Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there. My crestie is 16 months old and has been fed a diet of crickets every other day with crested gecko diet in the cage with baby food at all times. About 1-2 months ago I got a supply of crickets that just happened to be really big. She seemed to have a really tough time eating them and didn't eat as many. Sometimes, she would actally spit out the cricket as it seemed too big. After that experience she slowly stopped eating her crickets all together. I've tried the really smalls and normal size but she has no desire to eat crickets. I think that she is still eating her gecko diet and fruit though I don't see her eat. She is not losing weight. If anything, she's a bit chunky. There is definitely poop in the cage so she must be eating something. She just refuses to eat the crickets. Before this instance of the very big crickets, she ate them up just fine. She actually waited on her little log nightly for me to feed them to her. Now, she's not coming down to the log at all but staying up in her foliage. Anyway, should I just stop crickets all together and just feed her the gecko diet? Could she be sick? She really looks fine and seems to be acting fine. It's a bit hard to tell, though, as they don't move around too much anyway. I'd appreciate any input. Thanks ahead!

At 16 months old there is no reason in my mind to feed crickets unless for treats. If the gecko is eating (most likely CGD, but you didn't mention if that intake has increased) and pooping and not acting lethargic it probably isn't impaction.

CGD is complete and geckos can be raised cradle to grave on it alone, lose the babyfood for sure and the crickets if it's not eating them. We feed crickets (gutloaded and dusted) to our babies and juvies because we believe it offers a little faster growth. We feed crickets as occasional treats to the adults for psychological stimulation, but they are feed a regular diet of CGD alone all other times.

(Am I having deja vu... I remember almost the same question just a bit ago?)
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

I apologize if this is a repeat question. I checked and thought that the other questions were more geared toward not eating at all. I've been mixing up the CGD as needed then I add baby food to the mix. I don't think she'll just eat the CGD plain at this age. What do you think? I'll ditch the crickets, though. Thanks so much. I just though they needed to be a staple at all times.

She'll eat straight CGD, just follow the directions on the bottle/bag/website to wean her off the mixture onto pure CGD. She's a full adult now. Crickets aren't a staple diet for cresteds, some people never feed them at any age.

No problem, I didn't mean anything by the repeat post, I just thought I had just seen this question, maybe I was dreaming. We are happy to help. Good luck, keep us posted if you have any problems we've got lots of suggestions to help switch to solid CGD. It is really easy, but your little one has eaten babyfood so long it might be a little stubborn. Good luck.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

>>Anyway, should I just stop crickets all together and just feed her the gecko diet?

yes. and ditch the baby food too, it's not healthy and will mess up the nutritional value of the CGD. i doubt she is sick, some geckos just lose interest in crickets at a certain age, my gargoyle did the same thing. every other day is an awful lot of crickets. when feeding CGD, crickets should only be offered once a week a few at a time, if at all. they are not necessary, and she's probably past her growing stage.
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4.1 snakes, 4.3.2 crested geckos, 0.1 gargoyle gecko, 0.0.2 red-eyed tree frogs, 2.0 devon rex cats, 1.0 betta, 0.1 sun conure, 1.0 lovebird