How Many Feeder Insects Should I Order?

The honest answer is that it depends on three things: how many insects your animals actually eat, how long that particular feeder stays useful, and how fast it changes size while you hold it.

Most people get the first one roughly right and the other two wrong.

Start with what your animals eat

Work from your actual feeding schedule rather than a guess. Our Feeding Guides give the frequency for each species, but as a shape:

• Juveniles of most insectivores eat daily, and young bearded dragons eat two or three times a day.
• Adult leopard geckos eat every two to three days. Adult bearded dragons and chameleons eat every other day.
• Crested geckos take live insects once or twice a week alongside their prepared diet.

Multiply that by how many animals you feed, and by the number of days you want the order to cover. That is your baseline.

Then account for how long the feeder holds

This is where the number usually needs adjusting, because the four feeders we raise have very different useful windows.

Discoid roaches hold the longest. Adults commonly live a year or more under suitable conditions. Nothing is wasted in a week when your animals eat less than usual, which makes them the easiest feeder to buy in quantity.

Mealworms are also forgiving. They keep well and need no colony to maintain.

Crickets have a much shorter window. House crickets have a short life cycle, and larger crickets are closer to the end of their natural life than small ones. They are also the most demanding feeder to keep alive. Ordering what you will use in a couple of weeks beats ordering the largest tub available.

Hornworms are the shortest of all — but for a different reason.

Hornworms are a special case

Hornworms grow faster than any other feeder we sell. The size you receive can change noticeably within days.

So the limit on a hornworm order is not how long they live. It is how long they stay the right size for your animal. Order close to when you intend to use them rather than stocking up, and order the smaller size if you are between two, since they will grow into the larger one on their own.

Crickets keep growing too

Less dramatically, but the same principle applies. Feeder crickets are live juveniles, and warm conditions speed them up. If you need a specific size for a specific animal, order closer to when you will use them.

This is the most common surprise for new customers — the crickets that arrive as smalls are not smalls three weeks later.

Size and quantity are linked

A hundred pinhead crickets and a hundred adult crickets are not the same purchase. Small feeders get eaten in greater numbers, so a young animal on small prey will get through a higher count than its size suggests.

Our Feeder Size Guide covers choosing the size. Once you have that, the count follows from your feeding schedule.

When in doubt, order less more often

Two smaller orders usually beat one large one, particularly for crickets and hornworms. You get feeders in better condition, at the size you actually chose, and you lose less to storage.

The exception is discoid roaches and mealworms, where a larger order genuinely does keep.

Larger and recurring orders

If you are feeding a collection, a rescue, a school or a breeding operation, the quantities on our product pages may not go far enough. Our Bulk & Standing Orders page is for exactly that — tell us the species, sizes, quantities and frequency you need and we will reply with current availability.

We are currently shipping within Florida while we build our live-shipping program carefully.

The short version

Count what your animals actually eat over the period you want covered. Buy discoids and mealworms in larger amounts if it suits you. Buy crickets in amounts you will use within a couple of weeks. Buy hornworms close to when you need them, and size down.

Feeding & care note: The information provided here is general feeder-insect care guidance. Reptile dietary needs vary by species, age, size and health. Follow husbandry and feeding recommendations appropriate for your individual animal.