Natural Crested Gecko Diet Theory

[JTB]

Many people claim that crested geckos will happily live on a diet of CGD without any live insects. However, I do not believe this to be the case.

I got my crested gecko, Splat, on the 26th December, 2017. He ate Repashy for the first two months with some insects every week/fortnight, but then slowly stopped eating Repashy until he flat out refused it. Nothing was getting him to eat it, or any fruit at all for that matter. So, after consulting the advice of others on this forum, I decided to feed him on insects and offer Repashy just in case he ate it.

It took until about the 20th of June for him to eat Repashy again. He was 20g at this point and 8 months old - evidently he had what I think is a fantastic growth rate for a crested gecko, having gained 19.5g in six months. Since then he's had insects every few days supplemented with Arcadia EarthPro-A and EarthPro-CaMG, as well as Repashy mixed at a ratio of roughly 1.3:1 with Arcadia EarthPro StickyFoot Gold, a new CGD I'm weaning him onto. As of 2/8/17, he is 32g.

What I am about to propose is that crested geckos are similar to bearded dragons in their eating habits: they start off with insects and as they age eat an increasing quantity of plant matter. I am wondering if anybody else has any evidence to support this and if so then please do share it! Through my time keeping Splat I've came across so many incidences of stunted cresties - I even thought he was one at first - that there has to be something that we're doing wrong as a community. This, if we have more evidence to support it, could be it, I think!

 

[JTB]

I've also just thought that it will be useful to mention that I provide a temperature gradient in his enclosure - about 28C at the top and 20C at the bottom of the enclosure. I also offer a night-time temp drop to room temperature (17.5-22C depending on the time of year).

 

[Hanzo]

I can't comment on the diet, but my two crested gained 50% weigt after I started giving them dubia roaches 1 to 2 times a week. Both mine was only 8grams at about 9months when I got them. Now 1,5 months into me owning them, they are both 12 grams. They both grabbed dubia with that I feed them with tweezers in seconds when I introduced them.

 

[JTB]

Wow, that really is tiny for such an age. I would try offering a mix of insects (crickets, locusts, small silkworms, calci worms, mealworms if you have a hotspot etc) more often (every night) to get them to grow so they won't become overly stunted. Sounds like they're in much better hands

 

[Zux]

Great post JTB ! Thanks for sharing the info.

 

[JTB]

Thanks!

 

[JTB]

Thought I'd add some pictures to show Splat's growth rate:
Here's Splat on the 3rd of February...
And here he is very near the same place as he is in the last one, but he's much bigger!
And this is him on the 2nd of August. You can't really tell that he's much bigger, but he's actually 12g bigger than in the last one.

 

[Aimless]

it has long been known that juvenile geckos of pretty much every species will grow faster with a higher ratio of protein in the diet and also with warmer conditions. I think this is very interesting, but it's also only a single gecko (there are differences in growth rate and appetite even between clutchmates kept in the same conditions).

 

[acpart]

One breeder I've been in touch with says he actually doesn't feed hatchling cresties any CGD for the first 6 months and gives them only bugs!

Aliza

 

[JTB]

One breeder I've been in touch with says he actually doesn't feed hatchling cresties any CGD for the first 6 months and gives them only bugs!

Aliza

Well that's certainly some good evidence to support the theory!

I know that it's been documented that insects increase growth rate, but I'm more interested in the idea that insects ought to be the main part of the diet during the hatchling and juvenile stages than just as an optional addition. If a breeder seems to follow a similar train of thought then I think we'll get some more evidence to back up the theory.