Many captive leopard geckos regularly consume crickets. But determining how many to give can be challenging. What number of crickets should you give your leopard gecko, then?
Each meal should consist of 5-8 crickets for a leopard gecko. The cricket’s size and the feeding frequency determine the portion size. Baby leopard geckos should consume small crickets daily, whereas adults should consume large crickets 3 times per week. It’s crucial to mix and match crickets with different insects.
Do leopard geckos eat crickets?
If prepped and appropriately given, crickets are safe for leopard geckos. They are neither venomous nor poisonous. Feeding crickets has a lot of advantages, but there are also certain dangers to be aware of.
For leopard geckos, crickets have a good nutritional profile. Regarding protein content, crickets are on par with mealworms and black army fly larvae.
In addition, crickets have a higher moisture content than other popular feeder insects. Feeding crickets to leopard geckos is an excellent benefit because they get most of their moisture from their meal.
Compared to other feeder insects, crickets have a very low-fat content. Feeding crickets is a true benefit because obesity, overeating, and fat-related problems are prevalent in pet reptiles.
For example, instead of mealworms or other feeder insects, leopard geckos who may be overweight will benefit from a diet high in crickets.
Geckos feed on roaches and many other insects. They’ll eat them as long as they’re the right size and not poisonous.
Crickets nutritional value
| Nutrient | Amount |
| Moisture | 73% |
| Protein | 18% |
| Fat | 6% |
| Fiber | 2% |
| Ca:P Ratio | 1:9 |
How many crickets should I feed my leopard gecko?
Look at the area between their eyes to determine the proper size of cricket for your leopard gecko. This area shows how wide their throat is. Everything you provide them should be narrower than this. Otherwise, you increase their chances of choking and impaction.
Impaction happens when there is an obstruction in the digestive tract from food or other indigestible material. The block causes constipation and pain. This eventually turns deadly and will kill it if it doesn’t don’t get treatment.
Observing your leopard gecko’s eating habits is another technique to ensure you select the proper size of a cricket. For example, when you offer it a cricket and it has trouble swallowing it, the cricket is too big. This applies to other insects that are fed to the gecko since leopard geckos also eat wax worms.
How to feed crickets to leopard geckos
For your leopard gecko, portion size can be managed by choosing the right size of crickets. The recommended sizes of crickets for your leopard gecko, broken down by age, are listed here:
| Age of Leopard Gecko | Category | Age of cricket | Size of cricket |
| Baby(0 – 4 months) | Small | 0-2 weeks | Pinhead to ¼ inch |
| Juvenile(4– 10 months) | Medium | 2.5 to 3.5 weeks | ⅜ to ⅝ inch |
| Adult(10+ months) | Large | 4 to 4.5 weeks | ¾ to 1 inch |
Do I need to dust crickets for leopard geckos?
Most pet reptiles and amphibians enjoy eating live insects. Thus, it’s best to complement their diets with excellent vitamins and minerals while providing them with live insects. It’s crucial to give your pets these nutrients to keep them healthy.
These creatures would consume a wide variety of foods in the wild, which we cannot replicate in captivity. To ensure that our pet’s diet is nourishing and varied, we can do our part by lightly dusting prey items with a vitamin or mineral supplement.
One feeding’s worth of feeder insects should be placed in the cup after a small pinch of supplement. Then, shake the cup gently to coat the feeder insect with the supplement.
Time is of the essence right now! As soon as several feeder insects become coated in supplements, they will start working to remove it from themselves, progressively depleting them of their nutritional value. Drop the feeder insects into the vivarium, use feeding tongs to present them to your pets, or quickly place them in a feeding dish to be given to them. Don’t bring extra supplements into the enclosure.
Do I need to gut load crickets for leopard geckos?
When you feed your crickets many nutrient-rich meals, you are gut-loading them. Fresh veggies, whole wheat bread, and cereals are the most common types of these foods. Since crickets eat plants, it’s easy to gut-load them.
Give the crickets around 24 hours to absorb the nutrients from this nutritious food, then feed your pet those crickets with their guts removed. If you don’t already, you might want to add a calcium supplement to the bugs before letting your reptiles eat them.
The procedure is simple. All you have to do is add these fresh foods to your feeder insects’ habitat. Then, give the crickets at least 24 hours to eat them.
To match your crickets’ nutritional profile to your pet’s requirements, choosing the right foods to feed them is critical. Crickets can and will consume almost anything, but for our purposes, it’s crucial to select the correct formulation to satisfy your pet’s nutritional requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I feed my leopard gecko crickets?
Adult leopard geckos should be fed 6-7 large crickets 2-3 times a week, while juveniles every 1-2 days. Besides crickets, give them other live insects like waxworms, superworms, mealworms, roaches, and silkworms.
What happens if I feed my gecko too many crickets?
Due to an imbalanced calcium-to-phosphorus ratio, crickets pose a high risk of causing metabolic bone disease in geckos. To prevent this, supplement crickets with other insects and foods in the gecko’s diet.
What size crickets should I feed my leopard gecko?
Only feed geckos food that’s smaller than the distance between their eyes to avoid choking and impaction. That is 3/8 inches for baby geckos, 1/4 inch for juvenile geckos, and full-sized crickets for adult leopard geckos.