supers

[sunshinegeckofarm]

ok i order a new batch of supers and i want to know how everyone keeps them alive longer. i keep them in a mix of wheat bran, flukers gutload, ground oatmeal, bran and grapenut cereal and i feed them veggies n fruits for water and added nutition. but i notice they die off quick, i know i feed alot out but this time i had only 3000 last from nov 19 to now with about 100 left from feeding tonight. also they are in a area with no ac that stays about 85-90 sometimes cooler if its cool outside. i can't keep them with us in the room with ac because my husband has reactions to their waste. but i would like to see less dead i had probably 500ish die at least. thanks for any suggestions. im thinking of getting some chicken layer feed for them too.

 

[Haligren]

That's odd that you're having that problem. My supers seem to last for months. Perhaps the high temperatures are causing bacteria or mold to grow in the bedding too quickly. It sounds like your gutload and bedding are great! And supers seem to like the higher temps anyway. Hopefully someone else with more knowledge will post soon. Good luck!

 

[robin]

one thing put a lot of bedding do not let them get moist, wet etc. they need to be dry.
i use slow cook oatmeal, wheat germ and some other stuff and also some vionate.
i use potatoes and carrots for liquid and when they start to get all gross i pick them out and throw them away.
i leave them at room temps, about 75 degrees. they do wonderfully for me.

 

[sammer021486]

Try removing the Flukers gut load. I use to use it before, but I noticed the same thing with my crickets, they would die off in the masses. I use to pay out $100+ just for crickets in one month. I found out about the calcium enriched foods and water gels causing the crickets to die so fast and I switched all of my foods and gel to the non-enriched and my $30, not $100+ worth of crickets last me a whole month now.

I now buy my cricket/mealworm/superworm's non-vitamin enriched chicken mash for laying hens and I purchase my own water gel crystals and make my own water gel with distilled water. Since switching I have little to no loss of crickets, no loss with the supers, and like 6 mealworms dying every month.

Another thing to try is to keep the veggies and fruit that you use off of the bedding, this helps keep the bedding fresh. I use butter container lids and none of the feeders have trouble getting onto the lid for water.

I also leave them at around 75F and have no lid on the container to provide a lot of ventilation.

 

[sunshinegeckofarm]

yeah they dont get moist and i have no lid on them. they are in 32qt tubs with about 1500 in each give or take ... i will eliminate the flukers, ill feed it to my roaches they love it lol. im going to buy chicken layer this weekend to add. i will put my veggies on a lid for them maybe that will help too. I rather feed out more than what i do w/o them dying alot i know i feed out about 2-3 hundred in one feeding but that will go down when i dont have groups of geckos together which wll be soon. i wish i could keep them in the ac but last time i did my husband was coughing up his lungs 24/7 after i took them out it stopped after a few days, and my inlaws dont run the ac at all, they will run the heat if its cold but not the ac, makes no sense to me but i dont pay the electric bill. i use carrots, kale, potatoes, apples, and sometimes zucchini and yellow squash and i would like to use sweet potatoes but forgot i had them lol. thanks

 

[sammer021486]

I suspect that you probably do not have a basement to keep them in. One thing I thought of to try to keep them cool is to use a frozen water bottle or gel pack. We use this with the rabbits in the summer when it gets too hot for the rabbits. All we do is freeze the bottle of water and then place it in the cage so the rabbit can lay near it to keep cool. You could try placing the bottle on the side of the container to help reduce the heat. I would not recommend in the container because of the condensation off the bottle.

 

[sunshinegeckofarm]

yeah thats an idea. my parents do that for the rabbit i have there shes like 5-7 years old plus
lol shes old and still kicking. lol. not very many houses have basements in florida, sucks but what kind you do. once i move they will have AC all the time at like 75 but thats months away still.