Crested geckos are popular reptile pets, and for optimal health they require proper diet to thrive. This powder reptile diet offers an assortment of ingredients tailored specifically to their nutritional requirements – providing plenty of vitamins and nutrients!
The New Caledonian gecko’s natural diet includes both fruit and insects; its preparation is simple – simply combine with water.
Contents
Insects
At times, insects found at pet stores don’t provide all of the nutrition a leopard gecko needs. You can increase its nutritional intake by gut loading before feeding or using nutritional supplements that come in powder form; just be careful not to cover all your insects with these supplements as this could result in over supplementation with potentially toxic side effects.
Dubias, red runners, black soldier fly larvae (also referred to as calciworms or phoenix worms), silkworms, earthworms cut up into strips or nightcrawlers cut into strips may all be suitable foods for your gecko; just ensure it does not become too large as this could cause impaction issues.
Repashy and Pangea’s Banana Cream Pie meal replacement powders can also make great meal replacement solutions for crested gecko diets, providing your crested with healthy options that easily fit into their daily food plan. These mix of dry fruit, insects and vegetables makes an excellent snack or replacement meal option – two brands I suggest include Repashy and Pangea’s Banana Cream Pie powders.
Fruit
Rewarding your crested gecko with soft fruits such as blueberries or strawberries with lower calcium/phosphorus ratio, or other low fat treats like banana is a wonderful way to show them some affection, yet too many treats could lead to obesity and health complications for cresties.
Another fantastic solution for providing your crested gecko with all of their nutritional needs is offering them a complete meal replacement powder diet, which contains all of their necessary vitamins and minerals. There are numerous sellers and manufacturers offering such foods; one popular example being Repashy’s Crested Gecko Meal-Replacement Powder which can be mixed with water to form gel, paste or smoothie that you can feed your crestie.
Reptile powder supplements are an ideal choice for other species of reptiles such as skinks, anoles and chameleons alike. Many varieties feature insect-derived proteins as well as premium all-natural fruit powders enriched with probiotics, kelp algae and bee pollen to provide a nutritious diet to ensure maximum wellbeing in reptiles.
Vegetables
No matter their preferred diet, many gecko owners include fruits and vegetables in their pet’s daily meal plan. Store-bought or online-available pet food made specifically for geckos often contains high nutritional value along with proper ratios of calcium and phosphorus for your gecko’s needs.
Cresteed geckos in nature are insectivores, so to recreate their behavior at home you should offer insects such as crickets, waxworms, earthworms, fruit flies, moths or grasshoppers every two to four days. When offering live insects ensure that you gut load and dust them with powdered calcium as this prevents metabolic bone disease.
Some keepers also prefer feeding crested geckos powdered foods designed specifically for them. These food items are mixed with water to form a paste-like or smoothie thick consistency and given once or twice weekly along with fresh vegetables and live insects. As different powdered foods have different shelf lives, follow all instructions on the package accordingly.
Eggs
Crestless geckos require all the nutrients found in gecko powder foods; however, you can supplement their diet with fresh fruits and vegetables, live insects (insects are an excellent source of protein) as well as calcium powder and multivitamin supplements prior to feeding (add both separately; don’t combine them all at the same time).
Commercial crested gecko mixes offer an easy solution to provide your pet with a balanced nutritional diet, available at most pet stores and online. You can purchase such mixes in different forms.
Ingredients found in nutritionally balanced, safe diets make these mixes nutritionally-balanced and safe to feed, just beware citrus fruits as these may cause metabolic bone disease which is potentially life threatening – turning geckos’ bones to rubber! Additionally, pregnant female geckos should receive extra calcium power feeding than non-pregnant females do to ensure healthy gestation rates.