Unboxing 112 Pounds of Gecko Diet and My Feeding Schedule

This shipment was 51 kg (112 lb) of crested gecko diet. It lasts me four to eight months depending on how many geckos I'm carrying. In a busy summer, with lots of hatchlings and breeders eating well, I expect four to five.

It was both brands I use. From Repashy: mango, classic, standard, Grubs and Fruit and banana cream pie. From Pangea: fig and insects, apricot, banana papaya and watermelon. I normally also order the Pangea breeder formula, but it was out of stock.

How I use the flavors

Each age group has a base diet that makes up roughly half of what it eats:

• Juveniles: an insect-based formula.
• Adult breeders: the Pangea breeder formula.

The other half of the time I rotate through all the other flavors so they get a good variety. Now and then I add Black Panther Zoological or Zoo Med as well.

I often mix two flavors together. The geckos don't find the breeder formula very palatable, so I add a scoop of Repashy banana cream pie to it and get a better feeding response. Banana cream pie is not a complete diet.

Why crickets come the day after prepared diet

Prepared diets have the vitamins and minerals and are well balanced. Crickets aren't as balanced, but they bring a lot of fat and protein, which helps geckos grow. Most geckos are keener on live prey than on prepared diet, so they will still eat crickets the day after a good meal of diet. Do it the other way round and they fill up on crickets and barely touch the diet the next day. There are exceptions: some geckos don't eat live food.

The seven-day schedule

Day 1 is Sunday.

Adults

1. Prepared diet.
2. Crickets.
3. Remove the old diet. No food.
4. Fresh prepared diet.
5. Crickets.
6. Remove the old diet. No food.
7. No food.

Adults go one night without food once a week, and two nights in a row once a week.

Juveniles

1. Prepared diet.
2. Crickets.
3. Remove the old diet. No food.
4. Fresh prepared diet.
5. Crickets.
6. Fresh prepared diet.
7. No new food. Leave what is left from day 6.

Juveniles never go two nights without food. They are growing and have higher metabolisms.