Can you OVER supplement a gecko with D3? I'm asking this because I put an electrolyte additive in my gecko's water which also has D3 in it and her Calcium Powder also has D3. Should I switch plain calcium powder out with some with D3 or is it ok like it is? UncleLunchBox
I know you can over supplement, but I don't know how much would be too much. Our feeding schedule gives them D3 every 4th feeding: 1st plain, 2nd calcium alone, 3rd plain, 4th calcium with D3. We've been using this with all the geckos, started with the agamas and anoles (used to dust every third feeding with the others and always with D3). Hobo gets calcium every feeding as she is STILL laying eggs. Haven't found any yet in the cleaned enclosure, but she's still very round!
I was told never to give my geckos any suppliments as they get everything they need from the skin when they shed. Have I been told wrong??? My geckos are fine and don't have any poblems.
To much D3 can be toxic to your herp. Vitamins can be described as either fat-soluble or water-soluble. Fat-soluble vitamins include A, D, E, and K. Water soluble vitamins include vitamins B and C. Excess water soluble vitamins are excreted from the body, while excess fat soluble vitamins can be deposited in body fat. Because fat soluble vitamins are not excreted from the body, they can build up to toxic levels. The ratio of vitamin A to vitamin D to vitamin E should be 100 to 10 to 1'. The recommed levels of these fat-soluble vitamins are differint for each species, however, 100-200 IU (international units) of vitamin D3 per Kg of body weight per week has been used safely for reptiles. Supplements that exceed these levels may be toxic. I took this from the Herpcare guide to healthy herps by Mardel nathanjburt, who told you not to give your herps supplements? I would not trust any advise from that sourse. Not only do they need vitamins they need mineral supplements are important too. In captivity they don't get the varity of foods they would in the wild. To make up for this the best approach is to vary the diet and use nutritional supplements. Vitamins help them to properly digest and absorb nutrients. Mineral supplements such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, potassium, manganese, cobalt, and selenium are required by herps. Of these minerals, calcium and phosphorus play major roles in the health of herps. Metabolic bone disease (MBD) is the most common mineral related problem in captive herps. MBD can be caused by: imbalance of calcium and phosphorus, lack of vitamin D3, lack of calcium. MBD can be fatial if not treated. I suggest doing some resurch on it. If you want me to post more about I can, just ask.
Our vet really doesn't agree with using alot of supplements either, but only because he is worried about people overdoing it with the D3. Just the calcium isn't a problem as far as he's concerned. Personally, we use a calcium and a vitamin supplement every 4th feeding (not at the same time) and a plain feeding in between each one.
Thanks a ton for the info pixie. I'll start breaking up her supplementation. She's an African Fat-Tailed gecko and I've heard they'll eat prepared fruits. I've tried bananas, nectarines, carrots, and other veggis I thought she might like, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't touch them. I put them in at night, but even though she's nocturnal, she doesn't scamper about her cage a whole lot at night. I mean I stay up late most of the time but I never see her out exploring her cage. Lately she's just been staying behind her humid hide on top of the UTH. She never has been a really active gecko, but I just thought that's how she was. I mean she was the only one at the pet store that I could actually hold without her trying to jump outta my hands. So I figured she was just docile and calm. Do you think that she should be eating the fruit with no problem? Or do some geckos just not like it. All she will eat is crickets, she won't even eat mealworms. I tried putting the mealworms in a dish I was SURE they wouldn't get out of, but they still got out. And when I put the Calci-Sand back in her tank that won't be good b/c they'll burrow. Have any suggestions? UncleLunchBox
Have you tried wax worms with her? I don't know if they're addictive to AFT's like they are with leos, but don't give her too many. We offer one a week as a treat, but if you want to fatten her up you could try them a little more frequently... just not as the main diet.
pixiefrogw I was told that geckos were the only reptiles that didn't need vit sups as they eat their own skin. I give my other reptiles sups ever 3 days. Do geckos need vit sups then?
