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This is the diet I feed my Crested.... interesting...

mattcbiker Dec 13, 2004 02:51 AM

I've been thinking about doing CGD...but I think my diet is just as good if not better. Also, CGD is expensive!!

I feed about 3-10 crickets a week, still trying to figure out how many she will eat. She is 43 grams, is that average?

I alternate feeding peach and fruit medley baby food. In this baby food I mix in my personal protein shake mix. It is 40% protein, plenty of calcium, and a host of many other vitamins and nutirients. I lightly coat a teaspoon of the baby food with the powder and mix it in. I hope that would be enough. 3 Tablespoons of the stuff has 40 grams of protein alone! It is a vanilla flavor, with very little sugar. Sometimes I add some water if the consistency gets too thick from the protein powder. It is actually very similar to CGD as far as nutrition goes...

I do this because I really don't view crickets as having much protein or being very nutritious even though I do gutload them. Also, I would suspect the proportional cost of how much of this stuff I use would cost about $5 a year to feed.

She really likes the stuff! I have tasted it - mostly like baby food but there is the vanilla sweetness, just a hint of it. She's been doing well and gaining a bit of weight since I got her 6 weeks ago.

So, is this gonna make anybody freak out? - Matt

-----
Matt from Minnesota
Cornsnake, Eastern Kingsnake, IL Bullsnake - all girls.
0.1 Crested Gecko "Camey"; 1.0 Crested Gecko "Spots" RIP

Replies (2)

AnthonyCaponetto Dec 13, 2004 03:58 AM

Provided all the gecko's nutritional requirements are covered and there's nothing in any of the ingredients that would harm your gecko, I don't see anything wrong with it.

Your approach seems to be pretty well thought out, but I still have a couple of concerns with the diet you've described.

Here are some things you may want to look into...

You need to maintain an adequate balance of calcium and vitamin D3, which would be my first concern with the diet you described. If you're dusting your crickets with the proper supplements, that probably won't be so much of a concern.

Another concern I would have is that most low carb or low sugar protein powders contain artificial sweeteners like phenylalanine or the like. I'm not sure how these would affect the geckos, but I wouldn't expect that to be much of a problem.

Last, but not least are "healthy fats." Depending on what's in the protein powder you're using, you may want to consider adding a small amount of some type of oil to the mix. I've not discussed it with anyone, but I would guess that this may help out greatly with egg production, etc.

BTW, I would have to disagree about the CGD being expensive. I buy a 2.5lb container about once a month for $30 and that feeds about 80 geckos of various sizes. For one gecko, a single $3.99 bottle of it would last you quite some time. What I like is that there is no measuriing, no mixing, etc. I just add the powder and water into a shaker and start serving it up. Convenience is definitely a strong point with CGD.

Bottom line, your diet sounds like it's working, so that's what counts. Provided she stays healthy and it has no adverse affects on reproduction (if you're going to be breeding that female), I say go with it.

-Anthony

>>I've been thinking about doing CGD...but I think my diet is just as good if not better. Also, CGD is expensive!!
>>
>>I feed about 3-10 crickets a week, still trying to figure out how many she will eat. She is 43 grams, is that average?
>>
>>I alternate feeding peach and fruit medley baby food. In this baby food I mix in my personal protein shake mix. It is 40% protein, plenty of calcium, and a host of many other vitamins and nutirients. I lightly coat a teaspoon of the baby food with the powder and mix it in. I hope that would be enough. 3 Tablespoons of the stuff has 40 grams of protein alone! It is a vanilla flavor, with very little sugar. Sometimes I add some water if the consistency gets too thick from the protein powder. It is actually very similar to CGD as far as nutrition goes...
>>
>>I do this because I really don't view crickets as having much protein or being very nutritious even though I do gutload them. Also, I would suspect the proportional cost of how much of this stuff I use would cost about $5 a year to feed.
>>
>>She really likes the stuff! I have tasted it - mostly like baby food but there is the vanilla sweetness, just a hint of it. She's been doing well and gaining a bit of weight since I got her 6 weeks ago.
>>
>>So, is this gonna make anybody freak out? - Matt
>>
>>-----
>>Matt from Minnesota
>>Cornsnake, Eastern Kingsnake, IL Bullsnake - all girls.
>>0.1 Crested Gecko "Camey"; 1.0 Crested Gecko "Spots" RIP
-----
----------------------------------
Anthony Caponetto
www.ACreptiles.com

mattcbiker Dec 13, 2004 09:43 AM

Anthony -

Thanks for the input. I've realized that nearly everything she eats has near zero fat. I've considered trying to add in some healthy fats with a good flax or fish oil in very small quantities, I know that stuff tastes nasty. I think a better way to help complete the diet will be mixing in a bit of egg. I dust the crickets, and although they lose most of the powder before she eats them, I think I'm doing all I can there.

It'd be nice to see if she will eat any worms, they're the easiest to supplement and nice and fatty.
-----
Matt from Minnesota
Cornsnake, Eastern Kingsnake, IL Bullsnake - all girls.
0.1 Crested Gecko "Camey"; 1.0 Crested Gecko "Spots" RIP

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