What/How much should i feed my leo?

[iforgotmyname]

Hey guys I just bought my leopard gecko yesterday from pet co and I was just wondering how much i should feed him...Yesterday he ate 5 crickets and today he ate 8 mealworms and 6 crickets, thought that was too much so i stopped. He's 3-5 inches to long so i'm guessing he's around a month old so I dont want to overfeed him yet I dont want to underfeed him.

Thanks, Jordan

 

[Alex G]

You cannot overfeed them at that age, they are growing like you wouldn't believe. As for food, are you coating them with calcium and gutloading them before feeding? That's important because it helps increase the nutritional value of mealworms and crickets, otherwise your guy may as well be eating paper. As for food items, cockroaches are generally thought to be the most nutritional, but they don't sell them at Pet co and I don't think they sell them at Pets Mart, either. You can order online and breed your own, but it's a little bit too many bugs for just one gecko. Mealworms are what most people here use for a variety of reasons:
1. You can put them in a feeding dish and not have to worry about them munching on your gecko while it sleeps if the gecko doesn't eat them all at once
2. You can leave a supply in the feeding dish at all times and the gecko will eat when it gets hungry, rather than having to coat and drop crickets in one at a time
3. They're very easy to find at even chain pet stores, and even easier to breed

EDIT: One other benefit to feeding mealworms (although roaches are the ideal, we're talking compared to crickets) is that you can just dump them in the fridge when you have a lot or you need them at a specific size.

 

[iforgotmyname]

Hi um yesterday i tried dusting everything and he did eat all of it. I also need to know how often do i dust my mealworms because i dont want to give him too much calcium and if i do he might stop eating.....And my mom doesnt let me refrigerate bugs so cockaroaches are out of the question >_>


-jordan

 

[Taquiq]

First off you don't refrigerate roaches. Once a week calcium dust is fine.

 

[Blacksupra94]

Let the little guy eat, make sure hes getting a good calcium intake. My 1.5 year old leo eats about 2-4 superworms every other night or less, sometimes doesn't eat for 5 days, but remains a healthy weight.

 

[Alex G]

Do you have a calcium dish in the tank for him to lick off as needed? If not, I would dust every meal with calcium since he's so young. If yes, then once a week is fine.