Question: Do you recommend feeding Repashy Superfoods Gecko Diet MRP exclusively?

Answer: No. I recommend feeding Gecko Diet MRP in conjunction with crickets.  If you cannot offer crickets, I recommend mixing the diet with plain yogurt and water, rather than just water.

Repashy Superfoods Gecko Diet MRP (formerly Crested Gecko Diet MRP, commonly referred to as "CGD") is the most popular crested gecko food on the market.  It has long been touted as a complete diet that can be offered to geckos exclusively, without the need for dusted crickets. As great as that sounds, it's simply not the case, as evidenced by the number of "my gecko won't touch her food" emails that I receive on a weekly basis from worried gecko owners.

I have been using Gecko Diet MRP since its introduction in 2004 and I will most likely continue to use it unless a better product is introduced.  Of what's currently on the market, it is the most nutritionally sound. Speaking strictly from a nutritional standpoint, the product really is excellent.  In addition to having the proper load of vitamins and minerals, it also has an ideal ratio of protein, fibrous carbohydrates and sugary carbohydrates, and even a great source of dietary fats.  In short, Gecko Diet MRP really does have everything a gecko needs to thrive. 

In practice, however, there has always been an issue with the diet - most crested geckos, especially younger ones, simply don't eat enough of it.  You must remember, we are dealing with animals who know nothing about nutrition.  They eat what tastes good to them, and this is where Gecko Diet MRP has always had problems. The formula has been changed a number of times in the six years that it's been on the market. Some revisions have been a big hit with geckos, while other revisions didn't go over well at all.

Sometimes the diet isn't being mixed properly - people do tend to mix it too thick (not enough water). Sometimes the geckos were raised on baby food, and they just aren't used to the taste of the diet. But even in collections where it's being mixed properly and that's all the geckos have ever eaten, they still grow faster when offered crickets.

 In my collection, which consists of nearly 1,000 breeder crested geckos and at least a few months worth of offspring, I have found that young geckos fed Gecko Diet MRP exclusively will grow at about one third to one half the rate of geckos that are being offered crickets at least once per week.  For me, this means it takes them two to three times as long to reach a safely shippable size and at least twice as long for them to become breedable.  As you can imagine, this is hardly ideal when you only have so much space to raise babies to a shippable size.  Geckos of breeding size tend to like the diet and will often come out to eat as soon as we leave the room, but I have still found that geckos offered a balanced diet of crickets and Gecko Diet MRP will lay roughly 25-35% more eggs each season.

If you're just looking for a pet gecko, and growth rates and egg production are not of concern to you, then Gecko Diet MRP is probably a suitable diet for your purposes, especially if you are just keeping an adult gecko as a pet. However, if you are a serious gecko enthusiast or breeder and you are concerned with growth and production, I have to recommend that you offer crickets at least once per week, if not twice.

The Gecko Diet MRP + Yogurt Blend
If you are unable to offer crickets, you may try adding plain yogurt to the mix in order to give the diet a smoother texture. The regular (NOT low-fat) variety is preferable, but low-fat will work in a pinch. The creamy texture of the yogurt seems to make the diet more palletable to the geckos and therefore they get enough calories to grow properly.  While it's not quite as "balanced" as Gecko Diet MRP by itself, it seems to work better than straight diet, and I highly recommend it in situations where crickets are not being offered.

PLEASE NOTE: Yogurt is one thing, but I never recommend adding fruit based baby foods, as they are mainly comprised of sugary carbohydrates and they have little to no protein or dietary fats. Yogurt, by contrast, is relatively high in protein and is overall a much more balanced food, meaning it will not skew the nutritional balance of the Gecko Diet MRP nearly as much as if you were to add sugary baby food.