Your Crested Gecko Isn't Eating

That's something I read at least once a day it seems in Crested Gecko Facebook Groups. "Help, My Crested Gecko isn't eating. What foods do you recommend?" In most cases I will tell you, your gecko is eating and you probably don't notice it. Unless you have a large adult Crested Gecko or a breeding group of one male and a female, or one male and two females, you are not going to see bowls licked clean typically. Juvenile geckos are going to eat much smaller amounts than their adult counterparts. I usually recommend a dime size drop in the food cup nightly for juvenile Crested Geckos weighing between 2 and 10 grams. Upwards of 10 grams, you can graduate to nightly feedings of a nickel size drop. I feed single adults a teaspoon every night. I like to do nightly small meals rather than less frequent large meals the geckos gorge themselves on. 

My next recommendation is to stick to a feeding rotation. Your Crested Gecko might not always be hungry, but if you stick to a feeding rotation your gecko will eat during one of those feedings. I typically feed a Crested Gecko diet five nights a week and live calcium dusted crickets or black soldier fly larvae two nights a week. On the nights I feed live insects I don't offer a Crested Gecko Diet. I often hear things like I have a picky gecko, and that's simply not the case. We have captive animals with an infinite source of food. No healthy Crested Gecko will starve itself if a food source is present. Now, I will say Pangea's Gecko Food does seem to be more palatable to the geckos. That probably is one of the main reasons why Pangea has become the most popular gecko diet to feed. Pangea is a great gecko diet and I highly recommend it. Besides, Pangea, I would also recommend Repashy, Black Panther Zoological, and Leapin Leachies gecko diets. 

Let's talk temperature. In most cases, the ambient temperature of your home is perfectly fine to keep your geckos healthy and eating.  I recommend 72-78 degrees Fahrenheit with a more recommended temperature of 77 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit, especially for juveniles as this will facilitate their growth much better.  I am able to get higher temps in my gecko room simply from my room's location in my home and the heat given off lamps from other species I keep in the room. I would recommend a low wattage daylight heat bulb or ceramic heat emitter if you are going to try and use a heat source. Keep in mind night temperature drops are perfectly fine and natural for your geckos. 

So my top three recommendations for those of you concerned about eating are:

1. Feeding Rotation. Just offer food on set nights of the week. Trust that your geckos are eating when you are seeing gecko droppings all over the cage.
2. Offer Smaller Portions More Often. Small frequent feedings will help you to monitor better how much your new gecko is eating.
3. Check your temps just to make sure they aren't too low. Remember nighttime temperature drops are perfectly fine.