Mourning Gecko Feeding: Schedule, Diet, and Why They Stop Eating

Because every mourning gecko is female and lays eggs on her own schedule regardless of a mate, her calcium needs never take a break, which shapes this species' feeding routine more than almost anything else.

Feeding Schedule

Fresh powdered crested gecko diet (CGD) every 48 hours, and dusted insects once or twice a week, is the routine to follow. Published schedules run wider than that: CGD kept essentially always available and replaced every 24 to 48 hours, or offered 2 to 4 times a week on a set rotation, or on a rotation that builds in 2 fasting days a week with no food at all, and live insects anywhere from once to three times weekly. The 48-hour routine sits inside all of that, so the spread is the range a keeper will run into, not a reason to pick differently.

Hatchlings get a dime-sized dab of powdered diet every other day, plus calcium-dusted fruit flies about once a week, with misting 1 to 2 times daily for hydration. Juveniles scale portions up and get insects more often as they grow. Gravid females need more frequent, consistent feeding than a resting adult, mourning geckos lay eggs roughly every 4 to 6 weeks, continuously, since the species is parthenogenetic and doesn't need a mate to reproduce.

What Mourning Geckos Eat

The staple is a powdered, commercially formulated crested gecko diet mixed with water to a smoothie-like paste, roughly 2 to 3 parts water to 1 part powder. Mount the feeding cup on a wall or vertical surface rather than the enclosure floor, mourning geckos are arboreal. Discard and replace food every 24 to 48 hours to avoid mold, though a properly refrigerated mix can be used over about a week if refreshed regularly.

Live insects add enrichment, protein, and natural hunting behavior: pinhead crickets scaling up as the gecko grows, fruit flies for hatchlings and small geckos, newborn dubia or discoid roach nymphs, and small mealworms in moderation. Prey should be no larger than the width of the gecko's head to avoid impaction. Gut-load insects before offering, then dust with calcium at most feedings, rotating in a multivitamin for roughly one weekly insect feeding instead. Even fruit flies can and should be dusted: shake them in a container with the powder until they are evenly coated. Leave a separate open dish of calcium powder in the enclosure alongside that, since CGD carries some calcium but not enough for an animal producing eggs continuously. Because this species lays eggs continuously, calcium supply is a constant need, not a seasonal one, even for a lone, unbred female.

Safe Treats and Foods to Avoid

Safe, occasionally: small amounts of soft ripe fruit like mango, melon, and strawberry, plus waxworms and small superworms as fatty treats used sparingly, overuse of fatty feeders can make a gecko start refusing other foods.

Avoid: wild-caught insects (pesticide and parasite risk) and citrus fruit, both specifically flagged for this species. Don't offer prey wider than the gecko's own head. Skip baby food and relying on unsupplemented insects as the sole diet, neither provides adequate long-term nutrition.

Why Mourning Geckos Stop Eating

1. New-enclosure stress. The single most commonly cited reason. Give a newly acquired gecko several days to about a week of quiet, undisturbed time before expecting normal feeding.
2. Shedding. A duller color, reduced activity, and a smaller appetite dip commonly show up the day or so before a shed, resolving once humidity stays adequate and the shed completes.
3. Ongoing egg production. Because females lay eggs continuously without needing a mate, egg development pulls real energy and can cause a partial appetite dip alongside a visibly swollen abdomen.
4. Overcrowding. In a colony, more dominant geckos can out-compete smaller tankmates for food, suppressing their appetite and, in juveniles, risking malnutrition if it continues.
5. Prey too small. Pinhead-sized insects can stop triggering a hunting response once a gecko is around a year old, the fix is simply upsizing the feeder, not a health concern.
6. A cold room. Mourning geckos are tropical and aren't meant to be deliberately cooled the way some temperate reptiles are. An appetite drop tied to cold housing is a husbandry problem to correct, not a dormancy phase to wait out.
7. Illness. Appetite loss combined with weight loss points to possible parasites or another underlying issue needing diagnosis.

When to Worry

A short dip, a few days after coming home or around a shed, is normal and just needs a husbandry check, temperature, humidity, quiet. Appetite loss stretching beyond about a week, some sources say 7 to 10 days, is the point to check husbandry first and then see a reptile-experienced vet if it doesn't resolve.

Concrete red flags regardless of day count: visible weight loss, a thin, stick-like tail (mourning geckos store fat reserves there, so a shrinking tail signals real reserves being burned), lethargy beyond a normal shed cycle, sunken or cloudy eyes outside the pre-shed window, a swollen abdomen paired with straining, which points at egg-binding and needs urgent vet care, and loose stools. Any of these should move up the timeline rather than waiting out a full week.

Fruit flies and micro-crickets are only as nutritious as what you feed them first, our gut-loading feeder insects guide covers how to do that and how long it holds.

Sources & Further Reading