Reptile & Amphibian Forums

all 5 of my leos have hideboxes and my male who is in hibernation and always stays there had some vermiculite in his poop, the others have it in tiny bits too but he had a lot and eats mealies so there were no crix in there to make him get mouthfulls of vermiculite...is this bad...he doesnt eat a lot, couple mealies every few days...he just came off a few weeks of almost no eating

I've had the same problem with youngsters - they sometimes eat vermiculite. If they're doing this, change the medium in your moist hide. Green or Spagnum moss (without chemical additives) works well for me, though I've gone back to paper towels even though they require more frequent monitoring for humidity. If the male is in with the females, or if the females are gravid, I use peat moss (moistened) with a little spagnum moss over it. You were right to question the vermiculite in their waste, it does indicate a potential problem that you can deal with before it turns into a serious problem!

Good luck always,
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Andrea A.

There may be more to it than this, but if you're not supplementing with calcium and mineral powder, it could explain whey they are being drawn to the vermiculite. Particularly if any females are going to be laying, calcium is critical.
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Andrea A.

oh no...they all get plenty vits, calcium, minerals, im just gonna change the box...thank u very much for ur advice

chris

i use moist peat moss in the hide box and vermiculite to incubate the eggs...

geckogod2

I have a female leo who loves to eat vermiculite! She kind of ruined it for all her tankmates, I now have to use bed-a-beast in the moist hide (when she started laying "gold-nuggets" I got worried about impaction).
-Alice

While I was feeding them, I was taking a look at all of them closely like I always do. I noticed one was trying to clean herself and something just didn't look right...it looked like a hair was coming out of her vent. I picked her up to closely examine her and it turned out that that "hair" was peat moss. I gently pulled it and out came a huge piece of peat moss. (She didn't like it very much but I knew it had to come out.) I really do mean huge! It was about the size of a leo egg! I have no idea why she ate the peat moss or how long her system had been trying to pass it. I'm just glad I found her and was able to help her before it killed her. I have peat moss and vermiculite in their moist hide. Compared to this, passing a piece of vermiculite is a good thing! LOL!

He's not "eating" it. Since he ins't coming out much, the easiest way for him to dring is to lick vermiculite. Take it out as long as he brumates or keep him in another cage or you may lose him.

>>all 5 of my leos have hideboxes and my male who is in hibernation and always stays there had some vermiculite in his poop, the others have it in tiny bits too but he had a lot and eats mealies so there were no crix in there to make him get mouthfulls of vermiculite...is this bad...he doesnt eat a lot, couple mealies every few days...he just came off a few weeks of almost no eating
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Rick-Geckoland USA