How many crickets, and how often? A leopard gecko feeding plan from life stage and length, with the dusting schedule, insects a week and a month, and what the feeders cost.
Leopard Gecko Feeding Calculator - Chart by Age
How many crickets, and how often? A leopard gecko feeding plan from life stage and length, with the dusting schedule, insects a week and a month, and what the feeders cost.
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Leopard gecko feeding chart, worked out for one gecko
How many crickets does a leopard gecko need? For an adult of 8 in, about 16 per feeding, 2 to 3 times a week, or 32 to 48 a week. The calculator builds that kind of plan from the gecko's life stage and total length: insects per feeding by the two-per-inch rule, how often to feed from veterinary guidance, calcium and multivitamin dusting, a weekly and monthly insect count, and, if you enter a box price, what the feeders cost.
Six answers on the form
- Life stage - juvenile (still growing), young adult (close to full size) or adult. The stage sets how often you feed.
- Unit and total length - nose to the tip of the tail, in inches or centimeters. The length sets how many insects go into one feeding.
- Tail compared with the neck - optional. An adult whose tail is fatter than its neck moves to one feeding every 5 days.
- Feeder insect - crickets, dubia roaches, mealworms, silkworms, superworms or waxworms. Empty means crickets.
- UVB light - without one, the calcium you dust with should contain vitamin D3.
- Box price and insects in the box - optional, both together, for the cost per week, month and year.
How the plan is put together
The schedule comes from VCA Animal Hospitals, whose leopard gecko care sheet, written by Gregory Rich, DVM, says juveniles should be fed every 1 to 2 days and adults 2 to 3 times a week. For the stage in between, and for adults carrying a lot of fat in the tail, the calculator uses ReptiFiles, a widely used keeper's guide: young adults every other day or every third day, and adults whose tail is fatter than the neck every 5 days.
How much goes into one feeding follows the ReptiFiles rule of 2 appropriately sized insects for each inch of the gecko's length, or however many it eats in 15 minutes. The count is a ceiling, not a quota. A gecko that stops early has had enough, and the leftovers come out of the enclosure rather than staying in overnight.
What the insect ate matters as much as how many of them there are. VCA asks for prey that has been gut loaded on a good diet for at least 24 hours, a light dusting with phosphorus-free calcium powder, and a shallow dish of calcium powder in the enclosure. UVB lighting is recommended but not required; without it, the calcium should carry vitamin D3.
Insects per week by length and stage
Insects per feeding (2 per inch) and per week at the low and high end of each schedule, as the calculator returns them.
| Total length | Per feeding | Juvenile, a week | Young adult, a week | Adult, a week | Adult, fat tail |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 in (8 cm) | 6 | 21 to 42 | 14 to 21 | 12 to 18 | 8 |
| 4 in (10 cm) | 8 | 28 to 56 | 19 to 28 | 16 to 24 | 11 |
| 5 in (13 cm) | 10 | 35 to 70 | 23 to 35 | 20 to 30 | 14 |
| 6 in (15 cm) | 12 | 42 to 84 | 28 to 42 | 24 to 36 | 17 |
| 7 in (18 cm) | 14 | 49 to 98 | 33 to 49 | 28 to 42 | 20 |
| 8 in (20 cm) | 16 | 56 to 112 | 37 to 56 | 32 to 48 | 22 |
| 9 in (23 cm) | 18 | 63 to 126 | 42 to 63 | 36 to 54 | 25 |
| 10 in (25 cm) | 20 | 70 to 140 | 47 to 70 | 40 to 60 | 28 |
Dusting and supplement schedule
What goes on the insects, and how often, by stage.
| Item | Juvenile | Adult | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calcium dusting | every feeding | every feeding | VCA, ReptiFiles |
| Calcium with D3 | when there is no UVB | when there is no UVB | ReptiFiles |
| Multivitamin | 1 a week | 1 every other week | ReptiFiles |
| Gut loading | at least 24 h | at least 24 h | VCA |
| Waxworms | treat, at most 1 a week | treat, at most 1 a week | ReptiFiles |
| Water | shallow dish, changed daily | shallow dish, changed daily | VCA |
Facts that change the feeding routine
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