Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Next saturday Im going to be entering the world of crested geckos and getting my first crested gecko. The breeder from which im getting him from has included some items with him. I was just wondering if anyone could give me some advice on them. The sticky tongue farms minerall as well as the vit all. I have never heard of these products before and am wondering if they are good supplements. She does use them for her geckos. She has also included some herpivite which im well informed about. But not calcium....Is that ok??
Thanks so much

I would just get some crested gecko diet from T-Rex. It is a complete diet and you don't need to add dusted crickets at all. Some fine powder calcium is useful if you intend to breed your crested geckos later on, as extra suppliments for the egg laying female.
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PHLdyPayne

the breeder im getting him from said she doesnt use the crested gecko diet, as it slows growth. I personally wanted to use the CGD, but am unsure I have been getting so many people saying different things. I do want to get him on that diet. If i decide to do it, isnt it going to be a hard transition from babyfood and crickets to the CGD, if so what should i expect to encounter. How long wouyld it take before he is fully acclimated to it. Also how long should i wait (when he gets home) before i decide to switch as i know he will already be stressed in a new environment.

You can speed up growth by including dusted(with calcium)crickets along with crested gecko diet. Its most likely the additional protein.

Babyfood is not a healthy substitute for crested gecko diet.It is high in sugars and low in everything else that ccresteds need.It also does not speed growth ..it might put on weight but fat weight is not the way to get to 35 grams to breed.

I have hatched several hundred cresteds sucessfully with high hatch rates ,and never a calcium crash from a single gecko.Utilizing crested gecko diet I have yet to lose a single breeder in three years.

The Crested Gecko diet doesn't really slow growth at all. Geckos fed on the CGD from birth reach the same adult weight and size as geckos feed on other stuff. Babies are also more inclined to start eating the crested gecko diet instead of crickets as it is easier found and energy isn't wasted chasing crickets. Some newly hatched geckos are intimidated by moving crickets so may be more hesitant to feed on them.

With my own breeding, I learned that the baby crested geckos didn't eat much or any pinhead crickets I offered, but when I gave them crested gecko diet, they ate that without hesitation. I have also talked with the guy who developed the diet and he feeds all his hatchlings and geckos nothing else. Crested geckos fed on this diet may be a bit slower to grow but catch up by the time they are a year old, so really, no growth is lost and the gecko is healthier for the well balanced diet, than it would be with babyfood.
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PHLdyPayne

You shouldn't have a problem switching to the CGD. Find out what kind of baby food he is used to eating and offer it mixed with CGD. Every feeding mix in a little more CGD until you are mostly CGD and little babyfood. This works well if the gecko has always eating babyfood without any sort of vitamins mixed in. Geckos used to vitamins mixed into their food, I've heard switch even faster. I would suggest starting right away, it won't stress him out, it might even offer him a more balanced diet to deal with the stress of moving. I would suspect you could slowly switch him over the course of 1.5 to 2 weeks and he won't notice.

IMHO CGD is excellent. We offer it in addition to dusted crickets and have never had any problems other than getting her off the bowl long enough to fill it. Good luck
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