Real Food Vs. Fake Powder Diets?

[JeanTownsend]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'm confused as to why crested geckos and others in that family are given the MPD rather than what they eat in the wild. Yet snakes are given real rats (dead, sure, but they don't come from a can). Leopard geckos are given real insects. Bearded dragons are fed real foods. So why are cresties given powdered diets? When you do a quick Google search of "Gargoyle Gecko," it comes up what they eat: "Fruit, nectar, insects, etc." Why do people consider it "bad" to give them their natural foods?
I know several care sheets say to feed them some watermelon (or other fruit, I can't remember) every now and then, but not any more than once a month.
So exactly why is this?
To clarify: I don't have a gecko (or lizard, just a ball python). But I might be interested in a gargoyle gecko, and I'm still doing research. And I know that with any animal that is kept as a pet, their food isn't exactly the same as their wild counterpart. Horses get pellets and things (food's controversial; we give them Fat and Fiber, crushed oats, and a bit of Atlantic Horse Mash), goats are fed things they wouldn't find in the wild, as with cats, dogs, rabbits, etc. The point that confuses me is that these animals are all domestic. Reptiles aren't.
Thanks in advance for any insight you have.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Welcome to Geckos Unlimited, Jean!

I think keepers use powdered diets for cresties out of convenience.

Of course, crested geckos never ate powdered food in the wild. Before I started using Pangea's Fruit Mix Complete with Insects my crested gecko gobbled up his crickets. Even though I try feeding him crickets now and then, that crested gecko George holds out for Pangea. Maybe had I regularly offered him both each week, he'd be more flexible.

He's healthy, though, and isn't getting any other supplements. Pangea's Complete powdered diets are well-trusted.

Perhaps it's the sugar/sweetness that gets crested geckos and other Correlophus hooked.

 

[JeanTownsend]

Thanks.
"Out of convenience."
Yes, that makes sense.
But it is fully possible to feed them their natural diets, while of course gutloading and dusting the insects with calcium, rather than using the MRD, isn't it?
How much of their meal should consist of what fruits?
We're planning to start a bit of an organic orchard, so IF we ever had a gargoyle gecko, we'd probably just include the fruits they can eat into our orchard. Additionally, we'd no doubt raise our own feeder insects, as the local pet store isn't reliable. They don't always have food. There have been numerous occasions I've gone to get frozen rats, and I've come home with a much smaller size because someone neglected to put in an order for rats. I'd be surprised if they always have the crickets and right worms on hand. Beside geckos, we have chickens, ducks, and peafowl, so they'd LOVE the insects.
We're more into caring for animals naturally, so using essential oils and herbs rather than conventional medicines, setting their enclosures up to mimic their natural environments (my ball python's vivarium is bioactive), and I think that's why I'm slightly pestered by powdered foods. It doesn't make sense to me, even if they do adapt to it well, which they obviously do, and they obviously enjoy it.

I just completed the search I mentioned. I think when I'd done it before, I typed "Chahoua Gecko," not a Gargoyle.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

You're welcome.

As long as you can grow or obtain the diets they'd have access to the wild (or at least comparable nutrients), YES!

This Feeder Insect (& worm) Nutrition Chart represents combined efforts by Mark Finke, PhD and DubiaRoaches.com

(click to enlarge)

Here's a list for you. How many will grow where you live?


Click: #6---Gutload Ingredients for Bugs & Worms......Olimpia -- August 2013

"Lettuce (except dark, leafy greens) is just water and nutritionally irrelevant. People don't even give lettuce to tortoises and iguanas because it's worthless as food. The same could be said for potatoes. Fish flakes are very high in protein and this can lead to a build-up of uric acid in feeders/reptiles and end up causing gout. A little now and then is fine but this should never be the bulk of any gutload.

"A commercial gutloading food like Bug Burger or Superload (both by Repashy), Cricket Crack, Dinofuel, etc. is going to make your life easier AND provide a nutritious diet to your crickets at the same time. Avoid Fluker's gutloads, as they are super feeble in their formulas.

"If you opt for making your own gutload at home, here is a list of great ingredients to use:
Best: mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion flowers & leaves, collard greens, escarole lettuce, papaya, watercress, and alfalfa.
Good: sweet potato, carrots, oranges, mango, butternut squash, kale, apples, beet greens, blackberries, bok choy, and green beans.
Dry food: bee pollen, organic non-salted sunflower seeds, spirulina, dried seaweed, flax seed, and organic non-salted almonds.
Avoid as much as possible: potatoes, cabbage, iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, corn, grains, beans, oats, bread, cereal, meat, eggs, dog food, cat food, fish food, canned or dead insects, vertebrates."