Feeding crickets

[Crrt]

Hey guys I have a crestie who seems to only like crickets, he'll nibble at cgd but lives crickets and eats a good helping of crickets each time I offer, I noticed he was looking rather thin ( otherwise healthy) so I've started to offer him crickets a few times a week for the last two weeks ( I guy load crickets with rapahsy and dust them with calcium..... Is this ok)he has put on almost 5 grams from roughly 15 too 18.5 -19 depending on how recently feed he is. I notice that some of my geckos go through cricket phases were its all they eat for a week or two but he seems to only like crickets. I also have a female who I bought at 17gs about 6 weeks ago I offer her dusted gutloaded(repashy) crickets maybe 1-2 times a week, and she is now 26 grams. All weight gain/growth is Healthy none loom chubby.

Am I ok to gutloaded with repashy?
Are thecrickets be the reason for the constant growth I am seeing?
And is it safe to be feeding crickets regularly to my geckos as in 2-3 times a week? ( regardless I always offer some cgd for them to eat if they wish)

[StellarAwesome]

Hey guys I have a crestie who seems to only like crickets, he'll nibble at cgd but lives crickets and eats a good helping of crickets each time I offer, I noticed he was looking rather thin ( otherwise healthy) so I've started to offer him crickets a few times a week for the last two weeks ( I guy load crickets with rapahsy and dust them with calcium..... Is this ok)he has put on almost 5 grams from roughly 15 too 18.5 -19 depending on how recently feed he is. I notice that some of my geckos go through cricket phases were its all they eat for a week or two but he seems to only like crickets. I also have a female who I bought at 17gs about 6 weeks ago I offer her dusted gutloaded(repashy) crickets maybe 1-2 times a week, and she is now 26 grams. All weight gain/growth is Healthy none loom chubby.

Am I ok to gutloaded with repashy?
Are thecrickets be the reason for the constant growth I am seeing?
And is it safe to be feeding crickets regularly to my geckos as in 2-3 times a week? ( regardless I always offer some cgd for them to eat if they wish)

Few things first
-yes feeding crickets is likely responsible for the growth
-no feeding only gutloaded crickets (regardless of gutload) along with calcium dusting is not going to be good enough.
-really once per week is what you're going to want to feed in terms of 'feeders' as opposed to the CGD

Some cresteds prefer insects, some do not. Some like them so much they'll try and hold out for the crickets. This can lead to metabolic bone disease (MBD). You really want to make sure they're feeding primarily on the CGD as opposed to the gutloaded crickets.

If some of your geckos are looking a little thin but you are offering the CGD as the staple you could try a few different flavors, or try mixing in a little of the Pangea Fruit Mix to sweeten it up or even look into your humidity levels. Sometimes they're really not so much skinny as just dehydrated.

Hope this helps!

[Spyral]

There are many Repashy products, including gutloads. Do you mean you are guloading with the Crested Gecko Diet? That's fine and should work for cresties.

I would cut back on crickets until you know for sure (poop) they are eating the CGD. Then you could probably feed once or twice a week. 3 times and you aren't giving them enough opportunity to eat their CGD. Mine will generally not eat more than 3-4 times a week, and Repashy CGD should be the majority of their diet.

[Rhac On]

as stated by spyral and stella, although the crickets will result in growth they should be limited to once per week. CGD the rest of the time. crickets as the main food source or any other feeder insect will probably cause MBD issues.
the best thing to do is always get young geckos eating their CGD and then insects but still insects only once a week. good luck

[Crrt]

Alright thanks guys I thought it might be a bad idea to get him hooked on crickets so that's why I asked, I'll keep him away from crickets for awhile get him used to his cgd again, after that I will feed him as I feed my others cgd every two days and crickets once a week occasionally twice if there being good about eating the cgd as well. Thanks guys always a wealth of knowledge from you guys.

[Crrt]

And Yes I meant I was gut loading crickets with cgd, just to clarify

[StellarAwesome]

Alright thanks guys I thought it might be a bad idea to get him hooked on crickets so that's why I asked, I'll keep him away from crickets for awhile get him used to his cgd again, after that I will feed him as I feed my others cgd every two days and crickets once a week occasionally twice if there being good about eating the cgd as well. Thanks guys always a wealth of knowledge from you guys.

It's funny, seeing the individual 'personalities' of these guys. Who eats what, who's fussy etc etc. Always interesting.
Good luck with your gekkers

[mrtsgeckoworld]

I have had a lot of success with the Pangea Fruit mix, I also like to use Bananas that are almost too old maybe just a 1/2 inch slice and the same size strawberry and blend it up with 3-5 tablespoons of CGD, the real fruit seems to attract them...or maybe the bananas. Good luck!