Why won't my crested gecko eat crickets?

sapphiresky614

New member
My male crested gecko will ONLY eat his CGD and ONLY if it's mixed with some fruity baby food. He turns up his nose at mealworms, crickets as well as his CGD mixed with water so I'm just assuming that he's just a picky eater. Is this normal? I have another gecko (leopard) which I obviously feed crickets & mealworms to but they are large crickets. Should I buy some baby crickets for the crestie? Or is it okay to just let him eat only the CGD?
 

brooksylc

New member
CGD is fine on its own. However it needs to be mixed like the instructions state to be a balanced diet. Please get him off baby food, its bad news for their health.
If anyone knows, is it better for the baby food to be removed cold-turkey or to be slowly weaned off it? I haven't had to do this but I am sure someone here may have had to and will know whats best for your gecko.
 

sapphiresky614

New member
What is wrong with feeding it CGD and baby food mixed together? He's still getting his nutritional needs by eating the CGD all I'm doing is adding some baby food (peaches, raspberries & bananas mixed) to put in some flavor.
 

AKlizzards

New member
I've found that with my leachy at least mixing a little bit of low fat peach yogurt in with his CGD makes him eat twice as much. Though Im not sure how the dairy effects their stomachs.

Its also alot easier than mixing up fruits all the time in a blender.

I think most people are against baby food due to its high sugar content. But if you find some that has no additional ingredients i dont see how it could be bad for him.
 
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cilatusguy

New member
The problem with baby food is simply that it ruins the nutritional value of the cgd.
Like if your eating lunch, right now your food is pretty stable on nutrients. Then you take maple syrup and just soak your plate with it. You just took nutrition and threw it out the window. Its not healthy for your crested gecko to eat. CGD is an complete meal and is fine on its own. Plus baby food is made for humans, not reptiles.
(cgd has plenty of flavor in it, so don't be worried about it).
I hope this enlightened things :)
 

brooksylc

New member
There can also be ingredients in baby food that can be toxic to reptiles. As well as the sugar content. If it were safe all the big crested gecko breeders would be using it, but all of them strongly recommend again it. IMO why risk your pets health.
There are tons of cases with baby food leading to metabolic bone disease. Since we are not scientists and adding all the necessary supplements to that baby food. If you want it is okay to puree the occasional fruit as a treat only but should still be feeding a daily balanced diet. I know the new version of Repashy has geckos gobbling it up, so that would be a great investment for your crestie. Or if you have access to the old flavours, you could try a variety of them with your crestie.
 

AllGeckos

New member
Yeah, I would start weening it off of the baby food. The sugars are the issue. Too much sugar will yield you an obese and possibly unhealthy crestie. That being said, there are some geckos that can handle it no issues and live quite a long time. On the contrary, I have seen some that are fat because of a high sugar diet (i.e. regular yogurts, sugary baby foods, etc...) If you really do want to feed them bananas and stuff, puree it yourself, that way you know it has no additives. Still, I recommend straight repashy CGD. But don't go cold turkey. Ween it off slowly so you don't start having a problem feeder.

Now onto the cricket issue. How old is your crested? I find that many of my younger ones will not take to crickets. They have to learn that crickets = food. If you start feeding him crickets often, once he starts taking them, make sure you dust them with calcium. Do not use +D3 if also feeding CGD as the CGD has D3 in it already and you don't want to give him to much.

Also, when feeding crickets, start with just a couple to get him started so you are wasting your money or cricket card. Once he learns that crickets mean dinner, you should find that he will enjoy hunting and eating them. Just takes patience, especially if he isn't used to eating them. It took mine a couple months to get started.

One more thought. I don't feed my crested mealworms ever. I've heard it could cause some them to become impacted and affect their health. Other breeders I know in my local area have told me the same thing. Anyone is free to correct me on this. I've just heard two different stories on it so I stick with the safest decision.

Check out my sig for a pretty detailed caresheet on cresties. I hope that my post answered you pretty good though, but if not, check out the sig. It's a pretty long read though :)

Good luck!
 

sapphiresky614

New member
I use an organic baby food called Earth's Best with bananas, peaches & raspberries. I went to look at the ingredients and it's saying there is no fat, 90 calories, wheat free, vegan, no sodium, no added salt & sugar and no artificial flavors or additives. Of course there is your basic amount of sugars pertaining to the fruits involved such as a 23 grams of carbs & 18 grams of sugars. Here is the link if anyone's interested in reading it: Earth's Best, Bananas, Peaches & Raspberries, Baby Food, 4 oz (113 g) - iHerb.com

I mean, if it's really that bad, i'll stop using it. My gecko just doesn't like to eat as much without the baby food mixed in. I only mix in just enough for it to have a creamy consistency so it's not an overdose of the stuff.
 

AllGeckos

New member
I use an organic baby food called Earth's Best with bananas, peaches & raspberries. I went to look at the ingredients and it's saying there is no fat, 90 calories, wheat free, vegan, no sodium, no added salt & sugar and no artificial flavors or additives. Of course there is your basic amount of sugars pertaining to the fruits involved such as a 23 grams of carbs & 18 grams of sugars.

I wouldn't see an issue with that. Sounds pretty natural to me.
 

mikew1234

New member
A proper adult crested gecko diet should consist of cgd mixed with water two to three times a week. I would avoid mealworms all together, and possibly only feed crickets once a month.

To explain in detail on the points above..

Mealworms hold very little nutritional value to any reptile. But they are cheap to produce, so much like heat rocks and the like, you will be told they are a good staple. Pheonix Worms, Butter Worms, and even wax worms have better nutritional value, as well as no hard exoskeleton that they can't digest.

I have kept all of the readily available Rhacs over the years, and have for the most part cut out insects all together when feeding them. Leachianus nearly never eat insects, even as babies. Sarasinorium and Cresteds will accept them as babies, but will begin to leave them alone at around 8 months to a year old. Chahoua will eat insects throughout their life happily, as will Gargoyles. Cgd is a Full Meal Replacement, meaning it needs no supplemental feeding.

Finally, the baby food issue. You have to remember that no matter the brand, baby food is exactly that, food for a human baby. It contains many things which the gecko can not easily digest. The excess sugars can also lead to obesity.
Cresties do tend to get stuck on the baby food mixture though. It's sweeter. Plain and simple. I would suggest to remove it from their diet by one of two means. Either slowly use less baby food, and more water every time you feed until the baby food is out of the equation entirely, or instead of baby food, mash up some real fruit, and mix that in. Mangos, papaya, and other soft non citrus fruit make great choices. I usually give these mashed fruits as a treat once a month to most of my fruit eaters either way. They tend to devour it.
 

sapphiresky614

New member
Even organic baby food? It doesn't have any added sugars only the sugars that come from the organic fruits themselves, so I'm not sure how that would be any different from giving him fruit that I chopped up and put in there. I posted the link above for the Earth's best baby food information...I won't give him any mealworms though...as I realize they are too big for him.
 

mikew1234

New member
Citric acid can be harmful to reptiles over time. That is why you don't feed omnivorous and vegetarian reptiles citrus fruit. But it is the last ingredient. So it may contain a small enough amount for it not to harm him.
 
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