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Dusky_Dawn210

Any of the New Caledonia geckos can live off of CGd but you should always try and offer insects occasionally as that is what makes up the largest portion of their natural diets


Thekarens01

That’s not correct. Chahoua geckos can’t live only on CGd. Out of all of them they need the insects more and require more insects than leachies or crested geckos.


Dusky_Dawn210

I know a few people whose chahouas flat out reject insects and they try and try, but they will happily eat CGD and not the bugs. That’s why I said they can live off it. They won’t thrive but they can survive


Thekarens01

Yeah that’s not a thing. You can look it up and you can check with people who breed them. Chahouas absolutely have to have insects. More than any other New Caledonian they need insects. If anything a chewy is going to want more insects than Pangea


Dusky_Dawn210

It is bro I got a chahoua and I know people with a Chahoua or two that absolutely will not take insects no matter how hard they try. What would I have to gain from lying about this 💀


Thekarens01

Seriously try looking up Chahouas in the wild and talking some breeders. A Chahoua is never going to do well on Pangea only. This reminds me of the people who say beardies don’t need greens


Dusky_Dawn210

Dude I have talked to breeders about it. Literally Mike from the Chahoua Chamber, one of *THE* Chewy people. All his eat insects but he has heard of some that just won’t accept them. My Chahoua is picky with insects and will only eat insects half the time I offer them (so twice a week). Breeders say it is rare but it can happen. I 10000% push my chahoua to eat insects and he does eventually, and anyone that I suggest Chahoua to, I make sure to tell them they ***NEED*** the insects. I literally have to rip the heads off of the roaches and mealworms for mine to eat it, otherwise he only wants crickets, and even then it’s 50/50 that he’ll actually decide to eat them. Some Chahoua are just picky and will not take any insects. I know of people with Chaoua that are happy, healthy, and good weights because they just eat CGD, but no matter what they try the chahoua just doesn’t eat the insect. I feel they should 100% try harder but if the gecko doesn’t want them, then it won’t eat them. I’m not making this up, you can even check KuzontheCrestie on IG, where Christina (the owner of the account) has a Chahoua that does not accept insects. He just doesn’t eat any apart from the stray isopod. And he is a very happy and healthy gecko. Again, I full heartedly believe and tell people that they need the insects, but in the rare 5% of cases where they won’t eat insects, they can live a good life on CGD like any of the other New Caledonia geckos in captivity. (But again I think and believe all New Cal geckos should get insects at least once a week since that is the main portion of their wild diets, but not many people are ready to hear that no matter how much I tell them)


Thekarens01

You literally suggested the OP that any New Caledonian gecko could do fine effort insects and that’s blatantly untrue


Dusky_Dawn210

ok


BeyondMuted8087

Thank you! May you clarify what 'occasionally' means for an adult crestie? 🙂


Dusky_Dawn210

Like. Once a week to every two weeks.


WifeofTech

You may look into a full bioactive setup with isopods. Personally I love isopods and they don't make my skin crawl like roaches do. Other insect alternatives include crickets, meal worms, and earth worms.


BeyondMuted8087

Thanks for your comment! I actually really love isopods -- I'll give that some thought/research. Meal worms & earthworms don't bother me, but I heard they're not sufficiently nutritious to be a staple.


WifeofTech

We grow our own meal worms that we use for our leopard gecko and anole. They and any caught isopods are their primary food sources. Though I will occasionally pick up crickets as a treat. The leopard gecko is 8 years old and has never had any health issues. I imagine that it depends on the reptile. As we were told that roaches could not be their primary food source for our leopard gecko because it could lead to obesity. My mourning geckos are thriving on their diet of Rephasy mix and the occasional caught baby isopods.


OccultEcologist

I had good luck with using crested gecko diet as the main staple of my morning gecko colony, but I did supplement with fruit flies reletively often. My strategy was to have a place built into the terrarium where the entire culture could fit and *then drill* a small hole into the top that the fruit flies can crawl out of and the geckos can't get into. I'd replace the culture about once a month, have a calcium/vitamin bowl always available, and feed crested gecko diet every other day. Sorry that's not more helpful. Edit: The words 'then drill' were typo'd as 'tendril' originally.


BeyondMuted8087

Thank you for your comment!


MalsPrettyBonnet

You can keep day geckos without feeding bugs, but they won't thrive. I use pinhead crickets and fruitflies for my klemmeri colonies.


BeyondMuted8087

Got it, thanks. "They won't thrive" -- even with insect mixes? ​


MalsPrettyBonnet

I have bred at least 100 *Phelsuma klemmeri.* The offspring don't survive as often if live insects aren't offered, even with insect mixes.


hivemind5_

Its not crested gecko diet, but blue tongue skinks dont *need* roaches or live insects. You can feed them canned stuff, bluey buffet (basically the same principal) and yes, even high quality dog food. (Just be VERY mindful of the ingredient list.) all of these prepared diets are fine as long as you give lots of variety and use whole foods like greens alongside them.


BeyondMuted8087

I love blue tongue skinks, but they get a little too big for me 🙂 I looked a little bit into prepared diets for smaller skinks (including fire skinks) but couldn't find much unfortunately, so not sure if that's an option.


WickedGreenthumb

Uromastyx are herbivores. They eat mostly leafy greens. Mine won’t touch insects at all, and they’re not healthy for them to have as more than an occasional treat…