Canned Diets: An Aromatic Variety and Reliable Backup
Canned food – whether insects or exotic fruits – retains the most important things thanks to a gentle preservation process in its own juices: appealing aroma, natural taste, and high nutritional value. Although handling a can is incredibly convenient, our favorite rule applies here too: fresh and live food is always the most natural for the animal.
Canned foods should serve as a welcome variety to the diet, a reward, or an "emergency stash" for times when you do not have live insects or fresh fruit on hand. They are also a great solution for keepers who are uncomfortable handling live insects, or when someone from the family is looking after your terrarium.
To ensure canned feeding fulfills its purpose and benefits the animals, it is good to follow a few guidelines depending on what exactly you are feeding.
Canned Insects (e.g., mealworms, crickets)
Canned insects are softer than dried ones, contain essential moisture, and usually smell very appealing to animals. Furthermore, the canning process slightly softens the chitinous exoskeleton, making the insects easier to digest.
- How to feed: Because canned insects show no signs of life, some animals (e.g., chameleons or bearded dragons) may initially ignore them. The best method is to offer the insect using tweezers and wiggle it slightly in front of the animal to trigger its hunting instinct.
- Who is it for: For insectivorous and omnivorous reptiles (bearded dragons, leopard geckos, skinks), amphibians, as well as insectivorous birds and small mammals (e.g., African pygmy hedgehogs).
Canned Fruits and Purées (e.g., papaya, mango)
Canned exotic fruit is literally an energy bomb full of vitamins and natural sugars. For frugivorous species, it is an irresistible treat.
- How to feed: Offer the fruit in small, shallow dishes. Since it is very sweet, treat it more as a dessert or a supplement to a basic plant-based diet or special crested gecko diets.
- Who is it for: Ideal for crested geckos, day geckos, iguanas, or as an occasional sweet treat for tortoises.
Golden Rules for Handling Canned Food
- Watch out for spoilage: Once you open a can, its contents become perishable. Do not leave leftover canned food in the terrarium for more than 24 hours (even less for fruit in a warm environment), as mold and bacteria will quickly form.
- Proper storage: Always seal the opened can (e.g., with a plastic lid) and store it in the refrigerator. Ideally, use it within a few days.
- Room temperature before serving: If you take a can out of the fridge, let the feeding portion warm up to room temperature for a while before offering it to the animal. Cold food can cause digestive shock in reptiles.
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