Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We got our first leopard gecko (first lizard ever) last Wednesday.
He's about 4 1/2 inches long. The people at the pet store said to feed him about 6 small crickets twice a week, dusting with calcium each time. Our leopard gecko care book says he should be eating 5 times a week, with calcium dusting 2 x. So far, he got 6 tiny crickets Thursday and another 6 on Sunday.

He still looks hungry. Are we accidently starving him?

Also, the thermometer in his tank says about 88 deg. We have the light over one side, so he has a hot and cool sides. Is that good?

The guy at the petstore said kingsnake.com would be one of our best resources, so we appreciate any help you can provide.

Thank you for your advice.

I recommand feeding him until it doesn't eat anymore for two days straight. If you decide on just feeding it just twice a week.

Feed the gecko as much as it can eat every time you feed it. Make sure you keep count so that way you can just buy that amount the next time around.

Each gecko is different. So feeding will be different, so I can't really tell you how much to feed.

Increase the amount of crickets you feed like every month by 3-5 more crickets. They eat alot once they get older.

I don't feed crickets anymore becuase I don't like removing the uneaten one so many times.

Crickets that aren't being eaten might actually bite the geckos.

For my geckos they get a big bowl of mealworms(about 25) available to them throughout the day. I change the worms every other day so I can gutload the ones that have been sitting in the cage.

I make sure I see each of the geckos eat atleast one worm every other day. Just so I know they are eating.

The temp is great. That is good that you left one side cool.

That is all I know for right now I'm a little brain dead after taking care of my cousins.

Keep asking questions, it's good to learn.

Oh yeah I forgot to say. Keep a small dish or like a lid of calcium in the tank with the gecko. They will lick it when they think they need it.

Dusting the cricket everytime you feed the gecko is great. That will make sure the gecko get some calcium in it's body.

If you get mealworms, dust those too.

hey lillesspetz, what do you gutload your mealies with? Just veggies and grains and such? I gutload all my crix but one of my leos seems to have chosen mealies to be much more favorable over crickets so i need to start gutloading those too
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake
1.1 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Anerythristic Corn
0.0.1 Red Tegu
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

I don't give them grain unless they are in the fridge. I leave them out in a plain container with carrots, potatoes for like a day or two and then change the container cause these guys can poo alot!

I have like 4 containers, two in the fridge and two outside. I switch them every three days.

I feed my adult geckos pinkies twice a month.

I like feeding them to the point of big fat tails.

My adults eat awhole lot! About 10 worms a day.
The younger ones doesn't as much, go figure.

Feed as much as the little guy will eat every day. Keep putting items in until he's no longer interested. Dust the prey with vitamin powder at every feeding for little ones. Its very important to remove any loose, uneaten crikets as they can actually harm a gecko -- believe it or not, a sleeping gecko won't defend itself from a cricket nibbling on it! You can also feed in a separate tank (I use the big plastic "critter carriers". Then I just dump the uneaten crickets back in the cricket tanks.

Young leos grow very quickly and, from my experience, need a fairly high caloric intake. I offer food every day to all my babies, my juvenilles, and my very young adults. None of my geckos have weight problems...and they don't bolt their food.

From my experience, although leos eat larger food items as they get older, they eat LESS. They hit a point where they suddenly curb their appetites and don't need to be fed every day. They also pack on weight more quickly and can become obese (I see WAY too many fat leos in peoples' photos) You'll easily notice this change in eating behaviour.

I gut load my meal worms and my crickets with:
1) "Total Cricket Gutload" -- these green gel-like chunks of vitamin and protein-packed food concentrate. They're awesome because they have a high water content, eliminating the need for water that suicidal crickets love to drown themselves in (I swear, this in an Olympic event for crickets). 2) Pre-mixed grains w/vitamins sold as "cricket gutload" (the mealworms like this a lot), 3) cat food (good fats, etc) and 4) veggies...whatever I have lying around.

I choose not to feed my meal worms oatmeal because it seems to have limited nutritional content. The only problems with mealworms and the cricket gel chunks and the veggies is that these items can mold. For this reason, you can stick to grain mix and cat food...if the prey eats moldy food and the gecko eats the prey, it can kill the gecko.
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Too many Leos
1.0 feline "Spot"
0.1 canine "Tika"

Thanks so much for the guidance. We fed our guy 6 crickets today and he gobbled them up in less then a minute---I KNEW he was hungry. We'll start offering him food every day until we figure out how much and how often he wants it.

Thank you!