I haven't heard anything about African Fat-Tailed geckos eating prepared fruits, just crickets, mealies, and the occasional wax worm or pinky. If she has been staying in her humid hide on top of the UTH she might just be getting ready to shed. I know our fat tail is actually doing that right now. Interestingly, I have found that our guy likes crickets more too though. Escaping meal worms has become of my major irritations. Speaking of which we recently tried introducing meal worms. Previously we had stuck to crickets. Most importantly I know how to care for them. The meal worms we have in the fridge in a plastic container with sawdust and airholes in the lid. Concerned that they might be drying out I added a piece of potato. And they ate the whole damn thing in a couple hours. How often should i be feeding them? I dont thing the pet store was feeding them, and they didn't tell me to either. I have been replacing the potato, but should i do this a little at a time or make sure there is always some in there? ~omly
I just checked the care sheet and it says nothing about fruits. Neither does it for Leos. At the time when I was having trouble with her not eating, a couple of people that I work with said to try and feed her some fruits so that's what I did, but she never would eat any. So I guess it comes as a relief that she just doesn't eat that. All this time I thought maybe I was doing something wrong. I've tried mealworms pretty much from the start, but she never did want any. I also keep mine in the fridge, though just a couple of weeks ago I tried putting them in a dish that I THOUGHT they wouldn't be able to get out of, yet, of course, they escaped. It would be great to be able to have a dish in her tank of mealworms 24-7 so she could eat them when she gets comfortable with them or whatever is holding her back, but the damn things are just so hard to keep track of. I mean right now I have her on paper towel, but I'm eventually going to switch her back to some sort of sand substrate(Calci-Sand more than likely) and I'll have to go to sifting sand at least once a week then to keep the damn worms in check from metamorphizing into beetles. I put oatmeal in the dish along with some calcium d3 powder but I guess food wasn't enough to keep them happy. I'd love to know if anyone has gone through some trial and errors with mealworms and knows a bulletproof way of keeping them where you want them. I'll try the wax-worms though. Do you or CAN you HAND-feed an African fat-tail or leo? Or should you just leave the wax-worm in a deep dish? I need advice here guys, help me please!!! I think that my mealies have probably all dried out or died in the refrigerator, so if I can get a good method on how to get her to accept the mealies and keep them where I want them, then I will have no problem with giving her all she wants of them. Give me some ideas guys and I'll greatly appreciate it. Thank ya'll so much!!! I don't know anything about the care of mealworms however omly, so I'm afraid I can't help you on that one, but do let me know if you have any other question I MAY be able to help you with. She Is preparing to shed I do believe, but she NEVER goes in her humid hide anymore, at least not lately. When I first put it in, she loved it and would stay in it a good amount of the time, but now she doesn't seem too enthused by it. The first humid hide I made was my own invention, LOL. I took an ice cream bucket lid and burid it to the top edge in the sand, then I put a terra cotta hide I purchased from my work on top of that. I filled it with moist Bed-A-Beast and she LOVED it. She would stay in it a lot. The problem I had was that it dried out QUICK and I had to spray it down like every day, which was what I was trying to avoid by creating the humid hide so that I wouldn't have to mist her tank daily. I knew that the tupperware method would probably have been better, but I wanted it to look natural. Well I got tired of misting the Bed-A-Beast daily so I just bought a tupperware container and it stays MUCH more moist, MUCH MUCH longer. At first she would go into the tupperware container, but now I don't EVER see her in it. It is semi-clear, but I put a rag on top to keep out the light, but she still doesn't get in it. She gets on the side or in the back of the tupperware container, on the OUTSIDE and just lays on top of the UTH. Any suggestions of what could be wrong? She is about to shed I believe, because she is starting to turn white, so I am spraying her with an electrolyte skin conditioner for now to make sure she can shed well. Well, let me know if you can help me. UncleLunchBox P.S. I can't wait til she gets big enough to eat pinkie mice!!!(I know, I'm evil. ) [Edited on 8/3/2003 by UncleLunchBox]
Ok, where to start yes geckos need vits and minerals. Here is a good care sheet for geckos http://www.petsmart.com/reptile___amphibia...icle_3888.shtml As for the meal worms they will last a long time in the frig I've had some for up to 5 months. When you first get them you should go through it and take out all the dead ones, then put a slice of potato in the cup and leave it out overnight. Then do the same thing about once a month. Unclelunchbox, have you tried a small to medium sized ceramic feeding dish? They might have a harder time getting out of that. Keep in mind that some lizards just won't eat mealworms. Another thing you can try to feed your gecko once in a while, is night crawlers. They are high in protein. They are hard to keep in a dish too, I use a pickle jar turned on its side. (this might work for mealworms too) If they get out, you will find crawler jerky the next morning. Although watching them eat them is kind of gross. You can try silk worms too, they are like candy to reptiles, they tast sweet(so I've heard). I've never heard of anyone feeding them fruits and veggies before eather. Uncle, you said that your gecko isn't very active and hasn't been from the start, do you know if it was wild caught or captive bred? One thing that can cause reptiles to be slugish is if they have worms. Most wild caught reptiles do. Do you know if it was wormed before you bought it? I would worm it just to be on the safe side. You can get worming meds at any good reptile store. You have to becarful though, you don't want to over medicate. If you don't feel comfortable worming her yourself I would take her to a knowledgeable reptile vet.
