Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all

Is CGD: crested gecko diet? What is it made of and does anyone know if its available in Canada? I was out shopping yesterday and stopped by some petstores to get more plants, caves etc for the 4 terrariums i'm setting up. I had heard of CGD here before and looked but i couldn't find anything for crested geckos. Also can i try the baby food mixture mentioned in the previous set of posts for my baby Zeek (1banana,1peach,1turkey)? He is eating all of the crickets i give him.

Thankyou
Red

Red,
Yeah the CGD is the crested gecko diet. I do not have the list of ingredients handy but I’m sure somebody will post it (bill?). I do not know if the CGD is available yet in Canada but it is supposed to be. You can use the ratio that bill mentioned but do not feel limited to those flavors . Try all sorts of nectar fruits and see what your guys like best. If they are eating crix, then I would not bother switching them over. Unless you personally hate them, but I am a crix man myself…lol. Just supplement the fruit once a week or so.
-Mike

Thankyou for your responce I don't mind crickets at all, Actually its quite interesting to watch them in their own tank hehehe. If my guy is eating crickets every day and i dust them with supplements, do i need to put supplements into the baby food? (i would guess not cause of the chance of overdosing him right?) I just finished setting up his new home, he seems to like it so far... I'm getting the pics developed today so i'll post them as soon as i have them.

I'll try him on a variety of baby food like you said and see how he does

Thanks again
Red

Red,
Yeah I love watching them hunt to. Check out the link below for a short video of one of my cresties going nuts…lol. If you use the CGD no need to mix vitamins in the fruit in addition to your dusting. If you use meat/baby food I would add it. The method of delivery works better (as long as it has not been sitting in the fruit to long) because as soon as those crix hit the cage and start running around the dust starts to rub off. If you ever get a stubborn crix feeder go with the CGD instead of meat/baby food. They will need the nutrients and you have to carefully prepare meat/baby food in order to equal what’s in CGD.

As far as the fruit try ripe mangos and papaya. It’s a fav with my guys. But try a little of everything they all have their own preferences, some of mine hate banana while others love it. Go figure..lol .
-Mike

Yummy crix

I cut and pasted this from the Superfoods forum(link below). It was posted by the person who formulated the diet and runs the forum. If you have anymore questions , you can post them there.

"This is a quick breakdown of the ingredients used in the Superfoods.

Dried Banana Powder: From the human food ingredients industry.

This is fresh dried and powdered Banana. It us used in the foods as a primary
attractant. The gecko diets have as much banana as real banana’s. Huh? You say..
Fresh Banana’s are about 85 % water, which leaves 15% dried banana. So if you take
15 grams of Banana and mix it with 85 grams of water, you will have something that is
the equivalent of pureed banana. So if we are making a dry formula which contains
15% banana powder, it has as much banana flavor as fresh banana does. This is one
of the keys that make the foods so palatable to the geckos.

Dried Honey Powder: From the human food ingredients industry.

The sweet taste of honey is irresistible to such nectar loving geckos as Rhacodactylus
and Phelsuma. It is the second key ingredient to flavoring the foods and making them
palatable to geckos. Honey is a natural food for many reptiles, and provides an
excellent source of carbohydrates.

Hempseed Flour and Meal : : From the human food ingredients industry.

Hempseed meal provides both high quality protein, and fat. The amino acid profile of
hempseed is one of the highest quality in the plant kingdom . The hempseed is used in
the diets as the primary source of fat. Hempseed contains the highest ratio of EFA’s
(essential fatty acids) available (over 80%) and the best ratio of omega 3, omega 6,
and omega 9 (GLA) It surpasses even Flax seed when it comes to the balance and
percentage of EFA’s.

Bee Pollen: : From the human food ingredients industry
Bee pollen is one of natures most complete foods. Containing Protein, Fat, Minerals,
Trace Minerals, and Vitamins. It is also a natural food for all kinds of omnivorous, and
herbivorous reptiles.

Fig Powder: : From the human food ingredients industry

Fig is another natural attractant for Reptiles, but in our foods, its primary job is to
provide a good balanced source of soluble and insoluble fiber. Fiber is often
overlooked in many diets, but it is a very important ingredient. Fiber helps clean the gut
through friction against the intestinal wall.It can help flush internal parasites from the
gut. It aids in the production of a firmer, drier stool. ( a good thing for keepers)

Whey Protein Isolate. (replaces calcium caseinate in early diets) Whey Protein Isolate
is a processed (we use cold processed whey Isolate) byproduct of the cheese industry.
It is commonly referred to as the most bio available source of protein available on the
planed for humans, and is the Protein of choice for body builders and athletes alike. It
surpasses egg protein in bio availability. It is also the most expensive source of
isolated protein available.
We use an isolated source of protein in our feeds because we just don’t have “room”
to get the levels of protein in our feeds with the inclusion levels we want of all the other
ingredients. Whey Isolate is about 94% protein, so we can use it in small amounts to
bump the protein level in a particular diet. We have studied growth rates using many
sources of protein, and whey is the winner hands down.

Brewers Yeast:

Brewers Yeast, like Bee Pollen, is another of natures “Super Foods” it provides an
excellent source of protein, and the most concentrated source of the B complex
vitamins in their natural forms available.

Wheat Germ:

Wheat Germ is an excellent source of Tocopherols (Vitamin E) and provides a great
source of other vitamins and minerals. The product we use has been defatted for
increased shelf life.

Calcium Carbonate: The primary source of Calcium for the foods.

