FEEDING
What can you feed your gecko?
Crested geckos have very specific diet requirements, requiring the correct ratios of calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and vitamin D3 among other nutrients, proteins, and fats.
Though much of the published literature on Crested Geckos recommends using baby food, I strongly recommend against feeding baby food, as the sugar content in most is extremely high and the nutrient ratios are poor. It was designed for humans NOT reptiles. Though baby food CAN be properly supplemented, every gecko that has been maintained by an average hobbyist or breeder on a baby food diet has ended up with at least minimal and often severe nutrient deficiencies, and most display symptoms of irreversible Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD).
There is no real need to use baby food - Instead, there are several extensively researched and tested powdered meal replacement formulas on the market, Repashy's Crested Gecko Diet (CGD) and Clark's Gecko Diet being the most well known and respected among breeders.
These diets are easy to use- simply mix them with a little water and serve in small dishes. I strongly recommend that all Crested Gecko hobbyists feed their Crested geckos one of these two CGD diets as their staple food, as it is very difficult and takes considerable expertise ensure that a Crested gecko receives the proper nutrition otherwise. These formulae are complete diets - the crested geckos have everything that they require within the formulae and would need nothing else except naturally some water.
- feed every 3-4 days - and watch for mould developing in the feed cup - if mould is spotted remove the feed cup..
- Please do not overfeed - it is not necessary to feed your animal every day or even every other day. They will only get fat if you overfeed - like all animals that humans own we must monitor their diet - in the wild they would cover great distances to find food. In captivity they mostly just sit still waiting for food. Overfeeding will just ultimately hurt your animal and your purse!
this does make them one of the cheapest pets to keep and feed! I currently feed my geckos on Repashy's latest version.
You won't find these diets on the shops on the high street and will probably (more than likely) have to purchase them online - but get say £22 of food and that should last two adult geckos almost a full 6 months!
Another common feeding mistake is to rely exclusively on live insects as a primary food. They probably do eat insects in the wild but their main diet was observed to be decomposing fallen fruit. It has been noted that exclusive insect diets for Cresties - even when dusted with supplements - inevitably lead to malnourished animals with nutrient deficiencies and resultant problems.
But they do enjoy insects and so I feed mine some grubs as a treat every 2-3 weeks just as a treat. When it comes to feeding bugs they can't have just any old insect however.
The insect should be no longer than the Cresties mouth is wide.. And remember a Cresties stomach is not very big - roughly the diameter of one of its eyeballs so the feeder insect has to be of a suitable size.
The most common are young mealworm's (not too many ) small roaches and small soft wingless crickets.
Crested Geckos CAN be fed a variety of live food as an occasional treat --
I will deal with the most common types in the livefood section which you can find on the left hand menu chooser: