Crested Gecko Diet

[halfwaynowhere]

For fear of being flamed- is it okay to keep crested geckos without feeding them Repashy?

I had a pretty bad allergic reaction to the repashy diet, I think it may have been the bee pollen that did it. I love crested geckos, but its not worth risking my own health.

I've been taking care of a cresty for my sister for a few weeks. At first, I just had someone else deal with feeding, because I didn't want to be around that stuff. Now I'm giving her organic fruit baby food, and mixing in herptivite vitamin powder, as well as giving her crickets.

I've come across quite a few websites that say a diet like this is just fine, and I know that people were keeping and breeding crested geckos before the Repashy diet was formulated. My logic is that an animal will only breed if their other physiological needs are being met. So this seems okay to me, even though its not exactly scientifically formulated as a complete diet.

Now when I shared my feeding plan on another forum, I was told that I NEED to feed Repashy, because nothing else is good enough. Obviously I want whats best for this critter, and if she has to be fed Repashy, no problem, I'll just give her back to my sister, and give up on these fascinating critters. But if the alternative is acceptable, then why not?

 

[DrJ]

For fear of being flamed- is it okay to keep crested geckos without feeding them Repashy?

NO! IT'S NOT OKAY! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!?! Just kidding. lol

That's perfectly fine...nobody says you "have" to do anything a certain way. New things are being brought out all the time, and nobody really says for certain that Repashy has the best.

If you want an alternative to Repashy, try the T-Rex Crested Gecko Diet. It is very similar, and is what I use personally. My crested have done GREAT on it. I also feed them occassional crickets as treats.

Another thing you can do (which is actually better) is make the food yourself. Meaning, get fruits and puree them. I would recommend a couple of sites that discuss this in detail...you may have to google them because I can't remember who did that. Anyway, mixing food yourself, and giving crickets is THE best way, but for the rest of us, the prepared food is the best way. lol.

EDIT: I noticed you were giving baby food. Don't give too much of this, as it has a lot of sugar in it, which can be bad for the geckos. It is great as a treat or occassional meal, but is not the best. You also don't want them to get so used to the baby food that they refuse the more nutritious stuff waiting for it. They can be like dogs in that respect.

 

[JoeRossi]

Nonsense

You can feed your Gecko Crickets dusted with calcium and herbavite (vitamin sup) along with peach baby food dusted with calcium and herbavite. I use CG diet with calcium and herbavite; however i would argue that the two alone can suffice with crickets and baby food occasionaly.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

The baby food I'm using is organic- ingredients are only organic fruit, ascorbic acid, and citric acid. No added sugar or anything like that.
So I should feed more crickets than baby food, and add herptivite and calcium to both? I want to create a balanced diet as much as possible. Its not like I want to keep animals that I don't have the means of providing for.

While I completely understand the benefits of feeding a prepared diet, I can't help but wonder how silly it is that people insist its the only way... Dogs are generally fed a prepared diet (kibble), but people feed raw, or cook their own food at home, and their dogs do great. It just takes a bit of work and research to get the balance right, but its not impossible. So why can't it work for cresties?

 

[JoeRossi]

So I should feed more crickets than baby food, and add herptivite and calcium to both?

"So I should feed more crickets than baby food, and add herptivite and calcium to both?"

Yes, Crickets should be the main diet and put them in a container with the Calcium and Herbavite and shake them up. When you do give them baby food once every 1 or 2 weeks or so then sprinkle a tiny bit of bolth in. I use the baby food to make sure my females are getting a higher concentration of Calcium for breeding.