Is there a difference between...

[goReptiles]

The Crested Gecko Diet and the Gargoyle Gecko Diet?

http://pangeareptile.com/products.htm#superfoods

I have both now, and If it's healthier to give gargoyles the actual gargoyle diet versus the CGD, then I'll buy both. Just curious as to your opinions.

I'll post pics soon. Both gargoyles are in shed. :-(

 

[Select Gex]

If I recall correctly the garg diet is higher in protein and breeders often feed it to ciliatus babies.

 

[Jeremy Letkey]

I do believe that the gargoyle diet is being discontinued.

Check it out here

 

[LadyGecko]

When I bought my leachies from Allen Repashy-I spoke with Andrew Gilpin as he was handling Allen's geckos at that time and he told me that the Leachie Diet is also being discontinued and to just use the CGD for all of my Rhacs
I have both the T-Rex and the 2 stage diet

Sandy

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

Oh my god, You have got to be kidding me, I just wrote out this HUGE long thing, and it signed me out and deleted everything *cries*

Uh.. gslkjflsker!!dsflsaer This the short, abridged version of the one I wrote before, so I probably left some stuff out, and it might make less then perfect sense.

From the top. The short answer is one is for gargoyles, and one is for crested geckos, why? I dont know.

The nutritional run down is as follows.

Protien:
CGD - 10%
GGD - 30%
LGD - 25%

Fat
CGD 6%
GGD & LGD - 4%

Fiber
CGD - 14%
GGD - 10%
LGD - 18%

Calcium & Ca : P ratio
CGD - 1.4% 1:4
GGD & LGD - 2.3% 1:3

Vitamin d3
CGD - 4000 IU
GGD & LGD - 3500 IU

Now, I am no expert on making diets. This is all based on my personal observances and assumptions made based on those observations.

What I do know, is that ideal ca ratio for reptiles is 2:1, I add calcium and multivitamin to my mixes anyway, and that dietary D3 in too high amounts can be toxic. I also provide my geckos with UVB which helps geckos to synthesize d3, and acts as a regulator. I have a quote from Repashy on the subject somwhere. Why would crested geckos have less Calcium and more d3? I have no idea.

I also know that ciliatus, sarasinorum, and chahoua have visable calcium reserves. Where as auriculatus and leachianus dont. I assume that they add more calcium to regulate that which they cant see, and to just be on the safe side.

Crested geckos, as juveniles go after live feeders more readily then fruit mash or the diet. Gargoyle geckos and leachianus are the opposite, at least for the first couple of months after hatching. Protein, particularly when animals are young has a direct impact on growth rates. Ex: a crested gecko feed crickets AND diet, will grow faster then a CGD fed the diet alone. Could be the protein content, could also just be because the diet tastes like crap and they dont like to eat it.

Leachianus and gargoyles are also the only Rhacodactylus that I keep that readily go after pinky mice, and other geckos/tails. I assume that the GGD and LGD are higher in protein then the CGD because the vast majority of people feed crickets with their diets, and so to compensate for them not eating them as neonates they add more protein. Or because they have evolved to require a higher protein content in their diet. They do have mighty big teeth.

Keep in mind that too much protein in omnivorous or herbivorous diets can lead to gout.

Leachianus in particular hatch out with kinky tails [zig zag tail, the starting signs of calcium deficiency] and walk a thin line for the first few months. Ironically its not added calcium that remedies this, so much as it is the introduction of feeder geckos. I know that invertebrates dont rival the systems that reptiles or mammals do, but there has to be something that can be said for the fact that snakes get all of their calcium and d3 from their prey.

Currently I feed a mix of all 3 diets. I keep 5/6 of the Rhacodactylus species, and I am not about to make separate mixes for each species every time I feed. Dishing it out and hand feeding is work enough. I add liquid calcium w/o D3, and powder calcium and multivitamin with d3, as well as bee pollen when I have it on hand. They eat it, and do well.

I also feed dusted crickets and roaches.

I USED TO do the whole calculating the ca : p ratio of fresh fruit, supplement and feed that. Its similar to baby food, except baby food has processed most of its nutrients out, and for the most part is mostly sugar.
I used to use fruits like papaya and figs that are naturally high in calcium [papaya has a ca : p ratio of 4:1, highest of any fruit] apricots which are high in vitamin a, and other tropical fruits like mangos, bananas, kiwis, etc. I supplemented it in addition.

I also mixed fresh fruit with the base diet when it came out, when I asked Repashy about how the nutritional value of the fruits impacted the ratios in the diet, he basically said they were negligible. Which I dont really get, but whatever.

They ate it, and did well. I did, however, have a very high egg and hatchling mortality rate, a problem I have not had since I made the switch.

There are other things that I am sure are not accounted for nutritionally that is added to the diets. its not just fruit and protein. Bee pollen, spirulina, and vegetable meals and extracts just to name a few. even doing a straight up fruit and insect or animal protien diet, isnt going to be complete, you have to take into consideration that things like pollen and flowers and god knows what else has been found in the stomachs of wild caught auriculatus.

And there is probably something to be said for that whole... variety is best thing. This probably went off on a major tangent. Hhaha. woopse.

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

I think it is kind of weird that the other diets are being discontinued. Especially because the other diets seem to be higher in most of the nutritional components then the crested gecko diet. Realistically formulas are being changed and reworked all the time [like the repashy superfoods formula is different from the crested gecko diet you get in a jar at the local store] so I would be curious to see if, and how they are changed to compensate having to have the right stuff for ALL of the Rhac species.

I know some breeders do a clarks/repashy mix and have success with it, but as far as I know, clarks diet is MIA. I havent been able to find it anywhere.

 

[Alusdra]

Wow... if that's the short version I'm a bit intimidated.

If you aren't using Firefox switch over to that- hopefully you won't have the problem again. (Once I accidentally turned my whole computer off- Firefox restored the session including the form data!)

I'm also rather amused that calcium: phosphorus turned into a P)

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

haha, I use firefox exclusively. I tried REALLY HARD to space it out so I wouldnt get the s haha.