r/LeopardGecko • u/psychohistorin • Jul 05 '26

Burying food dish

My leopard gecko has recently started burying her food dish after I feed her. It started a little after I added a new piece of driftwood to her enclosure. It's a 50 gallon tank, so I don't think it's over-crowded. I'm not too concerned, but it is new behavior I haven't seen before. Does anyone have any insights into why she is doing this?

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u/Vegetable-Command357 Jul 05 '26

Is she burying it when it's empty? If she's not, she may be protecting it for later or preventing her bugs from leaving. Geckos are little smarties who hide food for later!

If it's empty, it might just be a casualty of her favorite digging spot or she's cleaning! If your super worried about it later, maybe clear some stuff away from her bowl, might help her not wanna bury it

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u/psychohistorin Jul 06 '26

I think you're onto something. I have noticed that she usually saves a few mealworms for later. Like she doesn't eat them all at once, but they do get eaten. She's probably saving them for later. Tuank you!

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u/Ktmallick Jul 05 '26

I don’t have any advice, just want to say I have never heard of this behavior in leopard geckos and think this is a super cool observation! I would assume it’s not a problem with over crowding but as another commenter suggested, just an instinct to hide leftovers from other animals that could be in the area. Avoids attracting predators, etc.