New to Cresties

Hey guys! a couple weeks ago I went to a local reptile expo, and wound up taking a crested Gecko home with me (a little impulsively if I am honest). I love him and he seems to be doing great, and while I spent quite a bit of time talking to his breeder about proper care I figure a few other opinions can't hurt. I got him a banana papaya powdered food, and I'm mostly wondering how often i HAVE to give him crickets, or if they are more of a treat? I know they sell other powdered foods with a supplement for the crickets in it, but they were out of stock of that kind so i just got the pure fruit one.

You can offer cricket one or twice a week, this is not something you have to do as crested do fine on CGD however you definitely see a difference in growth between animal who eats CGD only and those offered crickets.

Remember in the wild Cresties diet is mainly composed of fruits not insects.

Also remember to gutload and dust your crickets before feeding them and do not leave crickets over night with your cresties any uneaten crickets should be removed.

Cresties can thrive on prepared diets alone. As Deborah said, yes, in the wild they eat mostly fruit but offering crickets won't hurt. I would not recommend leaving crickets in the cage overnight as they can nip at your gecko, especially in a smaller cage.

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Originally Posted by Kittencaboodles

Hey guys! a couple weeks ago I went to a local reptile expo, and wound up taking a crested Gecko home with me (a little impulsively if I am honest). I love him and he seems to be doing great, and while I spent quite a bit of time talking to his breeder about proper care I figure a few other opinions can't hurt. I got him a banana papaya powdered food, and I'm mostly wondering how often i HAVE to give him crickets, or if they are more of a treat? I know they sell other powdered foods with a supplement for the crickets in it, but they were out of stock of that kind so i just got the pure fruit one.

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Congrats on your new crestie! They are great lizards to keep, and a lot of fun. I feed mine Pangea reptile diet along with crickets as babies and juveniles. They get crickets 1-2 times a week depending on age. Like Deborah said, growth rate of babies once they can eat crickets (with the crickets I can get this is typically about 3 weeks after hatching) is much fast than their growth rate before they are eating crickets. Most of my adults seem to "grow out of" eating crickets, so I very rarely offer them any. I have one or two that still like to eat crickets as adults, but it's rare.