Some Q's Regarding Supplements and Their Application

So, Tiamat is off feed right now, apparently. I've tried giving her meal worms which she normally devours with relish - lately it's been three or four and dinner's done. She normally will eat one or two crickets as well and no more of that for the moment. I tried giving her a small superworm today and she turned her nose up at that too, so it can't be that she's bored of her mealies. (And yes, I've adjusted the temps: hotspot 92 degrees; warm side 82; cool side 76.) I can only assume that this refusal is because she can sense that it's winter and she's brumating. Especially consider that outside temps have fallen below 20 Celsius.

So my question is, since she's not eating well I do keep a bowl of calcium (and mealies therein) at all times, but should I put a bit of vitamin dust in with the calcium as well? I've been so worried that she's not eating properly and getting her vitamins that I've been tempted to dip my finger in it and try wiping it on her mouth so that she might lick it off her face.

Wait

Just wait a few days and see what happens.

Just provide Calcium.

She has enough reserves in her tail that she will not need anything for a few days.

Just try again in a day or two.

You could put Mealies in a dish and just monitor them.:main_thumbsup:

Almost every adult gecko I have is eating very little or nothing at all. It's that time of the year. All of mine are kept in artificial light and heat so I can bring them out of brumation when I want but there has been no weight loss what so ever to this point so they're fine.

Just keep tabs on your geckos weight and you'll see that they're in no danger. When the light period starts to increase (Dec 22 forward) you will start to see an increase in feeding response. This won't happen over the course of one day it will probably take a good month or more to be noticed.


Later,

How Cold

How Cold does it need to get to have the Leos go into Brumation?

Okay, now I'm really worried. I came home from somewhere this evening, and saw that Tiamat had had an upset tummy right outside her moist hide and when I picked up her warm hide to see where she was, she had just finished another bowel movement inside there. She normally goes right outside her cool hide. Her stools appear somewhat runny but otherwise normal.

Did she just have upset tummy for whatever reason? She seemed really scared and ran from my hand which is unusual for her.

The only thing I can think of why she got so scare was because my in-laws (the people who live upstairs) were having an open house today. Some of my husband and my mutual friends came over and made themselves at home in our basement while neither me or my husband were home. When I got home from work there was four people sitting in our basement playing our video games at full blast (which the t.v. is next to the gecko tank). I had to feed Tiamat before we left again, so I took her out of the tank to see how she was doing for a moment, and three people tried to reach for her at once. Of course she got a little overwhelmed and practically jumped out of my hand. I told everyone to back off - I was already a little peeved at having uninvited guests in my space, friends or no - and now they were upsetting my gecko.

Also, because people were coming and going upstairs, our basement door was left open (the door to our basement is in the kitchen and is adjacent to the door leading outside). It's -30 outside - all the cold air was coming in along with all the people. Now our basement is probably in the 50s and my gecko tank thermometer is reading 75 on the warm end. ******* Nice.

I'm overly protective of my gecko because we do not have a herp vet in my area. If she gets sick, there's very little I can do for her. She's already off feed and now I think today just made it worse. Tomorrow I'm getting insulation for the sides of the tank, and cranking the heater behind it. I can't wait until we move out of here....

Snowy & Petra de Gecko said:

How Cold does it need to get to have the Leos go into Brumation?

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Anything lower than 80 with a short light period would probably cause brumation to some degree. Some geckos don't even need low temperatures they'll just go into a reduced functional state based on the photo period.

Haligren said:

Okay, now I'm really worried. I came home from somewhere this evening, and saw that Tiamat had had an upset tummy right outside her moist hide and when I picked up her warm hide to see where she was, she had just finished another bowel movement inside there. She normally goes right outside her cool hide. Her stools appear somewhat runny but otherwise normal.

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If a gecko is provided with food when the temps are lowered they will often continue to eat like always and find that the food is not getting properly digested. A watery stool is often the result. I’ve found that they eventually understand how much they can eat and adjust their intake accordingly. Make sure you are using an infrared temperature measuring device to take the temps inside the enclosure. If you’re not attempting to cool your geckos make sure they’re exposed to proper temperatures of 90 – 92 F on the surface.

For those that are interested here is a good explanation of cooling from Paul Sage...
http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=7288&highlight=cooling

Thank you, Steve. I cannot afford an infrared temperature device (they're $80 CAN!) right now. I'm using a digital thermometer with probe and two dial thermometer's on either side of the tank to give me a rough idea of the ambient air temps. The hot spot seems adequate, as I've said, and is at 92, but the air temps have been in the seventies, and yesterday, they were in the LOW seventies. I'm trying to get the temps up. When I got up this morning, the air temp on the warm side was 80. (I have a small heater behind the tank right now which seems to be helping.) Today I'm going to put some insulation on the sides of the tank and hopefully that will help to keep it at a more steady, and warmer temperature. Tiamat seems fine though, if a bit sleepy, which isn't unusual. I'm glad she's eating even a little, and even when I'm not looking.

I've also purchased some electrolyte and D3 liquid vitamins to add to her moist hide spray which I'm assuming is where she's getting most of her fluid right now. I've read that this can help to assure that she is getting adequate vitamins in this time of low consumption.

Thank you very much for your concern though. It makes me feel better.

You're welcome!

Your Tiamat is pretty lucky to have someone like yourself look out for her... :main_thumbsup:

2.1SRR.YYC said:

You're welcome!

Your Tiamat is pretty lucky to have someone like yourself look out for her... :main_thumbsup:

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Aw, thanks.