vitamins and rays

[EmilyAllen]

ok so this vitamin thing and uva/uva can be a little overwhelming if you really dont know what you are doing.. so i thought some of you could help me out.. right now all i feed my leo is gutloaded crickets and meal worms. Now should i be dusting them with something.. i do have a calcium dust that i just bought but haven't used. My vet just told me to buy gutloaded crickets and worms. so if there is more that i need to be doing let me know. another thing right now my leo is in a very well lit room during the she has a heating pad that is underneath portion of her tank where her hide out is located and then there is a 150 watt red heat glow lap on the same half of the tank as the heat pad. she has just returned to from the hospital because she was very ill and right now her tank has to be very hot that is why i have the 150 bulb. now during the day do i need to switch out the bulb and put something else in there brighter and to keep the warmth and what should i do once her heat restrictions are lifted.. so that she can still get som UVAs

 

[catvettech]

You do need to shake and bake (dust) the crickets and worms with a calcium powder. Young geckos and breeding females need more calcium than adults so you should dust the majority of time.

This is how I kept my male gecko who is over 14 years old: Heating pad under tank, ceramic heat emitter above on the warm side. I never put any other lights above him and he was a healthy dude.

My Gex was out of my care for 1 1/2 years and returned to me 3 weeks ago with MBD. I have a post about him titled "Senior Leo". As of today, I have removed the ceramic heat emitter and replaced it with a UVB bulb which I will keep on during the day. Hopefully this will assist in the absorption of his calcium/D3.

How old is your gecko and what was she in hospital for?

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Leopard Geckos are nocturnal, to their skin does NOT convert UV rays to vitamin D3. The warm side of your gecko's enclosure should not be warmer than 95 degrees F. If it is hotter than that, the gecko could become dehydrated and lose kidney function.

Simply make sure that the gecko has a warm spot around 90-94 degrees 24/7 (belly heat, not ambient air temperature), access to a small dish of calcium w/D3, and a multi-vitamin, and plenty of fresh water. Keep it on a substrate that cannot be ingested, like paper towel, reptile carpet, or tile. Keep a hide over the warm spot, and a moist, cool hide on the opposite side of the enclosure.

If your gecko is being treated for an infection, depending on the medication, it could make it not want to eat. My slurry recipe is at the top of the "Health and Medications" Forum here:
http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=19356