What Do Crested Geckos Eat?
By: Jason
Last Updated: March 12, 2023
Diet & Food Overview
Crested geckos make great pets. One of the reasons that crested geckos are so popular is that they are one of the easiest reptiles to feed. Still, many keepers have questions and want to learn everything about the ideal crested gecko diet.
Pet crested geckos primarily eat a complete gecko diet (or CGD), a nutritionally-complete mix designed for them. Many keepers supplement that with weekly live insects (like Dubia roaches or crickets) and fresh fruit once a month.
While that summary helps, there is a lot more to maintaining a healthy diet. We will cover the best foods, and how and when to feed your pet crestie. Finally, we will discuss some common problems and how best to address them.
Let’s get started!
What Do They Eat in the Wild?
We study what an animal eats in the wild so we can give them a healthy, proper diet in captivity.
Today, wild crested geckos only live in New Caledonia, a group of islands in the South Pacific. Over time, the plants and animals there have evolved into species not found anywhere else in the world.
Studies show crested geckos eat insects, worms, fruit, and flower nectar in the wild.
While we know many things about crested geckos, there is a lot we don’t know about them and their diet. Because New Caledonia has so many unique species, there is a lot to explore. For every type of insect we have studied, there are 1-4 more species we haven’t. The same holds for plants, too. Since insects and fruit are such a large portion of their diet, it is hard to know what crested geckos are eating in the wild.
What does that teach us?
There are other things we have learned about their natural feeding habits. Crested geckos hunt and feed at night. Likely, their insect prey is also nocturnal.
Their habitat tells part of the story. Crested geckos live in forests on tall mountains of the Isle of Pines and the island of Grand Terre. We know they only forage for food in the undergrowth layer, within 10 feet of the ground. While some native fruits grow at that height, they also eat over-ripened and rotten fruits that have fallen from the trees.
Being from an island with unique plants and bugs has another downside; we can’t copy the diet. Their natural food doesn’t live anywhere else. We can’t buy it locally or online.
What do we do? First, we support research into crested geckos and the protection of their natural habitat. Second, we look at what we know about other lizards and what crestie keepers have learned over the years. Finally, we make educated guesses based on science.
Every bit helps us form the best diet to give our pets better care.
What Do They Eat At Home?
There are several categories of crested gecko food and different approaches to feeding.
Most pet owners feed their crested geckos a mix of meal powder and live insects. Some opt to give only insects and fruit to mirror the natural diet as much as possible. Others still go the other direction and rely only on meal powder.
We recommend new or less experienced crested gecko owners feed their pets a diet of mostly meal powder.
Complete Meal Powder
Crested Gecko Diet (CGD) is a nutritionally complete mixture designed for this species. The main ingredient is dried fruit and crushed-up bugs, but it also has vitamins and minerals. CGD comes in different flavors, like mango, watermelon, and banana.
This type of food typically comes powdered but can be in a pellet. Some keepers use CGD as their sole source of food, while others supplement it with live feeder insects.
CGD is one of the reasons crested geckos are popular pets. The powder is simple to prepare- mix it with water and serve. Once mixed, it has a consistency of paste or a smoothie. Most cresties love licking it up!
One warning- not all brands are safe. If a meal powder doesn’t have everything a crested gecko needs, it will eventually get sick from a nutrient deficiency.
Want more?>>> Complete gecko diet
Insects
In the wild, a crested gecko will eat any bug it finds that is smaller than itself. Chances are they would eat many different kinds of insects, giving them a variety of nutrients. But not all bugs are equally healthy for them.
Crickets and dubia roaches are the best and most popular options. Some keepers offer other types of insects and worms to their cresties.
The size of the insect is important. If the meal is too large, it can cause impaction (a blockage). We use the distances between the gecko’s eyes to determine the size of the food. Insects should always be shorter than that space.
Generally speaking, crested geckos don’t eat dead or dried insects. Fresh, live insects can be (humanely) killed and immediately served to a crested gecko who is just starting to eat them.
Want more?>>> Insects to feed crested geckos
Soft and overripe fruits are a regular part of the crested gecko’s natural diet. Like insects, though, not all fruits are good for cresties.
When looking at fruits, we consider the calcium-to-phosphorous ratio. Calcium is vital for bone health and is often deficient in the captive diet. Phosphorous can interfere with that absorption, making matters worse. The other notable compound is oxalic acid, which also harms bones.
