Can Crested Geckos Eat Bananas?

Crested geckos are omnivorous reptiles, so they consume both insects and fruits as part of their main diet. Fortunately, these pets are easy to feed, thanks to their wildly diverse food preference.

Crested geckos will consume a wide variety of fruits, including grapes, apricots, strawberries, pears, mangos, and, of course, bananas.

But do crested geckos actually like bananas, or do they consider them as backup food when nothing else is available?

Even more importantly, should you feed your crested geckos bananas? Let’s clarify these points!

Do Crested Geckos Like Banana?

Yes, crested geckos like bananas, as these fruits have everything that the gecko needs in terms of taste.

Nutritionally speaking, bananas are suboptimal for geckos which is where you come in. It’s up to you to decide your gecko’s diet to ensure optimal nutrient intake.

Unfortunately, bananas aren’t exactly nutritious for geckos due to a low calcium content. Feeding your crested geckos bananas as treats, only on occasions, may be the better approach.

Don’t use bananas as a main food since this will leave the gecko vulnerable to calcium deficiency and other health issues stemming from that.

How to Feed Crested Geckos Bananas?

Crested geckos don’t have a lot of biting power, and they don’t have biting teeth. So, they can’t feed on hard or thick fruits that require a lot of biting commitment.

When feeding bananas to your geckos, go for overripe ones. These are both sweeter and easier to consume, so your geckos will appreciate them more.

That being said, fresh bananas will do just fine, too, so long as you crush them prior to feeding. This will release the bananas’ aroma and turn them to mush, making them easier to consume.

You can also use bananas as ingredients for a fruit puree, combining them with other fruits for a plus nutritional value.

How Often Can Crested Geckos Eat Banana?

You shouldn’t feed your crested geckos bananas too often. I would recommend keeping bananas as occasional treats and only in moderate portions, preferably mixed with other fruits. Once every 2 weeks should suffice, given the bananas’ nutritional value for geckos and health hazards.

Benefits of Banana for Crested Geckos

Bananas contain a variety of nutrients like magnesium, iron, fibers, carbs, etc. These will provide value to your geckos, but don’t count on them too much.

Bananas should only be used sparingly in the geckos’ diet since there are other, more nutritious fruits that the reptile can consume.

Risks of Banana for Crested Geckos

Everything begins with the gecko’s need for steady calcium intake. Geckos are naturally predisposed to calcium deficiency, which subjects them to an increased risk of developing Metabolic Bone Disease.

For this reason, geckos often need supplementation in the form of calcium and vitamin D3, which acts as a calcium-binding agent.

There are several ways to help geckos get their fill of D3 and calcium, including UVB light from the sun. The problem is that captive geckos rarely get natural UVB due to the fact that this light length cannot penetrate glass.

So, keeping your gecko’s terrarium in a room with natural sunlight won’t do much, given that the UVB lighting cannot actually reach the reptile.

So, you require a source of UVB lighting placed inside the gecko’s habitat to circumvent that issue. Naturally, the UVB lighting isn’t enough to provide the gecko with the necessary nutrients, which is where the reptile’s diet comes in.

Geckos get most of their calcium and D3 from their diet, which is why they need a diverse and nutritious meal plan.

Bananas are suboptimal in this sense due to their inadequate phosphorus-calcium ratio. These 2 elements have a special relationship with one another in the sense that when one increases, the other decreases.

And bananas contain a lot less calcium than phosphorus; a rate of 1:4.4 to be more precise. This is awful in terms of nutritional value for geckos, leaving the reptiles vulnerable to calcium deficiency as a result.

It’s not that the bananas actively hurt the gecko. The problem is that adult, healthy geckos only eat once every 2 days for the most part.

So, with such a low feeding frequency, every meal counts in terms of nutritional package.

Wasting a meal on bananas means that your gecko will have 4 days of low calcium intake, which is not ideal, to put it lightly.

What Other Fruits Can Crested Geckos Eat?

Fortunately, geckos aren’t too picky when it comes to their fruits. They will eat anything overripe and with some sweetness to it, including grapes, strawberries, watermelon, peaches, plums, blueberries, mangos, etc.

The idea here is to feed your geckos a nutritious and well-rounded diet, which is why fruit purees are always the wiser choice versus single fruits.

You can occasionally feed your geckos some single fruits as treats, but try not to turn that into a habit.

The same goes for insects as well. Geckos require a diversity of insects to fulfill their nutritional requirements. These include locusts, snails, stick insects, roaches, calcium worms, butterworms, etc.

Plus, supplementation is always a must when discussing crested geckos. You can achieve that by relying on calcium or D3 powder, as well as other powdered supplements, based on what the geckos need.

Conclusion

Crested geckos require varied diets to remain at the top of their game. These reptiles are generally hardy and don’t need much to thrive.

They also have a manageable eating pattern, with adult geckos only requiring food once every other day. Since they don’t eat that often, you should at least make sure they eat well.

Only use bananas as occasional treats and supplement your geckos’ meal plan with multiple food items to keep their diets diverse and nutrient-packed.