Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know this has probably been covered many times, but I feed my leos 10 mealies and 12 small crix everynight and I dust my crix before feeding with a Vitamin supplement and just keep calcium in a bowl with the meailes at all times. The crickets are gutloaded with potatoes, carrots, oatmeal and that commercial gutload stuff that contains calcium. Is it too much to dust the crix everyday? I can not remember to dust the crix every other day or every week or so, that's whay they get dusted everyday instead. Can this hurt the leos? By the way there are 3 leos that are housed together getting the 10 mealies and 12 crix just to clear that up.
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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Edge, Jazzy (short for Jasmine), and Dot (so named for the cute dot that is right above her tail))

Is that 3 juvi leo's? If it is that is a lot of food...maybe too much. I gutload my crickets, dust them and leave a bowl of calcium in there. I've heard too much D3 can be bad for them since they get enough from the crickets but other than that you should be fine.

Yea. They are about 2-2.5 months. I put all the food in there and leave them alone for 30 min and come back and everything is gone. I even went so far as to clean out the cage one time to make sure the crix aren'e under the paper towels. I was told 4-6 prey items per animal, which is what 18 total if they go the high end. Ie's just that I was told by someone else that they won't overeat and I guess I thought if they are all gone then they were fine. They are shedding a lot and growing. Anyway, do you have any suggestions then? I don't want them to be hungry, but I don't want them to over eat either.
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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Edge, Jazzy (short for Jasmine), and Dot (so named for the cute dot that is right above her tail))

Well if they are growing and everything is going good then don't change a thing. The only suggestion I would throw out there is maybe just put 12 crickets and a few mealworms.

I have kept and bred and raised leopard geckos for over 14 years (I still have my original trio) and I dust lightly twice a month with a vitamin/mineral powder (that contains vitamin A from a beta carotene source) and twice a month lightly with a calcium/D3 powder and several times a month with calcium (that is phosphorous free)...and I leave a dish of calcium in their cages and gutload the insects well. They seem to reproduce well and are healthy and the babies do well too. In all that time I have never had to take one to the vets for anything.

A recent study showed that leopard geckos' skin transmits a large amount of UVB through it in a short period of time compared to some lizards (like the bearded dragon)...so they don't need much exposure to UVB to be able to produce the same amount of D3 that some other lizards produce when they are in the sun during the daytime.

Here's a site you might like to see...
http://www.superwormfarm.com/nutrition.htm
Nutrition Facts
"Cricket (Acheta Domesticus)
Serving Size 1Cricket
Amount per serving
Moisture 74%
Ash 1%
Protein 18%
Fat 6%
Other 1%
Not a significant source of Vitamin D3 or Calcium"

Already covered.

Well, I would dust the vitamin supplement for the growing leo once a week. Vitamins are important, but you don't need a lot of it. I, however, dus the crickets with calcium supplement about everyother feeding, sometimes I do it at every-three-day interval. Depends on how much food they want. Sometimes they eat so much, they don't want to eat for another 3 days or almost a week. My leos are just juvies right now if you wonder.

I'm thinking since I use my cell phone for everything and I feed my snakes once a week than I might as well just program my crix dusting into my phone so I just do it once a week. I don't want to overdo it and harm them in anyway. Thanks for all the help.
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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Edge, Jazzy (short for Jasmine), and Dot (so named for the cute dot that is right above her tail))

I pretty much agree with what kinyonga suggests. I have seen discussions on other forums where breeders think over-supplementation with vitamins & D3 could be causing some problems. I wouldn't give vitamins supplements more that once a week for juvi's and if it has D3 in it, I wouldn't ever bother with calcium that has D3. Most breeders agree that one of the best things you can do is properly gutload your feeder insects and keep a constant supply of pure plain calcium available to your Leos. They do need the D3 but very small quantities are sufficient.

As far as how much they eat, let them eat as much as they want everyday until they are around a year old, unless they start getting overly fat LOL Go ahead and leave a bowl of mealworms for them to eat as they please, it won't hurt them, just make sure to put fresh ones in each day. If you can, try some small superworms, my hatchlings and juvies always preferred them to mealworms and they do have a little less chitin, making them easier to digest. Superwormfarm.com carries smalls, that's where I always bought mine before I started raising my own
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www.StoplightCityLeopardGeckos.com

Thanks so much for the help. There is always pure calcium available in the mealie bowl. I have been looking into getting some small supers too. You just made me feel better about getting them. Some people say that they can hurt my leos, but since so many people are feeding them they can't be that bad.
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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Edge, Jazzy (short for Jasmine), and Dot (so named for the cute dot that is right above her tail))

LOL Yeah, the old wives tale "they will eat through your Leo's stomach" . . . that one will never die I guess. I promise they are perfectly safe Just drop one in water and see how long they last, it's a matter of seconds, so how long would they last in stomach acid ?? LOL Nothing more than common sense really
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www.StoplightCityLeopardGeckos.com