What do you feed?

[tigerlily]

tigerlily, from the site you sent me to, where do you order your stuff from?

I just get mine from the local pet store.

[mlededee]

You NEED to feed the Repashy diet unless you are able to create a mixture on your own that contains the same nutritional content by mixing fruits, vitamins, pollens, etc.--which is extremely not worth the time, money and effort involved and also not likely to come out being nearly as nutritionally complete as the Repashy diet which has been perfected over years of research and testing.

I prefer the one part, complete Repashy diet as it is easier and my geckos have no problems eating it. If your local pet store (PetSmart/Petco/etc.) doesn't not carry it you can order it here and will only need the smallest bag for 2 geckos: http://www.pangeareptile.com/products.htm.

You should mainly feed the Repashy diet, but can supplement with insects once or twice per week (I prefer once per week max, so that the geckos do not get spoiled and stop eating the CGD while holding out for insects). Dusted crickets, feeder roaches, silkworms and phoenix worms are all good insect choices. Mealworms and superworms and not good food sources as they serve mainly as filler because cresteds cannot digets their chitinous shells, thus they get very little nutritional benefit from them. Wax worms are not a good choice because they are very high in fat. Do note, that insects are not best fed on loose substrates--papertowels are best if you plan to feed insects unless you hand feed them or feed in a separate enclosure (not all geckos will actually eat in a separate enclosure due to the stress/distraction of being moved into an unfamiliar area).

Never feed baby food as it is very high in sugar, but you can occasionally make your own fruit mix as a treat. Good fruits to use for this are strawberries, mangos, bananas, peaches, apricots and watermelon, but never use any type of citrus fruit as cresteds cannot handle citric acid. You can blend up your fruits into a smoothie with a small amount of fat free, sugar free vanilla yogurt, some CGD and water for consistency if necessary and you can even add some insects if you don't mind putting them in the blender. Your friends will never know on margarita night anyhow.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

CGD is mainly what I feed http://www.pangeareptile.com/products.htm#supplements

I hate dealing with crickets so the only times my cresties get them is prior to me going out of town. (the week before)

[sweetcheeks]

I feed Repashy 90% of the time if I wanted to put a percentage on it. I buy crickets once per month when I visit petsmart, I get roughly 24 crickets and I usually feed crickets every other day until they are gone, only because I dont want to waste the crickets...

I dust them with repashy calcium plus.

Now I will admit that I didnt want to feed crickets either at first....but now that I have I can honestly say that my skylar has blossomed alot quicker by eating occasional crickets.

Now that I have two geckos, I dont have to feed the crickets as many days as before because Im still only going to buy one box of crickets.

I get my repashy stuff from pangea.... I bought a 1/2 lb bag of food of the 1 part mix (the 2 part stuff my brain cant comprehend yet lol)

and that bag is still over half full and my 1st gecko I got back in Oct. 08 and my 2nd one Feb 09. So it pays to get the bags instead of the little bottles.

[tigerlily]

and that bag is still over half full and my 1st gecko I got back in Oct. 08 and my 2nd one Feb 09. So it pays to get the bags instead of the little bottles.

I don't think the food has a shelf life longer than a couple months once open. I would seriously consider throwing it out and getting a fresh bag, and then freezing a portion of it.

[mlededee]

Two quick notes for you sweetcheeks.

1. If you are buying those boxes of crickets that have the food in them you can put the opened box in a small kritter keeper (or dump the contents and toss the box) and the crickets will stay alive for up to about 2 weeks or so as long as the moisture block part of the food does not dry up. This will allow you to space out the insect feedings rather than feeding so many at once.

2. The Repashy diet will last for a few months if well sealed, but if you are wanting to keep it for longer it will stay fresh for up to 6 months in the refridgerator. After 6 months in the refridgerator any unused food should be thrown away and replaced with fresh food.

[sweetcheeks]

I do have a homemade critter keeper lol But I also find that if I keep them too long they get "too big" for the cresties to eat. When they become adults this probably wont be a problem.

I do keep mine sealed and in the fridge. I already knew that and that it lasts for 6 months and should be tossed I just dont like the bottles and prefer the bags. Its easier for me instead of having to continue to go to the store and buy bottles.

[shadi11]

I also feed pretty much exclusively CGD. I give insects occassionally as treats to those who like it. but havent had a problem with CGD

[Little B-Py]

Well when Ash gets paid i'll talk her into getting the 4oz bag of repashy. I think she is already convinced, we just don't have the cash to spare at this point. We had them out last night and fed them crickets off our kitchen table and they ate like they had never eaten before. lol. I read that moving them would possibly stress them out, well not them. BTW, they are dusted with Vit-all which has all the right nutrients in them. Here are some shots.

(sorry if some are blurry, my camera doesn't have the best macro)

Flametail




Couldn't help myself with this one...


The only one I could get of Nuala


Also, when you feed crickets, how many do you typically feed? Until they won't eat anymore or a certain number? I ask because I think Flametail had like 6 and Nuala had 3 or 4.

[mlededee]

I normally feed as many as they will eat in one sitting or anywhere between 4-6 or so. Some geckos will eat more some less, but 6-8 is plenty for one feeding, just depending on the size of the crickets you are feeding. It looks like the size you are feeding is just right, so really 6 should be about the max.