Crestie fedding?

izzy827

New member
My gecko eats about 2 meal worms every two days with a small amount of Repashy diet left in the cage every day, he is a year and a half old. Is this to much or to little food?:?
 

Aimless

Super Moderator
I think it sounds great if he has good body condition. if there's a little food leftover and he's in good shape, you're giving him the perfect amount.

however...I'd get rid of the mealworms. that's a big, rich meal and will not be good for his liver, especially as he hits adult size and won't be growing so quickly. I'd back off the mealworms to once or twice a month, if at all.

a much healthier bug choice is crickets or roaches, properly gut-loaded.
 
Never mix in or feed baby food you run the risk of them preferring that over everything else. If you want to treat them to something special repashy makes a fruit mix for them that's good for occasional feedings. But baby food isn't that great for tem and would greatly skew the nutritional value of the meal.
 

izzy827

New member
I haven't tryed the baby food with him I heard some people say its good as a treat but im not going to try it thanks
 

Brunnersgal

New member
gutloaded and dusted crickets would be much easier for him to digest and have a much higher nutritional value than the mealworms, so - as Aimless said above - i would switch them out for crickets or even roaches :)

i give Loki a couple of tiny licks of organic mango baby food off of my finger occasionally, when i'm handling him. he seems to much prefer CGD though! perhaps he knows what is good for him, haha. i wouldn't bother mixing it with the CGD though, i never have done. my thinking is, if he likes the CGD how it is (which he obviously does if he's eating it!) why try to fix what aint broke, so to speak? also, like MACHI_vallism said above, baby food is for human babies, not geckos. it has the right nutrients and vitamins for a baby human (debate-ably :p ) but not the right properties in the right amounts for a gecko, therefore there is no reason to feed him baby food and it can be very detrimental to the health of your gecko... especially if too much is used, or if he comes to prefer it and won't eat CGD without it. and it should especially -never- be used as a staple of his diet. the CGD is perfect on its own, especially if he is eating it as it is already!
 

mikew1234

New member
Id repeat exactly what's said, but id like to add a bit onto what has been said.
First, meal worms aren't necessarily good for any reptile, bit they're cheap and easy to produce so they're highly reccomended. Great substitutions are crickets and roach nymphs. If you don't mind spending the extra few bucks, butter worms and very small Goliath worms are great too. Phoenix worms are supposed to be great too but I had issues getting a few animals over to them.
Second, baby food is used more as a bridge for babies. Many small rhacs would prefer insects, and need help with acquiring the taste for cgd. You would weane them off fairly quickly by adding more water and less baby food every time until its pure water and cgd.
Finally, if your looking for treats for your geckos, which I do give, I would reccomend either fresh fully organic soft non citrus fruit mashed up, the canned reptile fruit sold in some retail pet stores, or as an insect treat, wax worms.
 

leelyn

New member
I agree with the others, get rid of the mealworms - the cresties can't digest the tough skin. It may cause impaction and get stuck in their gut. Dusted crickets are best if you want to give them a treat once or twice a month. CGD for everyday. Change out every other day and also their water dish. They can survive on CGD without ever giving them any live food. It has all the nutrients in it. NO babyfood. It has no nutritional value. Give him 1 teasoon of CGD mixed with 2 teaspoon water in it every other day. They come in different flavors. Have a great day.
 

izzy827

New member
The person I bought him from was only feeding him the repashy diet so I was going to give worms before crickets maybe to try to get him used to live feeding
 

Aimless

Super Moderator
nah, the thing about live feeding is that some cresties like to hunt. you'll probably have better luck with crickets than with worms, in that respect.
 
Top