# Feeding Crestie



## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

Would it be ok to feed my crestie cucumber and tomatoes?


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## Mavis25 (Jul 4, 2012)

No. Cresties only eat fruit and live food like crickets, wax worms ect. By all means feed veg to your crickets but not your crestie hope this helps


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## scottishbluebird (Jun 1, 2012)

Only fruit, and only as a treat, they wont get all the nutrients like they get in the repashy/cgd. They eat rotting fruit in the wild, but give ripe, not really rotten, and mush it up, give just a really little bit. 
If your crestie refuses the fruit, try again in a few months, mine hated fruit when young, now really likes mango, pear and bananna.


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## SublimeSparo (May 1, 2013)

tomatos are fruit...? although probably not sweet enough for gecko palate


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## Drayvan (Jul 7, 2010)

Whilst Tomatoes and cucumber are fruit, they wouldn't release sugars in the same way as 'normal' fruit and wouldn't be all that palatable to them, I'm not sure they would be all that nutritious either, so I wouldn't really bother :2thumb:


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## SublimeSparo (May 1, 2013)

fruits are called fruits cause they contain fructose the sugar in them... now you've got me curious, i'm off to do some research, spreadsheety type stuff i'll let you know my results


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

SublimeSparo said:


> fruits are called fruits cause they contain fructose the sugar in them... now you've got me curious, i'm off to do some research, spreadsheety type stuff i'll let you know my results


I'll be interested to read your results, happy hunting.


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

Drayvan said:


> Whilst Tomatoes and cucumber are fruit, they wouldn't release sugars in the same way as 'normal' fruit and wouldn't be all that palatable to them, I'm not sure they would be all that nutritious either, so I wouldn't really bother :2thumb:


I think you are probably right, I don't think my Tallulah would like them.


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

SublimeSparo said:


> tomatos are fruit...? although probably not sweet enough for gecko palate


I suspect you are right, I just wondered whether she would eat them. Don't think I'll bother.


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

scottishbluebird said:


> Only fruit, and only as a treat, they wont get all the nutrients like they get in the repashy/cgd. They eat rotting fruit in the wild, but give ripe, not really rotten, and mush it up, give just a really little bit.
> If your crestie refuses the fruit, try again in a few months, mine hated fruit when young, now really likes mango, pear and bananna.


Hi, scottishbluebird, mine has just started eating mango, she seems to like that. I don't know about banana, I thought you weren't supposed to feed them that. However I have a friend who owns a crestie and she gives hers banana.


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

Mavis25 said:


> No. Cresties only eat fruit and live food like crickets, wax worms ect. By all means feed veg to your crickets but not your crestie hope this helps


She eats mango mixed in with her Repashy. I haven't tried waxworms yet. I've heard some cresties love wax moths, I might try them if I can get the waxworms to pupate. So far my crestie doesn't seem to eat anything live.


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## GECKO MICK (Jun 6, 2012)

Try some roaches mine love them.:2thumb:


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## Mavis25 (Jul 4, 2012)

Some cresties are very strange with food. Some love live some don't, my Charlie like wax worms but they are very fatty and she can go a bit snobbish and refuse any other live food but wax worms but she will eat crickets after awhile. I also mix mango with her repashy as I find she won't eat just the repashy on its own so I'm trying to ween her onto it slowly by using less mango as the weeks go on. I will win this war with her food, mark my words:whip:


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## Drayvan (Jul 7, 2010)

Not sure if you can get hold of them this time of year, but try liquidising some fig. Mine went mad for it, especially if you mix in a little bit of pear and honey once in a while as a treat :2thumb:


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## SublimeSparo (May 1, 2013)

calci worms from the silkwormstore.co.uk are a winner with mine. plus they dont need dusting/ gut loading
got all my fruit data togethernow time to start comparing,
im gking to compare the sugars and mineral ratios, although ihave data onamino acids im not sure which are relevant to reptiles without further work...
apologies for typos kindle being a bugger


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## scottishbluebird (Jun 1, 2012)

firefly19 said:


> Hi, scottishbluebird, mine has just started eating mango, she seems to like that. I don't know about banana, I thought you weren't supposed to feed them that. However I have a friend who owns a crestie and she gives hers banana.


I know there is a reason why too much banana is bad, cant remember why, but small bits and not often is fine, mine gets fruit a couple times a month, dubia roaches a couple times a week, but now that i got her mango repashy, the roaches are not getting eaten, and she loves her roaches!


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## Mavis25 (Jul 4, 2012)

I believe banana being high in potassium have the ability to stop your gecko aborbing calcium but i could be wrong. Mine love banana as a treat but I tend to blend a few together add the repashy and pop in ice cube trays and freeze till I need it. This way its a money saver. Tight northerner :2thumb:


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## UKCrestie (Sep 9, 2011)

I was always told not to freeze fruit blended with CGD, just the Fruit alone.
I cant remember exactly why but I think freezing it is damaging?


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## Shisui uchiha (Nov 22, 2012)

Figs and apricots they love nearly all none acidic fruits. Mine were rescues so once saved they slowly but surely started eating fruit then the fruit repashy mix and now a nice big mix of assorted insects and fruit on mixed days to keep them guessing.