Dicalcium Phosphate. Primary source of Phosphorous for foods.

Spirulina Algae: Spirulina is another of natures “superfoods” It contains an excellent
balance of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and trace elements. We use it primarily for
its high levels of Beta-Carotene. (the highest natural source) Beta Carotene is
transformed by the body into Vitamin A, and it is converted on an “as needed” basis.
This helps avoid problems associated with excess preformed vitamin A in diets.

RoseHips Powder: One of natures highest sources of natural Vitamin C, It contains the
full spectrum of vitamin C, unlike synthetic Vitamin C which is only Ascorbic Acid.

Kelp Meal: Kelp is included to provide a natural ( but nearly trace amount) source of
Iodine. It also happens to be one of the highest source of chelated minerals and trace
elements.

Haemotococcus Algae: Is included because it is the highest natural source of
Astaxanthan on the planet. This part of the Carotene complex, is responsible for the
red pigmentation in shellfish It is what turns a lobster red when you cook it It is what
makes a Flamingo Pink, It is what makes Salmon meat pink. It is natures source of red
pigment, and it is rarely found in commercial diets.

Marigold Extract: Is one of natures highest sources of yellow pigment. It is used for
example to color the yolks of chickens in commercial farms that would otherwise not
have the color found in free range birds. It is also the one of the greatest sources of the
carotenoid lutein, a key ingredient necessary for healthy vision.

Rosemary Extract: Known for its anti oxidant, anti bacterial, and anti fungal properties,
is included to increase shelf life and freshness of the foods.

Yucca Extract is used as a digestive aid and to reduce the odor of feces.

Natural Tochopherols: these are used as a natural anti oxidant to increase shelf life
and freshness of product. We use no synthetic chemicals in our feeds (most others do)

Probiotics: We use a special blend of bacteria to aid in the digestion process by
providing live bacteria to help break down food and provide digestive enzymes.

Vitamin Premix: We include a custom blend of Vitamins to insure and balance the
natural ones provided in the ingredients. Of most importance, are Vitamin A, and
Vitamin D-3.

Vitamin A is available in two forms. Preformed vitamin A in nature is only found in
animals, not plants. It is stored primarily in the liver. It is also available in a synthetic
version ( Vitamin A Acetatate, or Retinol )

Vitamin A can also be synthesized by most organisms from Beta Carotene. The
exception is true carnivores like cats, who can only utilize preformed Vitamin A because
they have evolved to not use plant material in their diet and get all they need from the
animals they feed on.

As far as Herps go…. We don’t really know if they all, or some, have the ability to
convert Beta Carotene to Vitamin A. It would be logical, that they can, and most
research to date supports this theory.
Insects contain very little Preformed Vitamin A, and low levels of Beta Cerotene (from
plant material in the gut) Many plants contain high levels of Beta Carotene.
It would be logical to assume that omnivorous herps are able to convert Beta Carotene.
It would also be logical to assume that purely insectivorous herps with very little
availability of either source, have evolved to thrive on relatively low levels.

Most bird diets and supplements have inclusion rates of Preformed Vitamin A (It is
usually measured in its relation to Vitamin D-3) of 10 parts A to 1 Part D-3. These diets
and supplements primarily use Preformed A rather than Beta Carotene because of
cost, and it seems to work just fine for birds.

Herps on the other hand have shown a history of being susceptible to high levels and
have shown toxicity related symptoms.

Our approach in the diets is to use a low level of Preformed A just in case there is a
synthesis issue with some species, (4 to 1 ratio), and an issue with adaptation to low
levels where 10 to one could be too much .We provide lots of Beta Carotene (from
Spirulina) that can be converted at will to A (in theory)
Until further research is done, I believe this is the best way to make sure that a good
source of A is available to the animals.

More on Vitamins later.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to:

Here is the info from the label.... I will soon go into detail on all the ingredients and
explain why I chose each one of them .... stay tuned. I will also provide a formulation
analysis of all Vitamins, Minerals, Trace Elements, Amino Acids, and Fats...

Allen

Ingredients:

Banana Powder, Honey Powder, HempSeed Meal, Bee Pollen, Calcium Caseinate, Fig
Powder, Wheat Germ Meal, Alfalfa
Meal, Nutritional Yeast, Calcium Carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Yeast Culture,
Spirulina Algae, RoseHips
powder, Kelp meal, Haemotococcus Algae, Marigold Extract, Rosemary Extract, Yucca
Extract, Natural Mixed Tocopherols
(as a preservative), D-Activated Animal Sterol (Source of Vitamin D-3) ,Dried
Aspergillus Oryzae Fermentation Extract, Dried
Aspergillus Niger Fermentation Extract, Dried Lactobacillus Fermentation Product,
Dried Bifidobacterium Thermophilum
Fermentation Product, Dried Bifidobacterium Longum Fermentation Product, Dried
Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation
Product and Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Product.

Crude protein, min. 20%
Crude fat, min. 4.5%
Crude fiber, max 15%
Moisture, max 10%
Ash, max 6%
Calcium (Ca) min. 1.8%
Calcium (Ca) max. 2.3%
Phosphorus (P), min. .7%
vitamin D-3, min. 3500 IU/Kilo"
Superfoods forum

-----
Bill DiFabio
Azteclizard.com
Email Me

Thankyou for responding Thats sounds like a really good source of nutrients. I didn't see it anywhere but i'll ask the people i bought my gecko from to see if they know if its in Canada yet

Thanks again

Red

the break down was an intresting read .
-Mike