Julie,
It's great to see that you are working with C. elegans. I have a special
place in my heart for Colenyx since the first gecko I caught in the wild was
a C. v. bogerti when I was in elementary school. I have never had the
opportunity to work with elegans. Let me know when you have some babies
available.
Nathan
----- Original Message -----
From: Julie Bergman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Gecko list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2001 4:03 PM
Subject: [Gecko] Some observations on C. elegans!
> Hi Gexers,
>
> I picked up quite a few C. elegans from the Czech guy at Daytona, all
> are doing well. All appear to be cb, that is neat too. They were all
> juvies, barely sexable, some too young to sex. Before I start my
> discussion on them, let's go back in time to when I first picked them up
> about 4 years ago.
>
> I saw the Czech guy at an IRBA show in San Diego, he had them in
> quantity and I'd never been able to get any from anyone in the USA. I
> know one breeder had some, but was not willing to part with any.
> Needless to say, I was excited out of my gourd and was happy to get some
> although I knew nothing about this guy. He had a bunch of expensive
> anoles and a lot of very rare stuff lizard-wise. So, I took a chance.
>
> Cyndi, my steadfast pal and show compadre, and I drove back home from
> San Diego, a nine hour drive, the following Monday. It was sometime
> between buying them and the trip home that I realized some of them were
> not doing well! I was puzzled and upset. Cyndi figured out that the
> containers the Czech guy used had NO AIRHOLES!!! A warning to you all,
> he is still doing this. I complained about it to him this time, he did
> not seem concerned that they could run out of air. If you ever plan to
> buy from him at a show bring your own containers with airholes!
>
> Once I got them home, some did die right away, I am sure because of the
> no airhole deal. Very frustrating! Then, to add to my frustration, I
> went to feed them and they just stared at the 2 week old crickets I gave
> them. More died of hunger I am sure before I figured out what they would
> eat.....waxworms! They looked like a cartoon character with their eyes
> popping out when I put those in there. Pretty soon I had them converted
> to crickets, and they thrived. By this time I only had three out of
> about 12.
>
> I keep them similarly to C. mitratus, moister and cooler. Until I
> figured out this was what they needed the babies my pair produced did
> not survive. I found out they like to tunnel....I recently set up one of
> those snake hide deals with the hole in it to enter and one large food
> bowl in their 16qt. Sterilite set-up. For substrate I used spaghnum peat
> moss, about an 1", topped by fine grade orchid bark. They promptly dug
> out two tunnel entrances to go under their snake hide! In the food bowl
> I put a culture of mini-mealworms that they can pick at and eat anytime
> they like. At night they gather around it and help themselves!
>
> As far as their eggs, I incubate them leopard-gecko style in vermiculite
> at 80-83F. I never had a problem getting them to hatch, most eggs did.
> As I noted earlier, they must have moisture or else they croak. I have
> set them up two ways with equal success. One way is to set them up by
> clutch in a 6-1/4" wide clear deli cup, using paper towels in folds with
> a few pieces of Black Jungle's true Canadian sphagnum peat moss stuck in
> between to both provide moisture and a "tunnel" in the paper towels.
> Nightly I mist this set-up and offer the young 1-2 week crickets
> depending on size. They will also eagerly take the mini-mealies. The
> other technique is using the same container, but using living moss,
> broken up in a few big pieces. They will tunnel under it and run around
> on top of it. They seem to really thrive in these set-ups. I knew they
> were happier as they were out more than in drier type set-ups.
>
> So far they are not as prolific as C. mitratus, however, that may change
> I as figure out their needs better. Most of my babies this year have
> survived and done very well. Hope that helps some of you working with
> them or wanting to work with them!
>
> Julie Bergman
> http://www.geckoranch.com
> GGA lifetime member
>
>
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