As loving and caring owners, there are a million things to wonder about when it comes to leopard geckos and the things that they’re capable of doing and surprisingly, for many different owners, farts are one of those things to worry about. We know that cats fart, dogs fart, and many other animals do as well. But, is there a possibility that leopard geckos do also? Let’s find out.
Do leopard geckos fart? Yes, they do. Farts occur from a buildup of gas within the body from swallowing air and eating food. Because leopard geckos do both, they have to release this gas from their bodies just as other animals do.
It might be weird to think that leopard geckos can fart, but it’s actually a pretty normal occurrence. The crazy thing about it though is that because their farts are so quiet, you may not ever hear them at all. This can be bad because if you don’t know that they’ve just let one go, you may get an unpleasant surprise when holding them or opening up their tank. Let’s learn more.
The Sound
I never thought that I’d be discussing the sound of a leopard geckos fart, but because knowing the different noises they make can be educational, I figured why not. Leopard geckos make all kinds of noises that include coughing, screaming, “barking”, and farting noises.
Knowing which is which will help you understand your leopard gecko better and will also help with potentially identifying if something is wrong with them or not.Â
With that said, when your gecko passes gas, you can expect to hear a noise that is similar to some sort of a buzzing sound or a zipper being zipped up or down really quickly.
The sound is pretty faint, but it can be quite stinky once they do it. If you hear it, you should know immediately what it is as it is a very distinct sound compared to the other noises that they make.
Farts usually smell based on what a creature’s diet is, so if you can imagine what crickets, mealworms, and many of the other bugs that they eat smell like in fart-form, then you know that that smell probably isn’t too pleasant to take in.
On top of that, a lot of them actually pass their gas while pooping. So if you’ve ever cleaned up a bowel movement shortly after your leopard gecko has dropped one, then more than likely you have smelled one of their farts before.
And although the sound is what might draw your attention into investigating what they’ve just done, the smell might draw you away from wanting to check into it any further.
A Smelly Concoction
Although their farts and feces may smell, there’s something that is given to them that may smell worse to some owners and that’s their insects. Yes, the insects that they consume, particularly crickets, can start to smell really bad if left in the tank for too long.
The reason for this is that sometimes leopard geckos can’t always eat all of the crickets that are left in the tank due to crickets hopping around and getting stuck in spots that your leopard gecko can’t reach.
As a result, the insects end up dying and because of that, they end up stinking up the tank as well. In addition to the smell of the poo-soiled substrate and farts, things can start to smell pretty foul.
Luckily, there is something that you can do to neutralize some of this smell and that’s to spray a little reptile odor eliminator within your tank after your leopard gecko passes gas or while having your head in the tank searching for dead insects.
Dead insects and the smell of them passing gas can be pretty unbearable to deal with when it’s trapped in an enclosed area. So, again, to help with that, I recommend taking a look at some of this smell-neutralizing spray here on Amazon.
A lot of reptile owners have a very hard time keeping the room that their lizard is in smell clean due to all of the things that can make their tank smell bed. But with that stuff, it will knock out some of the smell so that the quality of the air isn’t as bad for you or your guests to deal with whenever you or anyone else enters your leopard geckos space.
I use crickets and mealworms in my leopard geckos diet, and because I also have an issue with bugs dying in hard-to-reach spaces within the tank, having that spray has helped me a lot with keeping a lot of that smell to a minimal.
They Don’t Fart Often
Luckily, compared to larger animals such as dogs and cats, leopard geckos don’t fart nearly as often as animals of a greater size. This isn’t because of how small they are, but because they tend to eat a lot less than commonly owned animals like those.
Another plus is that because of their small stature, their bodies will generally produce a lot less gas than larger animals as well. This is a good thing because less gas means less of a smell and less of a smell means a better-smelling environment.
When it comes to cats or dogs, for example, their farts are typically powerful enough to stink up multiple rooms at once. This is because they eat a lot more than lizards and because of that, the bacteria in their stomach that is produced when they consume their food produces a lot more gas.
The same goes for almost any other large animal. The bigger the animal, the smellier the farts will be and because leopard geckos are relatively small and despite the fact that their gas will still stink, their farts won’t smell nearly as bad as many other commonly owned animals that aren’t as small because of those two reasons.
Not only that but when talking about flatulence, you have to take into consideration an animal’s diet as well. Farts will typically smell pretty bad regardless of what is eaten, but when comparing processed and canned foods to bugs, which is what leopard geckos eat, a leopard geckos farts will probably smell a lot less bad simply because of their diet.
Gas Frequency Is Determined by Age
You may be thinking how exactly the amount of gas is produced by a leopard gecko is determined by age but because leopard geckos of different age groups eat different amounts of food throughout the week, certain leopard geckos are likely to produce a little more gas than others.
With that said, if you know anything about the diet of a leopard gecko, then you likely know that leopard geckos that are younger eat a lot more than leopard geckos that are older. This is because younger leos need more food for growth compared to a gecko that has already grown up.
Because of this, leopard geckos that eat less will expel gas less frequently and those that eat more will expel gas a lot more. As stated above, gas is produced from bacteria that lies in the digestive tract whenever food is consumed and from swallowing air.
So the more food that is consumed, the more gas will be produced. Luckily though, because their bodies are very small, they’re unable to hold large amounts of gas at once and because of that, it’s not likely that they’ll stink the room up whenever they do end up releasing all of that built-up air like other animals would.
In addition to that, different insects that they eat may play a pretty important role in how much gas is actually produced just like how burritos make humans extremely gassy. For example, your leopard gecko may fart a lot more after eating more snack foods like wax worms compared to more staple foods like mealworms or crickets.
This logic applies to us and pretty much every other organism on this planet that consumes food, so it only makes sense that it would apply to leopard geckos and many other lizards as well.
Conclusion
Although leopard geckos are different than us, they still eat and breathe the same way that we do and because of that, their bodies produce gases the same way that we do as well. It may be shocking to learn that they fart simply because we naturally think that they don’t due to their small stature.
But despite the fact that they’re a lot smaller in size compared to us and other animals, the truth of the matter is that they do still do it and will continue to do it as long as they’re eating and breathing creatures whether we hear the act being done or not.
Their farts may not carry a huge odor, but they can be pretty stinky when in an enclosed area. The smell shouldn’t get too unbearable, but if it does, then a safe scent-neutralizing spray should do the trick for eliminating a lot of the smell.
Leopard geckos aren’t very stinky pets, but when they pass gas or make a bowel movement, then things might get a little smelly.