I got her from my work place; which also provided the really good care sheet you posted a link to. They told me she was captive bred and I've already wormed her once when she wasn't eating for about a month. I do need to find a good vet though, but it looks like I'm going to have to travel about a good hour out of town to get to one. The "VET" I took her to in town was a freakin quack and I wasn't satisfied with him at all. Although he did give her some Panacur and a vitamin shot, he had little or absolutely no knowledge at all with geckos or African fat-tails for that matter. I looked on the ARAV site and found a possible vet in Lafayette, La. which is about an hour away. I'm still going to check and see though to make sure no other vets deal with reptiles in my city. And a little FYI; he gave her the Panacur at his office, but gave me another syringe filled with a small amount and said to give it to her again in 14 days, but when I tryed squeezing it onto her lips it shot out of there b/c about half of it was dried and well, you get the picture. So I will indeed worm her again as soon as I find another vet, but there is NO way I'm going back to him b/c he is kinda weird(talks, acts, and looks it) and he just didn't impress me enough to be making dianosis' concerning my gecko. Plus he charges an arm and a leg for little help. Anyways, thank you very much pixie, I really do appreciate it. By the way, you seem to know a lot for just a junior member. Just joined the site have you? UncleLunchBox P.S. I saw her shed last night. I didn't watch her through the entire thing, but I caught her in the act. Didn't want to stress her out since she probably was already with her shedding. It was really neat to see it in progress though. [Edited on 8/3/2003 by UncleLunchBox]
Well I better start buying some more vit sups then and give my geckos loads too catch up on what they have missed.
Glad I could help Uncle. Yes, I'm new to the site, but I have years of experience with herps, and Reptiles Magazine is my bible.
Hehe....Yeah, Reptiles is a great monthly magazine. You can really get a lot out of it. The last issue makes me want to get a Tiger Salamander. Didn't you think that provided an enormous amount of details on how to pick yours out from the pet store? I thought that was the best article. Thanks again pixie. Talk to you later. UncleLunchBox
Did you get the latest Retiles Mag? I love the cover, it's a Pixiefrog! I don't have one but I sure would love to. Yes, I did think that the salamander article was good. I use to keep newts, but they died of old age. I was in a pet store last weekend and they had some albino mudpuppies, I thought about buying one but the guy said they where sold to someone in Dallas and where being shipped out in the morning. I'm going to keep an eye on that pet store to see what else he gets in. He doesn't have many reptiles and doesn't seem to know much about them. He knows his fish though. Pixie
No, I didn't get the new one yet. I never get them when they first came out. I get them a month after for free at my job . They let us take home the last issues that weren't sold when the new ones come in. The last one I have is the one with the Tiger Salamander article in it. That was really the only article I found that interesting in my opinion because I'm not into turtles that much or coral snakes which is what they spotlighted in that issue. Plus the article on medicinal usage of snakes in Japan was really gross . UncleLunchBox
