food bowls and calcium/vitamin supplementation

[HepCatMoe]

how do you do it? just dump the powder in the bowl with the mealies and hope the geckos injest some?

 

[fallen_angel]

the best way is to put the mealies/crickets/etc. into a plastic bag (if they came in one when you bought them, those bags are great to use), toss enough calcium to cover the insects in the bag, close it tightly, and shake until they're all completely covered

mealies don't stay covered very well for long, though.. we actually don't dust our mealies, only the crickets that we throw in every so often. we leave a little dish full of calcium inside the tank for the leos to lick if they want

we also bought one of those calcium recharge bottles from Big Apple Pet Supply, which makes this calcium mold/block at the bottom of a water dish. the calcium slowly dissolves in the water and so the leos ingest it when they drink..seems to be working pretty well, you can actually see the calcium in the water.

 

[HepCatMoe]

the calcium recharge thing sounds interesting.

do you ever see you geckos eat out of their calsium dish? i dont think mine would go for it, but i suppose i could give it a whack.

 

[david13]

put some pure calcium in a pop bottle lid, i saw my male once lick out of it but in both my male and female dishes when they were seperated, you could see little lick marks
when i fed crickets, i found out that -shake- isnt the right word to put calcium.. i had 1/3 of them die (i guess i am to strong for those little guys)
"gently toss" is a better word
but i don't use crickets anymore, for mealworms i put some calcium in the mealworm dish along with some vitamin supplement, maybe the worms eat the calcium and that would be just as good is having it on them.. When i grab worms out of the dish and sometimes drop them in front of my leos to make sure they are eating.. i usually rub it in some of the calcium then.

 

[fallen_angel]

LOL yes David, "gently toss" is a better way to describe it!!


As for the recharge bottle, I was skeptical at first, but it really does seem to do its job

 

[david13]

i might get some of those.. i remember you posting about them before and i looked at it. They sound good from what you say, so im sure they're good

 

[fallen_angel]

Just get the recharge bottle though, and use it with your own dish to save on costs The bottle says that this calcium mold lasts for 2-3 months, but ours is going on 4 months - we bought two and we still haven't needed the second bottle! Moreover, one bottle was enough for two dishes :main_yes:

 

[tronicsman]

I use Milk jug tops for calcium and i see my geckos licking from them all the time

 

[david13]

that would be another good calcium holder..

 

[fallen_angel]

we use them too, but still don't see them lick it but either way, leos know when they need calcium, and if they do need it, they will lick it

 

[Gecko Ranch]

I'll take some pix of how I do it and post up tomorrow. Easy, easy, easy.

 

[Ccrashca069]

I use alot of Gatorade and juice bottle tops. I have seen at leaste 6 of my leopards lick calcium from their dish. For dusting my mealworms I use a deli cup/shipping cup. I add some Herptivite and mix with an equal part of Calcium with D3. Count out my mealworms and gentley shake them.

 

[fallen_angel]

The Gatorade tops are my favorite to use, they just work out so perfectly

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I just put the calcium in the bottom of the mealworm bowl, and add a dash of vitamins weekly. I see the geckos licking the calcium fairly often!

 

[DAWNoftheLEO]

I just put the calcium in the bottom of the mealworm bowl, and add a dash of vitamins weekly. I see the geckos licking the calcium fairly often!

Dit-oh 0_O

 

[david13]

i have some calcium in the bottom + a dish..i've never seen my leos lick out of the calcium in the mealworms though

 

[fallen_angel]

same here

 

[Gecko Ranch]

Here's some pix of how I do things:

So not to spill more than you want to use..

Since I get these questions quite a bit and I see folks torturing themselves with plastic bags and mixing different vitamins and minerals together I created this new section of my website that goes in pretty deep to this subject.

http://www.geckoranch.com/supplementgutloadclinic.html

 

[david13]

nice

 

[Gecko Ranch]

nice

Thank you David, I make all the tools I use available to everyone. I'm glad I finally had the idea to use pix and a website feature for that one.