Crested geckos feed on both insects and fruit in their natural environments; in captivity they require a high-quality, specially-formulated crested gecko diet (CGD) provided via wall-mounted feeding ledge twice or three times weekly for best health and care.
CGD should be supplemented with crickets, waxworms, hornworms and other insects that provide a good mix of nutrients – mealworms with their hard exoskeletons can potentially cause blockages that require surgery.
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Insects
Lugarti geckos can benefit greatly from eating insects as a source of protein and other essential nutrients. You can feed them whole or cut into smaller pieces. Always ensure you clean the insects before offering to your reptile, and remove any uneaten insects within 24 hours to prevent odor and bacteria buildup in their enclosures. Lugarti offers the excellent Reptile Mite Spray product which works by entering into mite respiratory systems to block oxygen supply, effectively suffocating them.
Fruit
Some geckos (crested, gargoyle, chahoua and day geckos) can be frugivorous and will enjoy eating fruit alongside insects. When feeding fresh produce such as bananas, berries, oranges, apples, pineapple, papaya mango and pears to your pet gecko make sure all fruit has been washed beforehand and offers them at least daily or three times per week in order to ensure maximum success with its diet.
Lugarti’s Gecko Gold Powdered Diet provides your gecko with an easily digestible meal, featuring whole dried fruits, whey protein isolate, whole dried egg shells, flaxseed, bee pollen algaes vitamins minerals probiotics probiotics probiotics as well as dubia roaches – everything needed for an enjoyable feeding experience! Simply mix with water in the fridge for up to seven days of storage!
Vegetables
Before meal replacement powders were available, crested geckos would eat fruit-based baby food, which often contained excessive sugar, additives, and preservatives. A better option would be giving Repashy’s Meal-Replacement Powder for Geckos as this contains protein which provides essential nutritional benefits to their species.
Vegetables can help aid with digestion while providing them with essential vitamins and minerals – examples include kale, spinach and carrots.
Your pet should only consume small portions of each vegetable and it’s important that the diet does not include excessive phosphorus or calcium intake that could result in deficiency issues.
When feeding vegetables to your aquatic friends, always wash them thoroughly first and only feed them in the evening as leaving them in your tank overnight can result in them spoiling and becoming moldy. Incorporating various varieties every other day provides variety as well as prevents nutritional deficiencies.
Supplements
Geckos (including leopard, African fat-tailed, tokay, house, flying cave and frog-eyed geckos ) are insectivores, so they require crickets, waxworms, earthworms mealworms fruit flies moths grasshoppers every two to four days as dietary sources. You can increase their nutritional content with Gut Load Cricket Drink with Calcium by giving hydrated insects that provide essential vitamins and minerals that hydrate as well.
Some geckos, including crested, gargoyle, chahoua and day geckos are known to enjoy eating fruit as well as insects. You can offer your gecko fresh or frozen fruits such as papaya, kiwi, pomegranate seeds, watermelons, bananas or berries for them to munch on; or try feeding Gecko Gold which provides nutritional balance to their diet.
