin A.
Gut loading is great in general and helps your pet’s macronutrient intake by filling their feeder insects with good stuff. Check out our full write-up on gut loading for details.
Dubia Roaches
Dubia roaches are a great all-around feeder insect for reptiles like bearded dragons and leopard geckos. They have a high protein content, low fiber, decent fat, and good natural calcium content. They are one of the best feeders to keep in the house and a great staple food source for your pet.
Black Soldier Fly Larvae
Black soldier flies are superbugs. They are one of the only feeder insects with a calcium to phosphorus ratio of more than 1:1. In some cases, BSFL can reach 2.5:1 calcium to phosphorus. Some reptile owners that rely on BSFL don’t even dust their feeders because they contain enough calcium already. They also have great protein content, some good fat, and a low fiber content, although their nutrition facts will vary based on what kind of compost you feed them.
Superworms
Superworms are usually not a staple feeder because they’re more fatty, but that makes them a top-notch “snack” feeder to supplement your main feeder with. They have a high moisture content, low fiber, and are very easy to catch and digest. They can also get pretty large, which makes them a good option for older reptiles that need bigger feeders.