Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey everyone
my cresteds are some very
very very picky eaters

I keep a 1.5.0 in a 48inch by 48inch
screen cage that is heavily furnished.
every few days i chuck in a healthy amount
of crickets and in the mean time i Place
about 3-5 small cut deli cups at the bottom
of the crestds favorite perchs and in their favorite
trees.
i have come to notice over the past few weeks that
they really seem to have no intrest in the baby food
all i see is very small lick marks here and there
but nothing close to what i expect in seeing from
a 1.5.0 of all adult cresteds living togehter.
recently i decide to through some wax worms in
with the baby food and i noticed that none of the worms were
gone and the baby food looked pretty intact.
all of the Cresteds are big fat and healthy with the
smallest of them weighing 29grams.

why are they so picky when it comes to baby food?
i use mango, peach, CGD, and a tropcical fruit medaloy
all sprinkeld with Calcium.

can some one please shed some light on this confusing
matter?
thanks
marco
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MarcO

1.5.2 Crested Geckos
1.1.0 Argentine Tegus
1.0.0 Vield Chameleon

mine have shown a lack of interest in baby food or CGD that has any decent amount of calcium.... i coat the crickets as always but now only add small amounts to the baby food and CGD. just experiment and find the amount/ratio that works for your lizards. might help might not?! gl

Andrew Ellis

Firstly, what brand babyfoods are you using? Fruit medly sounds like one of those desert type of things. I beleive it has added sugar, several preservatives, and citric acid. Mango babyfoods (at lesat by Gerber and a few of the other main ones) have citric acid and sugar in them. Lizards can NOT properly metabolize sugar, and citric acid is hard on their tummies.

29 grams for an adult is pretty small, even if it is the smallest.

Exactly how many insects are you feeding? How often? How much babyfood is in these cups? What are the EXACT ages of the geckos?

first
thanks for the serious reply

second
i put in about 1-2 dozen dusted
large size crickets every 2-3 days
and yes the baby food is gerber.
so i guess no more gerber from now on
what kind do u recomend?

also the size of the smallest adult crested
doesnt have me worried because it is about 10-12 months
old and has doubled in weight the last 4 months
along with ever other crested in the enclosure. i weighed
them on a accurate gram scale.
thanks for the fast and thoughtfull reply

marco
-----
MarcO

1.5.2 Crested Geckos
1.1.0 Argentine Tegus
1.0.0 Vield Chameleon

Is the 29 gram gecko male or female? If its a female it is not large enough to breed yet and should ot be housed with male.

Gerber is fine, its just the mango and fruit medley for Gerber are classified as "Fruit Deserts". These have sugar and sweetners added to them that are unhealthy to the gecko. Just look at the ingrediants and make sure no sugar is added.

I use "natures goodness" babyfood sometimes, but mainly make my own. All you need are some fruits and a blender. Papapya, mango, kiwi, strawberry, banana, peach, figs, apricot, apple, pear, etc. Just add a little water,and puree them! Tastes quite good if I do say so myself.

A way you can keep babyfood longer is by freezing it. Put enough for a feeding in an ice cube holder (in an ice cube tray thing) and freeze. When ready to feed just thaw, add supplements, and your good to go.

If you are not planning on using CGD for the geckos it would be a good idea to get some nutritional "boosters" to add to your babyfood. For example, I always add the tiniest pinch of multivitamin, a touch of calcium carbonate, a wee bit of Spirulina, and a little bit of bee pollen. Will start adding hempseed flour once Mathew has it available.

You can probably cut back on insects some. Maybe once or twice a week. I feed adults fruit every other day, and insects once a week.

Hope that helped a tad =)

thanks again

the 29 grammer is a Male
he seems to be ok with the 5 females because 1 has
layed eggs and 3 look pretty pregnant right now

ok i will cut back on the crickets and waxys

the bad thing is i just boughta bout 15 mango
baby foods and fruit medoly! so my next stop is the
local Albetsons to see if they will take them back
they hopefully will because they are all still
sealed in plastic.
i will look to make sure there is no added sugar
thanks alot
marco
-----
MarcO

1.5.2 Crested Geckos
1.1.0 Argentine Tegus
1.0.0 Vield Chameleon