Given all that, the best fruit for crested geckos is papaya. Some others, like blueberries, mangoes, and pears, can be healthy in small amounts. Avoid all citrus fruits.
Crested geckos eating CGD should get fruit as a treat once or twice a month, depending on which fruit.
Want More?>>> Fruit for crested geckos
Vegetables
Veggies aren’t discussed nearly as much as fruit, but you can feed some of them to your crestie.
Why aren’t they just as essential as fruit? Because crested geckos get most of their veggies by eating bugs. We feed the live insects fresh vegetables just before offering them to our pets, loading them up. The practice of ‘gut loading’ makes them healthier for the lizards.
We pay attention to calcium, phosphorous, and oxalates in vegetables.
Other Foods
A few foods defy the clean categories above.
Crested geckos can eat honey in small amounts and as a rare treat. They can also eat some mushrooms you might buy in the grocery store, like button mushrooms.
Years ago, it was common to feed crested geckos baby food. At the time, crested gecko meal powders were not available. With the easy-to-make food made just for crested geckos that we have now, most keepers today avoid baby food.
How To Feed A Crested Gecko
Selecting the right foods for a pet is only part of the process. How you prepare and offer the food can make a big difference.
How To Prepare and Serve Meal Powder
CGD is easy to prepare. Most come in a powdered form which you mix with water until it reaches a pasty consistency. Some mixes are thicker or thinner, so follow the instructions.
But, just like with people, cresties have their preferences. Some prefer their CGD thin and watery, while others want it thick and lumpy. You might have to try making it different ways to find what your pet likes best.
Place some of the mixed food in a shallow bowl in the habitat. If you can, put the bowl on a ledge higher in the tank with some leaf cover to give them privacy. Eating like this is more akin to how they eat in the wild and will be less stressful.
Each brand specifies how long the food can sit before it goes bad. While this is often 24 hours, read and follow the guidelines on your brand.
How To Prepare and Serve Insects
Feeding the bugs is the first step in prepping an insect dinner for your crestie. By giving the insects some dark leafy greens and a bit of whole grain, you are “powering them up” to provide the best health value. This approach is called ‘gut loading‘ and is how lizards get vegetable nutrients in the wild.
It is best to gut-load the insects 12-24 hours before feeding them to your crested gecko.
Once the insects are fully loaded, dust them with a high-quality calcium supplement. You can sprinkle the powder directly on top of them or swirl them in a powdered container.
Then, release a few live insects into the enclosure. Remove any uneaten bugs at the end of the feeding time.
For younger cresties, you might need to begin by hand-feeding them insects. Grab an insect with long handle feeding tongs and hold it an inch from the crestie’s mouth.
You can also feed them the insects separately from their tank while they get the hang of it. Finding their prey can be tricky in a dense setup.
Ideally, a pet learns to hunt for itself. Hunting has health benefits for pet lizards.
How To Prepare and Serve Fruit
While crested geckos have delicate teeth on the roof of their mouth, they don’t use them for biting and chewing.
Generally, a fruit becomes sweeter and softer as it ripens, which is how cresties like it. Once the fruit is fully ripe or even overripe, it is ready.
Mash up or puree the tasty treat and serve it in a shallow dish.
Remove any uneaten leftovers. Since fruit is a special treat, they will likely eat until they are full!
Some fruits can be served with their skin, while others can’t. The same is true about seeds. You can learn how to prepare each kind of fruit in our articles on each fruit.
How To Prepare and Serve Vegetables
Vegetables follow a similar approach to fruit.
It can be sliced into tiny pieces, mashed, or pureed. You can also mix some with fruit to sweeten the dish!
How Much Do You Feed Them?
Getting the right amount of food can be tricky. Differences in size, age, and appetite make this less of a one-size-fits-all answer.
The ideal starting place is to serve an amount of food equal to the volume of their head. Compare teaspoons or scoops to gauge portion size.
After that, notice how much they eat. Adjust up or down as needed. Bugs, fruit, and vegetables should get eaten in 15 minutes. CGD should last 24 hours.
While most crested geckos stop eating once they feel full, some continue as long as any food is available, so know that overfeeding is possible, especially with some sweeter fruits.
How Often Do You Feed Them?
Adult crested geckos don’t need to eat daily and are okay for short periods without eating.
If you use a meal replacement powder, you will want to feed your crestie 3-4