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Posted by LdyPayne on April 17, 2003 at 08:26:31:
In Reply to: Old School never dies posted by Allen Repashy on April 16, 2003 at 10:13:27:
First I should point out I never raised any crested geckos and only have been a reptile owner for a little over a month, so my comments below are just personal comments based on intuition, not fact.
Insects are a natural food for insect eating reptiles and are good for them (maybe not all types of insects, but most are). However alternative food can be just as good if not better. Scientifically researched and specifically prepared foods tend to have everything a reptile needs to survive. Pellets just are not as much fun as live prey. Pellets don't move, well maybe they roll a bit if put on an incline but they certainly don't hop,jump or fly away when a reptile tries to eat it. Because live prey has to be hunted, alot of animals and reptiles in the wild are hungry more often than not. Fruit on the other hand just hangs there and only moves with the wind or gravity.
If a breeder with years of experience raising healthy and robust reptiles stats his specially developed food keeps his animals healthy and long lived you have to believe the new food is good. From my readings about bearded dragons, a combination of live food, fresh food and pellets makes for a healthy pet.
I would try these breeder developed foods more than something manufactured by Large chain pet food manufactors who don't specialize in geckos (or bearded dragons and other reptiles). Heck, even if I do want to keep feeding insects to my reptiles why not feed the insects the pellets? I feed my crickets with the same shredded greens I give my bearded dragon plus the dry purchased cricket gut load. The crickets certainly seem very healthy and lively, making my bearded dragon run all over the cage to catch them LOL. To conclude I would recommend using both methods, resorting to pre prepared foods (be it bearded dragon pellets or mixed meat/fruit baby food (or freshly mashed fruit)) during times of time constraint (ie going away for a weekend or week and pet sitter can use it to make it simpler). In the end what really counts is the health and enjoyment of the pet. It certainly will conserve energy if it doesn't have to run about chasing insects.
