Crested Gecko Feeding: Schedule, Diet, and Why They Stop Eating

Crested Gecko Feeding: Schedule, Diet, and Why They Stop Eating

The biggest mistake with crested gecko feeding isn't a wrong schedule, it's treating live insects as the main event when the powdered diet should be doing that job. For the rest of their care needs, see our complete Crested Gecko care guide.

Feeding Schedule by Age

• Hatchlings and juveniles (0 to 12 months): Commercial crested gecko diet (CGD) offered daily, with live insects added 1 to 2 times a week, mainly for enrichment and extra protein.
• Adults (12+ months): CGD every 2 to 3 days, insects about once a week.

Portion size is roughly 1/2 teaspoon of mixed CGD for a juvenile and about 1 teaspoon for an adult per feeding, adjusted based on how much actually gets eaten. Remove uneaten prepared food within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold, some keepers offer only what's cleared within about 4 hours. Insects should be no larger than the width of the gecko's head, and anything not eaten within 15 to 20 minutes should come back out so it doesn't stress or nip the gecko overnight.

What Crested Geckos Actually Eat

The staple in captivity is a complete powdered crested gecko diet, a meal-replacement mixed with water to a ketchup-like consistency that supplies protein, fruit, calcium, and vitamin D3 in one product. Pangea and Repashy are the two most established brands. Rotate 2 to 3 flavors or brands, both for enrichment and because crested geckos can be genuinely picky, one specific flavor, watermelon, is called out as having unusually high acceptance among fussy eaters.

Live insects, dubia roaches, discoid roaches, crickets, and hornworms, are a supplemental protein source, not the base diet. Gut-load feeder insects 24 to 48 hours before feeding, then lightly dust with a reptile calcium supplement before each feeding, occasionally skipping a dusting is fine. Don't introduce insects before a gecko is reliably eating CGD, geckos can learn to hold out for insects and refuse the complete diet.

Fresh pureed fruit, mashed, not chunks, works as an occasional treat: banana, mango, papaya, apricot, peach, and berries. Frame fruit as occasional rather than routine, feeding it too often can make a gecko start rejecting its nutritionally complete CGD.

Safe Treats and Foods to Avoid

Safe: pureed banana, mango, papaya, apricot, peach, melon, and berries offered alongside, not instead of, CGD, plus gut-loaded, calcium-dusted dubia roaches, discoid roaches, and crickets.

Genuinely toxic: avocado, citrus fruits (high acidity interferes with calcium absorption), rhubarb, and fireflies, which are treated as toxic to reptiles generally and should never be fed. Skip wild-caught insects entirely, pesticide and parasite risk, along with onion, garlic, and eggplant. Raspberries are a real point of disagreement, some sources list them as a safe treat, others flag them as high-oxalate, worth knowing rather than presenting either way as settled.

Why Crested Geckos Stop Eating

1. Shedding. Energy-intensive and uncomfortable, appetite commonly dips for a few days before and after, sometimes for up to about a week total.
2. Breeding season or gravidity. Females have a natural cycle spanning much of the year, clutches roughly every 4 to 6 weeks. Hormonal shifts and physical pressure from developing eggs can suppress appetite for a week or more, and gravid females often look visibly plump and less active.
3. New environment or stress. A new enclosure, excessive handling, loud noise, or other pets in the household can make a crestie go off food while adjusting.
4. Seasonal slowdown. Not true brumation, cresties are tropical and shouldn't be deliberately cooled, but keepers do report reduced eating and activity in winter months even with stable husbandry.
5. Picky eating. A gecko may refuse one CGD flavor or texture while readily eating another. An individual-preference issue, solved by rotating brands, not a health concern.
6. Wrong husbandry. Heat above about 85°F risks being fatal, and incorrect humidity, outside the 60 to 80% target range, or an undersized enclosure can suppress appetite and cause lethargy.
7. Illness. Mouth rot, parasites, respiratory infection, impaction from ingested substrate, and metabolic bone disease from inadequate calcium are all real medical causes of appetite loss.
8. Egg binding. Distinct from a normal pre-lay dip, this is a dangerous condition requiring immediate vet care, not something to wait out.
9. Dehydration. Insufficient humidity or water access shows as lethargy and wrinkled, loose-looking skin, and can suppress feeding interest on its own.

When to Actually Worry

A healthy, good-weight adult can typically go about 2 to 3 weeks without eating and be physically fine, but a vet consult is worth considering after the second week, especially with visible weight loss. Juveniles have far less reserve than adults, a young gecko refusing food for more than a few days is more urgent than an adult doing the same.

Concrete red flags regardless of duration: visible weight loss, a bony spine, hip, or tail base, sunken eyes, lethargy or loss of grip strength, and a soft or rubbery lower jaw, a metabolic bone disease sign. Water matters on a shorter clock than food, a crested gecko can only go about 3 days without it. Weighing the gecko monthly, or every few days during a suspected seasonal slowdown, is a good way to catch a real declining trend early rather than reacting to one skipped meal.

For the rest of their setup and health needs, see our Crested Gecko cost guide, handling guide, and humidity guide, or browse the Geckos care guide category.

Sources & Further Reading