Best Crested Gecko Diet: Repashy vs Pangea

Repashy vs Pangea: is one better?

Nutritionally, no, and that's the thing new keepers most need to hear. Both make complete diets a crestie can thrive on for life. Neither is the wrong choice, and anyone sneering at one over the other is expressing a preference, not a fact. As one experienced keeper puts it, there is no better or worse in terms of nutrition; Pangea just gets recommended more because it is more palatable, so you are more likely to find a flavor the gecko likes.

The one repeatable difference keepers cite is sugar. Repashy tends to run a little lower, which is arguably healthier. Pangea tends to be sweeter, which is likely why more geckos prefer it. Sweeter and more accepted, or slightly less sugar and sometimes refused. Nothing on the label tells you which way your gecko will go.

Variety beats brand

Cresties are individuals and they're picky, sometimes absurdly so. Rotation is the best defence. Keepers repeatedly advise keeping three or four different flavors or brands going, both so the gecko has options and because the flavors carry slightly different nutrient profiles, so mixing them covers more bases.

Don't fall into the one-bag trap. A gecko that loves its food today can decide next month that the texture is offensive, and if that's the only food in the house you have a problem. The keepers with the fewest feeding dramas are the ones with a small shelf of flavors.

When your gecko refuses the food

It will happen. It's almost never an emergency, it's a preference. The stories are endless: a gecko raised on watermelon Pangea that will take nothing else, one that hyperfixates on papaya and rejects every other flavor, one that snubs the sweetest Pangea and eats double the Repashy. Your gecko has opinions.

Two techniques work. The slow transition: mix a tiny amount of the new food into the one it already accepts, then shift the ratio toward the new one over a week or two, which coaxes a stubborn eater across without a standoff. Or offer a variety pack, or a few single flavors, and let the gecko show you. Forcing it doesn't work. And don't smear food on the gecko's nose to make it eat, a common bit of bad advice that can cause infection.

Cost and shelf life

Complete diet is cheap per feeding and it lasts. You feed a small amount every other day, and a hatchling eats only a lick or two, so a modest jar goes a remarkably long way. Keepers report a few ounces lasting many months for a single gecko.

Storage is the part to know. An unopened bag keeps for around two years. Opened and refrigerated, roughly a year. Left at room temperature, more like six months. That's why buying a second flavor to rotate is low-risk: the spare will keep. Mix only what you'll use in a sitting, because made-up paste spoils within a day and should be tossed, not left in the enclosure.

A note on "toppers" and specialty mixes

Alongside the complete diets, both brands sell products that are NOT complete staple foods: insect-heavy "grubs and insects" mixes and treat or booster blends. These go on top of a complete diet, not in place of it, and a couple of the higher-protein specialty formulas can raise gout risk if fed as the sole diet long-term.

So read the label. If it says it's a complete crested gecko diet, it can be the staple. If it's a grubs-and-insects topper, a treat, or a growth-and-breeding formula, use it as an addition. When in doubt, a plain complete fruit flavor from either brand is the safe everyday food. Adding UVB changes your supplementing too, which we cover in our crested gecko UVB guide.

So what do you buy?

Buy a Pangea flavor to start, because it's the most likely to get eaten, and keep a Repashy on the shelf as your second option and lower-sugar alternative. Then let your gecko tell you what it wants, and build a small rotation of two or three flavors around its preferences.

Don't agonize over which brand is "best." For a healthy gecko both are complete and fine. Agonize instead about whether the animal is eating, and solve that with variety, gradual transitions, and patience rather than a single perfect bag.