Underweight baby feeding... how much?

[HerpGirlNC]

Hey guys, I've been told my new baby is underweight and I was wondering how often and how much i should start feeding him... I've read that he should be getting two prey items per inch of body length every other day And to gutload them prior to feeding. his first night home (last night) he ate 11 little crickets. I got him at about 10 in the morning and offered him a cricket at around 9 p.m. I didn't really expect him to eat but he gobbled it up and so I gave him all 11 a couple at a time, which he ate with gusto... So he's more than willing to eat, but I dont know if I should feed him a larger amount, and more often since he's under weight?

 

[panthergecko]

they put on weight over time so just feed him regularly and you'll see him gain weight little by little. when i bought my geckos from petco they ate little by little and then over time gained weight. you should try feeding reptiworms as they are good and are a great replacement to crickets and other worms. look em up

 

[animeavatar]

Do you dust? I would feed it how much it can eat.

 

[HerpGirlNC]

awesome, thanks! I figured it was a common sense kinda question but Sammy is my first leo and I just want him to be as happy as he can be

As far as dusting goes, to be honest I was a little overwhelmed with all the opinions on how often and how much. I know he needs calcium without d3 in his tank at all times, and I think I'm supposed to dust the gutloaded crickets with d3 calcium maybe twice a week... and then the vitamins about the same... is this correct? I'm sorry I seem so clueless, I really did research, but everyone seems to have a different opinion.

Oh and should I be feeding him every day since he is still only four inches or every other day?

sorry to be so needy haha Thank you guys for your input!

 

[fl_orchidslave]

The littles and juvs need to be fed daily. Older juvs on up thru adulthood are good with every other day to 2-3 times a week.

 

[cwheeler]

Not trying to hijack your thread at all, but I agree with your statement about differing opinions on calcium. I dust every feeding with Repashy and have a dish of Repti-cal calcium with D3 in the tank at all times (Someone more knowledgeable than I uses Repti-cal calcium in the tank at all times, and so do I because of that fact).

Do you have a scale by any chance? I weigh mine every couple of weeks while cleaning their cages (I clean their cages more than every couple of weeks) and note the growth.

The feeding recommendations are spot on. My juvies eat daily, while my older juvies and adults will sometime just skip a day between feeding no matter what I offer them to eat.

Otherwise that's a good looking gecko.

 

[gothra]

Not trying to hijack your thread at all, but I agree with your statement about differing opinions on calcium. I dust every feeding with Repashy and have a dish of Repti-cal calcium with D3 in the tank at all times (Someone more knowledgeable than I uses Repti-cal calcium in the tank at all times, and so do I because of that fact).

If you need to have a dish of calcium in the tank at all times, I think plain calcium with no D3 is better. Since vitamin D3 can overdose.

 

[HerpGirlNC]

Thank you I gave him about 15 crickets that had been dusted with calcium and vitamins and gut loaded for a bit and he ate them up And i put some tile in his tank too. I must have gotten the wrong estimate for how many i needed so it's only about half covered lol but the thermostat says it's at 90 degrees over the heater