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

Shisui uchiha said:


> Figs and apricots they love nearly all none acidic fruits. Mine were rescues so once saved they slowly but surely started eating fruit then the fruit repashy mix and now a nice big mix of assorted insects and fruit on mixed days to keep them guessing.


Do you give them fresh apricots or the dried ones? If you serve the dried apricots how do you mash them? I gave mine mashed up kiwi fruit last night,she liked that.


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

UKCrestie said:


> I was always told not to freeze fruit blended with CGD, just the Fruit alone.
> I cant remember exactly why but I think freezing it is damaging?


I've heard that too, I have a squeezy sauce bottle type thing, I make up a batch of Repashy and put that in the fridge. Although I'm not too sure if that's ok either. What do you think?


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

Mavis25 said:


> I believe banana being high in potassium have the ability to stop your gecko aborbing calcium but i could be wrong. Mine love banana as a treat but I tend to blend a few together add the repashy and pop in ice cube trays and freeze till I need it. This way its a money saver. Tight northerner :2thumb:


Does the banana freeze ok? If so, I might try that minus the repashy. I can always add that later.


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

scottishbluebird said:


> I know there is a reason why too much banana is bad, cant remember why, but small bits and not often is fine, mine gets fruit a couple times a month, dubia roaches a couple times a week, but now that i got her mango repashy, the roaches are not getting eaten, and she loves her roaches!


Where do you get your mango repashy. My local reptile shop only has the normal one that you can buy anywhere.


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

SublimeSparo said:


> calci worms from the silkwormstore.co.uk are a winner with mine. plus they dont need dusting/ gut loading
> got all my fruit data togethernow time to start comparing,
> im gking to compare the sugars and mineral ratios, although ihave data onamino acids im not sure which are relevant to reptiles without further work...
> apologies for typos kindle being a bugger


I didn't know calci worms don't need gut loading or dusting, you get such good advice and learn lots of good things here. I'm trying to get some wax worms to pupate so that I can try Savannah with wax moths at the moment.


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

Drayvan said:


> Not sure if you can get hold of them this time of year, but try liquidising some fig. Mine went mad for it, especially if you mix in a little bit of pear and honey once in a while as a treat :2thumb:


I might just try that, thanks.


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

Mavis25 said:


> Some cresties are very strange with food. Some love live some don't, my Charlie like wax worms but they are very fatty and she can go a bit snobbish and refuse any other live food but wax worms but she will eat crickets after awhile. I also mix mango with her repashy as I find she won't eat just the repashy on its own so I'm trying to ween her onto it slowly by using less mango as the weeks go on. I will win this war with her food, mark my words:whip:


How's it going, are you winning?


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## Mavis25 (Jul 4, 2012)

Am I balls! She has a strong will does Charlie. I will not be beaten by a 44g gecko. Ha


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## firefly19 (Apr 18, 2013)

Mavis25 said:


> Am I balls! She has a strong will does Charlie. I will not be beaten by a 44g gecko. Ha


That's the spirit, Mavis25, don't let her beat you lol


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## scottishbluebird (Jun 1, 2012)

firefly19 said:


> Where do you get your mango repashy. My local reptile shop only has the normal one that you can buy anywhere.


Lilly exotics (online) £9.99 fast delivery too :2thumb:


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## SublimeSparo (May 1, 2013)

firefly19 said:


> I didn't know calci worms don't need gut loading or dusting, you get such good advice and learn lots of good things here. I'm trying to get some wax worms to pupate so that I can try Savannah with wax moths at the moment.


they definitely dont need need calci dust on them, if the data on thesilkwormstore.co.uk is correct they have a mega amount of calcium 

Calci-Worm Nutritional Info -  

someone said about why bananas are bad for geckos and it is because they are high in phosphorous (P) and low in calcium (Ca) and so leach calcium away. i dont think the high potassium (K) is bad per se, although anything in excess is generally bad.

Back to calciworms:

it says they don't need gut loading, but it doesnt hurt too give em some apple/ potato peel or something like that. 

also they can climb a bit, ie out of the disposable plastic food cups, but they cannot escape from a mealworm feeder.


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## SublimeSparo (May 1, 2013)

just an update on my experiences with calci worms, if they hatch to adults my juvenile crestie loves to chase them but doesnt seem able to catch them (unlike waxmoths) so it may be best to remove them from the viv to stop them hassling your crestie during the day.
Also after a bit more research, i have found some dry weight nutritional data for calci worms and they are comparitively low in protein and fat compared to some other feeders.
However as cresties primarily eat fruit/cgd i dont feel that this would be a problem, especailly considering the beneficial Ca ratio but for anything that primarily eats insects this might be a concern.

A note on Ca 
Ca (Calcium) is needed by animals for healthy bones etc
P (Phosphorus) is also needed and used by the body,

However,
Ca is needed to process P in the body, so for example;

if you ate a pill containing 10mg P and 10mg Ca
to process the 10mg of P the body must use 10mg of Ca,

so the net gain to the animal would be 10mg P and 0mg Ca, this results in a Ca deficiency,
this is the reason we dust things like crickets with calcium.

Calciworms have a natural Ca ratio of 1.5:1 so do not need dusting and do not create calcium deficiency


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