Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yes, I have noticed better growth using crickets & gecko diet. What I do is feed both the gargoyle gecko diet(higher in protein) and crix for most of their first year. When you feed crix, use Mike Stromme's nifty idea of coating the crix with the diet maybe mixed w/a little of the calcium. For water, I always keep a shallow plate of water w/tiny bit of diet mixed in so it's a very very thin gruel, and when they drink, they are getting some diet, and maintaining a taste for it. Doing that, it must be changed every day so that it doesn't go bad. I saw some juvies at a local show in April which had been raised exclusively on gecko diet, no crickets, and they looked downright puny compared to my juvies which were even younger!! (I heard later that someone who had purchased 2 of the "puny" geckos had them die when they got home!) Whether they even out in the end, I wouldn't know, and I'm not going to risk it myself. Anyway, I think it's more natural to let them hunt a little, as they would in the wild.
Terri

I have to disagree. I have used the CGD and GGD almost exclusively on many Rhacos, breeders and babies (several hundred at this point). The diets make up about 90% of the diet offered to my cresteds. The other 10% is gut loaded crickets. I have crickets around to feed the rest of my collection, and If I have extras the cresties get them. I believe there is some benefit to making them work for their food every once and awhile.

I have had females reach maturity in as little as 10 monthes and as long as 20.

There are many factors that may have accounted for the size difference in the geckos you saw at the show. Cresteds that are incubated in hot wet conditions tend to hatch at a small size and just don't thrive. The vender may have not offered food to his geckos often enough. I change out the food at least every other day. They may have been dehydrated. They may have come from young females. He might have given an inacurate age for the babies. Etc. Etc.

Mike

Grand Scale Geckos