Converting Cresties from eating baby food to the Crested Gecko Diet?

**VeiledSkull** · 06-04-2011, 10:53 PM

So, I ended up buying a crested gecko today at Petco (they were holding their Reptile Rally so all reptiles were half off)..though what the Petco associate told me about feeding him/her made me rather uncomfortable. She noticed that I had a jar of Crested Gecko Diet in my cart and she was like "I wouldn't recommend getting that. We feed our cresteds baby food and they eat crickets every day, it it may be hard to convert them to CGD" Correct me if I'm wrong...but isn't baby food like one of the last things that you should be feeding them at least on a regular basis? I bought the CGD anyway, but I was wondering that in case my new crestie doesn't eat it, what can I do to convert him from baby food to CGD? Could I coat the feeder crickets with the hopes of him becoming accustomed to the taste? Or should I mix baby food with the CGD and gradually wean him off of it?

**MichelleSG** · 06-04-2011, 11:00 PM

Cold turkey. Don't do insects until it eats the CGD. Try hand feeding until it decides to eat on it's own. I got 3 gargs from a baby food feeding breeder. I don't know why breeders do this when they know they'll be selling them and 99% of buyers will be using CGD. Why does the store sell it if they don't use it? Ignoramuses.
It took a month of hand feeding until injust decided they needed to suck it up and eat on their own. They did. Took awhile but there's poo in their tanks so I no longer stress over it.
Cold turkey.

**lauraleellbp** · 06-04-2011, 11:11 PM

I don't disagree that cold turkey works, but I personally am of the opinion that when it's reasonable to do so, animals do best with slow changes rather than sudden. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably put a tiny- and I mean tiny- bit of the baby food they're used to (if you know what that is?) in with the CGD, and try and get them to lick it off your finger (or a spoon or stick or whatever if they're scared of your hand) at least once a week to help acclimate them to it, then after a week or two stop the babyfood all together, then stop handfeeding at all.

I've personally adopted the practice of offering newly arrived geckos the option of licking a bit of CGD off of my finger as soon as I get home/they arrive, and the vast majority have not only accepted it, but have eaten regularly afterwards.

I know it's not what the majority of keepers do, but this is what has been working really well for me thus far.

**Midland** · 06-04-2011, 11:38 PM

I have had to ween two of mine off of fruit diet in order to get them on cgd and worried a lot and ended up slowly adding more and more cgd to the fruit mix until it was all cgd. That worked fine but overall I wish I had just left them with cgd and nothing else. They were really fussy about food and eating very little the entire time I was switching over but once they decided they liked the cgd they started to eat it a lot more. I felt the slow change just dragged out the whole process.

I strongly disagree with hand feeding new geckos. They don't know you yet and and tend to eat less when stressed. Having a giant pick them up and shove food in their face on a regular basis just doesn't make sence to me. Do it once so they get a taste of it and then just leave the cgd in the tank and absolutedly nothing else til they start pooping on a regular basis. Remember to limit handling during this time as well.

Hope this helps.

**lauraleellbp** · 06-05-2011, 12:01 AM

Originally Posted by Midland

Having a giant pick them up and shove food in their face on a regular basis just doesn't make sence to me. Do it once so they get a taste of it and then just leave the cgd in the tank and absolutedly nothing else til they start pooping on a regular basis. Remember to limit handling during this time as well.

I agree with this also. I clean all my enclosures once a week, so I would generally offer a new gecko a lick of food off my finger during this time that I do normally have them out anyways. If they turn up their nose, so be it and I leave the issue be- though almost all of them (except a few flighty hatchlings) have licked it up just fine. I see it as a chance to acclimate them to me (my taste) while also making sure they've had at least something in their stomach once a week.

I actually haven't had any of my geckos go on hunger strikes to date except one who's been sick and under a vet's care for a different issue. I definitely won't say it's as a result of this little practice I've developed, but the way I see it there's more possible positives than risks.

**VeiledSkull** · 06-05-2011, 01:02 AM

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I will try out some of these methods and hopefully success will follow. I put some of the CGD into my crestie's enclosure about 4 hours ago, though I don't know if he's eaten any of it yet. However, I have noticed that he seems rather interested in the dish holding the CGD and have caught him a couple of times milometers away from the bowl..so maybe he has eaten a bit..maybe not.

He ate 1 cricket since I brought him home today, and defecated not long after eating it..though there is a possibility he was fed earlier in the day at Petco. I'm thinking about just going back to the place tomorrow and asking them what kind of baby food was fed to him and how often. I may have to end up mixing it with CGD after all..I don't know why I didn't ask the associate while I was there, but I think I was so shocked at what she told me to feed it I didn't bother to ask.

And I also took into consideration that my crestie just may be stressed out because I just brought him home today, hence why he's not eating a lot.

**Sport88** · 06-05-2011, 06:28 PM

weening them will be fine,,I know baby food is not good for them but,,before CGD was ever around, guess what people fed them? Baby food, fresh fruit mixes and dusted insects. The thing about baby food is all the sugar and not the proper supplements. I would ween them off of it for sure, but it's not like toxic waste ! lol Some people act like if you feed them one drop your gecko is going to explode.

**Midland** · 06-05-2011, 10:29 PM

I agree, people over react to baby food. However, this is partly because of the health issues that occur when people rely on baby food. Too many pet stores and hobbiests fail to realize that before cgd - successful breeders did not simply feed baby food. Specific blends of fruit, baby food (such as turkey for protein), and supplements added by weight were necessary. I have made them for our day gecko - it is somewhat time consuming and expensive. Too many people think they used to crack open a bottle of baby food and stick in the tank - so they do it to - and pet stores that know no better end up encouraging clients to do the same - to the detriment of the animals.