Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm wondering could it be diet?

i know people say crickets are best for most species but remember crickets lack all most every thing other bugs may have if they are not gutloaded with specfic items.

i wonder if it is a sert bug they eat in the wild that gives then special vitamins/nutrients that they cant get from crickets.

also the longetivity theory i'm not totaly sure is correct....we would still have females that could live through at least 6 months and have plenty of batchs of eggs....if they were preyed on they would develop something beside hiding in leafs to protect themselves

has anyone asked the kammers how they take care of their pygmies...see if they can get on this forum.

do you know the Kammers? That would be absolutely fantastic I think. It is sounding like it might be something in, or not in, the diet. Did everybody supplement the crix before feeding? that we need honest answers to. Could be oversupplementation or under. Could very well be a chemical in an insect or something eaten they need and don't get in captivity. I know termites have special bacteria in them which help them digest celulose, could be something like that they need. WE NEED THE KAMMERS!!!!

Lele got hers from the Kammers, so she got most, if not all, of her info from them. I've also talked to them several times regarding the pygmies, and there is not much that they say to do that I can figure out that we're missing. They supplement with vitamins 1 time per week and with Calcium with D3 twice a week.

I didn't have mine long enough for any supplementation to really effect them (meaning in the way of too much or too little), but mine may be the exception since I think other factors were involved in their passing.

Lele, what do you feed your crickets? Just out of curiousity.

Kristen

Quote by alanvines:

I read they lay a few every couple months so this could be so. Maybe the diet is too good and they produce more eggs inside than their tiny bodies can handle, which doesn't make much sense really, per evolution.

End Quote.

Alanvines I think you are on to something there. Veileds only produce around 20 eggs in the wild, and in captivity they lay up to 80, 40-50 being the norm. Veileds being quite large and hardy, I would imagine, could deal with this sort of stress of laying since they already have a larger clutch to begin with. But, pygmies are much much smaller and may not be able to handle the stress of producing more than 1 or 2 eggs at a time, and especially if they retain some if you're right on that suggestion. 16 is a hell of a lot of eggs for a pygmy. The people that I have talked to say that their pygmies are pigs, and one lady I know goes through almost 1000 pinheads a month for her trio (who also just lost a female). Now, most animals will eat anything you give them and not consciously know when to stop, they could be over eating, kind of like steroids I guess, it's too much for their body to handle properly.
This is a pretty interesting topic of discussion and I would also like to hear the Kammer's methods.

-Brock

either that or they are are holding them too long, maybe lack of certain soil conditions that they really want to deposit in. The eggs look all the same size in the pic, In chickens they are each gradually smaller as they are at different stages of development, the largest being laid first, then the next when it is big enough etc. We need to know if anyone has had success breeding with no supplements, and whether or not they have early deaths. Where are those dern Kammers, lol.

BTW, how do they know how many are laid in the wild? Just curious.

As for piggy pygmies mine weren't/aren't. Amazing about the woman who goes thru 1000 for a trio in a month! Does she cup feed? Maybe they are only eating a small percentage. Makeda and Kaiya would eat three in a row and these were 1/4" crix. Bart has always preferred ff

lele

>>Quote by alanvines:
>>
>>I read they lay a few every couple months so this could be so. Maybe the diet is too good and they produce more eggs inside than their tiny bodies can handle, which doesn't make much sense really, per evolution.
>>
>>End Quote.
>>
>>Alanvines I think you are on to something there. Veileds only produce around 20 eggs in the wild, and in captivity they lay up to 80, 40-50 being the norm. Veileds being quite large and hardy, I would imagine, could deal with this sort of stress of laying since they already have a larger clutch to begin with. But, pygmies are much much smaller and may not be able to handle the stress of producing more than 1 or 2 eggs at a time, and especially if they retain some if you're right on that suggestion. 16 is a hell of a lot of eggs for a pygmy. The people that I have talked to say that their pygmies are pigs, and one lady I know goes through almost 1000 pinheads a month for her trio (who also just lost a female). Now, most animals will eat anything you give them and not consciously know when to stop, they could be over eating, kind of like steroids I guess, it's too much for their body to handle properly.
>>This is a pretty interesting topic of discussion and I would also like to hear the Kammer's methods.
>>
>>-Brock

Do you still have her body Lele? I don't suppose you'd disect her to make positively sure she wasn't carrying eggs??