wickedvoodoo
New Member
- Messages
- 2
- Location
- England
Hi all. My first post here, though I did read many a thread here and at a couple other forums when I was reading up before buying my animals. So for that, I thank you guys and gals. You made getting set up pretty painless.
I am a pretty new reptile/amphibian keeper, I have a leopard gecko (a year and a half old) a crested gecko (about a year) and an axolotl (nine months or so) in my little critter collection. So far, due to research and no doubt a little good luck, I have encountered very few problems, and those I have run into have been pretty easy to solve.
Given a bit more time to ponder things though, I have a few questions that maybe some of you more experienced keepers could answer. Certainly I'd appreciate any input. None of these are life or death issues, rather they are little things I have wondered about for a while. And of course, if there's a way to improve my care of the little monsters, then that is great. These are questions mainly relating to the leo.
1) I have been cleaning my gecko viv's with a product that I aquire at a... discount from work. I work at a hospital. We use steri-swab wipes to clean just about everything, from equipment and implements to patient's skin before injections etc. These wipes contain a solution of 70% isopropyl alcohol and 2% chlorhexidine gluconate. Now my question is, am I playing with fire using these? At first I figured, well, they are deemed safe for us, so they should be good for killing bacteria in a viv too.+Recently though I had a paranoid thought that maybe it is overkill, and possibly dangerous. Obviously I spot clean only when the geckos are resting away from the area affected, or if it is a full clean, they are out of the tanks for a while to allow for evaporation. Still, I wouldn't mind a confirmation that the CHG isn't harmful to reptiles.
2) I use Seachem Prime to prep water for my axolotl tank. It takes out chlorine and other elements undesirable for fish and amphibians. Now would this be suitable to condition water for use with the geckos? Both the leo and the crested have a water bowl filled daily, and the crested gets a daily misting too. Now I know it is advised to use bottled water rather than tap, but would the aquarium conditioner work for this purpose? Could save me the cost and hassle of having to buy overpriced spring water from the shop. I daren't risk it until I know it won't do any damage though.
3) So I have a new insect dusting powder for my leo, which contains d3 etc and claims to be suitable for use with every feeding. It's from a company called Komodo, which I didn't see mentioned much when I was getting set up. Any feedback on this brand? Is it good, does it suck? It was quite a good price compared to other brands, although that isn't much of a win if the stuff is crap.
4) My leo seems a very light eater compared to what I have read about others. I see people writing about their leos eating ten or more mealworms in a sitting, multiple times a week. Mine though, seems to lose interest after two or three, and will rarely eat more than once a week. I find crickets a pain in the arse with the leo, as she wont eat them in a separate feeding enclosure like the crested gecko does, and if I feed them in her main tank then they all get under the hides and the reptile carpet and generally give me grief. I do her the odd wax grub but mainly its mealworms. She seems to keep her weight up well enough, but yeah, should I be concerned she eats half or less of what other leos eat?
5) Is it usual for leos to get lazy as hell once they have grown up a bit? Questions like this make me wish I knew a few more keepers around where I live, or that the pet shop staff would come across a bit more knowledgeable. It seems a daft question. But yeah, my leo used to be a LOT more active around the viv until it hit the year old mark or so. Now, she won't voluntarily leave her humid hide during daylight hours even if I try and lure her with bugs, where before she could be persuaded. At night she seems a bit less active too. I figured it was probably normal, young animals are generally more aloof, but yeah, I haven't really got anyone to bounce this thought off, so it can be a question here.
Hmmm. I think that's all for now. I may add other questions to the thread later if I think of any.
In the meantime, many, many thanks in advance if you have answers to the above questions. You guys and gals rock, and this forum is a great mine of knowledge.
Cheers
-Martin.
I am a pretty new reptile/amphibian keeper, I have a leopard gecko (a year and a half old) a crested gecko (about a year) and an axolotl (nine months or so) in my little critter collection. So far, due to research and no doubt a little good luck, I have encountered very few problems, and those I have run into have been pretty easy to solve.
Given a bit more time to ponder things though, I have a few questions that maybe some of you more experienced keepers could answer. Certainly I'd appreciate any input. None of these are life or death issues, rather they are little things I have wondered about for a while. And of course, if there's a way to improve my care of the little monsters, then that is great. These are questions mainly relating to the leo.
1) I have been cleaning my gecko viv's with a product that I aquire at a... discount from work. I work at a hospital. We use steri-swab wipes to clean just about everything, from equipment and implements to patient's skin before injections etc. These wipes contain a solution of 70% isopropyl alcohol and 2% chlorhexidine gluconate. Now my question is, am I playing with fire using these? At first I figured, well, they are deemed safe for us, so they should be good for killing bacteria in a viv too.+Recently though I had a paranoid thought that maybe it is overkill, and possibly dangerous. Obviously I spot clean only when the geckos are resting away from the area affected, or if it is a full clean, they are out of the tanks for a while to allow for evaporation. Still, I wouldn't mind a confirmation that the CHG isn't harmful to reptiles.
2) I use Seachem Prime to prep water for my axolotl tank. It takes out chlorine and other elements undesirable for fish and amphibians. Now would this be suitable to condition water for use with the geckos? Both the leo and the crested have a water bowl filled daily, and the crested gets a daily misting too. Now I know it is advised to use bottled water rather than tap, but would the aquarium conditioner work for this purpose? Could save me the cost and hassle of having to buy overpriced spring water from the shop. I daren't risk it until I know it won't do any damage though.
3) So I have a new insect dusting powder for my leo, which contains d3 etc and claims to be suitable for use with every feeding. It's from a company called Komodo, which I didn't see mentioned much when I was getting set up. Any feedback on this brand? Is it good, does it suck? It was quite a good price compared to other brands, although that isn't much of a win if the stuff is crap.
4) My leo seems a very light eater compared to what I have read about others. I see people writing about their leos eating ten or more mealworms in a sitting, multiple times a week. Mine though, seems to lose interest after two or three, and will rarely eat more than once a week. I find crickets a pain in the arse with the leo, as she wont eat them in a separate feeding enclosure like the crested gecko does, and if I feed them in her main tank then they all get under the hides and the reptile carpet and generally give me grief. I do her the odd wax grub but mainly its mealworms. She seems to keep her weight up well enough, but yeah, should I be concerned she eats half or less of what other leos eat?
5) Is it usual for leos to get lazy as hell once they have grown up a bit? Questions like this make me wish I knew a few more keepers around where I live, or that the pet shop staff would come across a bit more knowledgeable. It seems a daft question. But yeah, my leo used to be a LOT more active around the viv until it hit the year old mark or so. Now, she won't voluntarily leave her humid hide during daylight hours even if I try and lure her with bugs, where before she could be persuaded. At night she seems a bit less active too. I figured it was probably normal, young animals are generally more aloof, but yeah, I haven't really got anyone to bounce this thought off, so it can be a question here.
Hmmm. I think that's all for now. I may add other questions to the thread later if I think of any.
In the meantime, many, many thanks in advance if you have answers to the above questions. You guys and gals rock, and this forum is a great mine of knowledge.
Cheers
-Martin.
