Diane ~ The temps you report are way too cool for leopard geckos unless you are getting some highs in the upper 80s. I also question the use of calci-sand, though I'm not a leopard gecko breeder. I keep my only mature leopard on sand. Because of the known risk of sand impaction, I only feed my leopard crickets in an 8 oz ceramic bowl with curved sides. To prevent the crickets from escaping I amputate their back legs right below the "knees" and the front legs right below the "elbows". I usually dust the crickets with Rep Cal with D3. If you have breeding animals you could leave a small dish of the calcium powder in the cage. I just don't like to encourage geckos to eat any sand. Almost all sands, even beach sands, are composed of silica crystals. Those are the crystals that accumulate and cause impaction.
Do you think Enzo has lost weight? Elizabeth > Subj:[gecko]New gecko questions > Date:9/25/07 3:17:22 PM Pacific Daylight Time > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Diane Rudesal) > Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Reply-to: <A HREF="mailto:gecko@lists.gekkota.com";>gecko@lists.gekkota.com</A> > To: gecko@lists.gekkota.com > > Got a new gecko back in June from a breeder in Eastern Washington. He > was almost a year old when we got him and seemed healthy and chubby, > nice fat tail. Cute little guy! I named him Enzo. However, he did not > seem to want to eat. The breeder had been feeding him giant mealworms, > but I've been raising regular mealworms so presented those to him > instead. When he hadn't eaten any in a couple of weeks, I went out and > bought him giant mealworms, but he didn't eat any of those, either. > > So I talked to the breeder who told me he raises his geckos on > calci-sand substrate with only undertank heating, no heat or light above > the tank. I at that point had the gecko on repti-carpet with a light > above during the day and heat emitter above at night. Well, I thought > that was worth a shot at least, so I went out and got calci-sand > substrate and an undertank heater. Also ended up getting him a larger > tank than he was in. Now he does eat a worm every once in a while but I > can't help but feel he should be eating more. Plus, I don't see how he > can possibly be warm enough with just the undertank heater. The > temperature on the sand on the heated side is only 80 degrees and the > other side is only 70. > > However, he is definitely eating now; I discovered he is using the house > at the other end of the tank, where I thought he never went, as his > latrine! > > Any ideas about this situation? > > Diane > > -- > Diane Rudesal > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -- > http://www.fastmail.fm - Or how I learned to stop worrying and > love email again > > _______________________________________________ > Global Gecko Association > http://www.gekkota.com > Classifieds > http://www.gekkota.com/cgi-gekkota/classifieds.cgi > gecko mailing list > gecko@lists.gekkota.com > Elizabeth ~~~geckos make my heart sing (and dance)~~~ l l l ^^ /..\ ^^ /..\ ^^ ^^ /..\ ^^ l l ^^ llll \\\ l l llll /// l l llll \\\ l l ~~ llll /// ~~ ( ~~ ) ~~ ~~ ( ~~ ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) lappert(a) robert(a) hubert(a) 17.50 yo r.i.p. r.i.p. (All Lepidodactylus lugubris!) <BR><BR>**************************************<BR> See what's new at http://www.aol.com</HTML>
