Sessions, not a set number
Ask ten keepers and you will hear ten counts, because there is no single correct number — a baby dragon's daily total depends on the insect species, the insect's size and how fast that individual baby is growing. The method that works is session feeding: offer small live insects for ten to fifteen minutes at a time, several times across the day, and let him eat until he loses interest. A healthy hatchling in full growth will commonly work through several dozen small feeders a day across those sessions, and a baby who suddenly eats far less than his own normal deserves attention even if his count still sounds respectable.
The size rule matters most
Whatever the daily total, each insect must be small enough to swallow safely: no wider than the space between the baby's eyes. Oversized feeders risk choking and a frightening, well-documented impaction-style emergency in tiny lizards, so when in doubt choose the smaller size and offer more of them. Pinhead and small crickets, tiny dubia nymphs and small black soldier fly larvae all suit hatchlings; anything that makes him shake his head and struggle to get it down goes back in the tub.
Dusting and the daily rhythm
Nearly every insect session should arrive dusted with plain calcium powder — a growing skeleton consumes calcium at a rate adult dragons never match — with a reptile multivitamin rotated in on some days. Space the sessions through his active hours rather than bunching them, starting after he has warmed up under the basking light in the morning and finishing well before lights-out so he can bask and digest. Offer finely chopped greens in a dish all day alongside the insects; most babies ignore them at first, but the dish being familiar pays off when his diet flips toward plants as an adult.
When the count drops
Track his intake loosely for a few days whenever something changes. Refusing one session is nothing; refusing a full day with a dark, flattened posture and half-closed eyes is a warning. Check temperatures first — a baby too cool to digest will not eat — then shed, stress from a new enclosure and oversized feeders. A hatchling who refuses food for more than a couple of days, or who is eating but still looks thin with a bony tail base, should see a reptile vet promptly, because babies have almost no reserves to fall back on.
With several sessions a day and possibly several family members feeding, double-dinners and missed meals both happen. KinsLe's Care Teams lets you assign each session as a duty and mark it complete with a timestamp, so nobody has to guess whether the last session already happened.