I've had very little time to correspond lately, but here's my experience so
far with U. phantasticus:
Feb. 16/01 - purchased imported male. He's thrived so far, displaying
growth and voracious feeding; he will accept hand-feeding.
May 2001 - purchased 1.1, imports.
June 8/01 - purchased 1.1 imports. On June 15/01 I lost the male without
warning...
In late summer one of my females deposited a "slug" on a leaf...it was
apparently an underdeveloped egg with a flimsy, yellowish membrane around
it.
A good while later, while my remaining geckos were living in a 2.2 group
setting, I was surprised by two white, spheroid eggs that appeared on
opposite corners of the tank. My plan to remove them was frustrated by the
fact that each was partially adhered to the glass.
This is where bad timing caused my downfall: I was called away on business
before I could move the geckos or cover the eggs, and by that evening, one
egg was missing (presumed eaten) and the other seemed to be "smeared" down
the glass and into the moss.
I assume any number of things could have happened, but I'm leaning towards
the simplest scenario: the females were probably calcium starved and turned
on the eggs, yes?
So back to the drawing board...the group is looking healthy and feeding
voraciously on baby roaches and crickets. I've got to come up with a better
and more controlled program of supplementation...I use Minerall 1
already...as for oral supplementation, I've had Calcium Gluconate (the
fruit-flavoured liquid sold in drug stores for humans) recommended. Any
thoughts on using this, and what kind of dosage?
In the past I've seen what looks like calcium sacs on one of my males, but
these have since disappeared. As the vegetation in the heavily planted tank
has grown denser, no doubt most of the prey items are roaming for longer
before being consumed, and losing their dust-coating in the process...
If there are any available from late November onwards (which is when budget
allows, I think), I'm going to try a group of CBB phantasticus and see how
those fare in comparison.
While I've been tempted by other Uroplatids, phantasticus is my favourite
species and I think I'll be devoting all my resources towards them, as far
as geckos go.
dilshad khan
--
"if we believe absurdities, we will commit atrocities."
-voltaire
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