The 35-year-old defender takes the places of Wolves man Ricketts, who picked up a problem in training on Tuesday.
Ricketts is the fourth player to pull out of Chris Coleman's squad, following the withdrawals of Adam Matthews, Hal Robson-Kanu and James Collins.
The call-up will come as a further good news for Gabbidon, who signed a one-year deal as player-coach at Cardiff City on Monday, after his release from Crystal Palace at the end of last season.
Coleman's side travel to Andorra for their opening Group B fixture in a pool that also includes Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus and Israel.
Wales were last in action in June, when they were beaten 2-0 by Netherlands in a friendly in Amsterdam.
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