Leopard Geckos and...baby food?

I was lurking around on the internet about what leopard geckos eat before I got mine and stumbled across a forum talking about their leopard geckos eating organic fruit baby food. If I remember correctly, one woman said "My leos love it! They just lap it up."

I did a quick google search and found that there's a few things on actually feeding them baby food as apart of their diet because of its nutrients.

What do you guys think about this? I find it almost a little bizarre.

The amount of mis-information or disasterous information on the net about things that are supposedly good for our leos is immense...

Just a couple points... first, all scientific sources agree that leos are insectivores... they eat bugs... their system is designed for eating bugs.. dealing with shell, protein, fats, amino acids and what not you find in living creatures however not equipped to deal with fur and bone the way a carnivoir would. Herps like cresteds that eat a fruit diet would be a different story as their system is designed for a fruit/plant based diet so their system is set accordingly to digest foods high in fiber, sugars, few fats and even fewer proteins.

Now are there leos that WILL eat fruit baby food, I'm sure there are...just as I'm sure there are wild leos that on occasion will eat scavenged fruit... is it good for them... could be debateable but given how they are designed I would think not... now substituting chicken or turky flavored organic baby food say in an emergency kit or for a long term non-eating leo, that would be a different story, THAT is acceptable and suggested in some recipes for leo rehab.

As a "supplement" to some lizards, you can feed them baby food; my anoles love pumpkin and banana baby food. I used banana baby food as part of a supplement for a non-eating leo but don't mistake all this information as a staple diet. Like Kel said, they are insectivores and should eat like it.

Alot of gecko's eat baby food, probably why people have been led to believe that its okay for leopard gecko's too. I wouldn't say it is to be honest. Plus there's not much need to feed it to them...

i would never feed any reptile baby food. period. it's formulated for infants, not geckos.

It's actually part of the slurry recipe for the long term hunger strike.

Infact, if you want to get technical. Baby food is developed at such a high level to give infants the proper nurtition they need that it would be a good secondary to insectivorous animals. Assuming their digestive systems can handle it.

sorry, but couldn't disagree more. the real slurry recipe includes no baby food of any kind. don't know of any baby food made of insects...

Alot of supermarket babyfoods have alot of additives and added sugars which are not so good for leo's (or cresties for that matter), but the organic baby food are usually ok as they are natural ingrediants with no added crap

I've also heard of non-flavored yogurt being used in slurry recipes, and just by itself.

Heard many success stories that way.

The plain yogurt is actually used as a probiotic to restore gut flora, any animal that has been off food for a while or just not eating regularly, went thru a bout with illness or antibiotics should always have a restorative dose of probiotics whether it's thru yogurt (be careful tho the lactose is minimal but could upset some leo's GIs) or powdered suppliment. Organic baby food for cresties could be an acceptable mix base for your properly supplimented crestie formulas like repashy crestie diet, and using an organic meat based baby food such as turkey or chicken provides almost the same nutritional values (Protein, fats) of most feeder staples such as mealies, morios or crickets but also come with an elevated sodium value and lower fiber (obviously no shell on a chicken or turkey) as well usually. No baby food is not made of insects but it does provide the same proteins and fats needed but just via a different vehicle. Insted of it being from a bug it's from fowl. You can substitute one meat source for another of similar value with minimal upset to the GI system as long as that animal is designed to digest meat, protein, fats, you're good (but remember this is not for an everyday diet, critical care animals and emergencies only). So all have pros and cons but can be used in a pinch in a slurry or in an emergency disaster kit.

Hope this helped to clear some of the confusion