Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I keep all of my adult cresteds almost exclusively on T-Rex (Sandfire) Crested Gecko Complete Meal Powder, and up until now, everything has gone swimmingly. Suddenly, the last 2 clutches (from 2 different breeding groups) was only 1 egg each, and both with very bad shell quality. What is the best (brand name?) calcium to supplement their diet with, since clearly there is not enough calcium in the CGD? Nobody is killing themselves laying which does not bother me; per female about 6 weeks-2 months between clutches on average. About once per month, I do feed each breeding group a bunch of large gut-loaded crix dusted w/calcium powder. Thanks for any and all help!
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Terri
4:8:5 crested geckos: Popcorn, Goldfish, Harley, Bear, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Blackie, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Avis & Subtle, Toni(y), Kermit & Zipper

I use Rep-Cal calcium with vit. D. I mix a good amount in with the CGD and dust crickets with it every time. I also offer a small dish with calcium powder which they frequently use(especially the juvies). They never seem to get enough.

Chris
Geckospot.com

Thanks, Chris, for your concern and your reply. I always appreciate any advice from others and I'm always happy to help when I can. I also emailed Allen Repashy at Sandfire yesterday with my concerns, and here is his reply:

"What you are experiencing is pretty normal for gecko's producing this time of year. They naturally slow down at the end of the season, so this is not uncommon. Some females do this, some do not. The fertility of the eggs is a big factor. Infertile eggs are usually poor quality, and often only one is laid. Check the eggs for embryo development if they go bad. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the calcium levels in the diet, and this has nothing do do with your problem. We have a colony of nearly 10,000 crested geckos, and the diet is all the eat unless we have a surplus of crickets available.

Adding calcium to the diet would probably do more harm than good. The levels of calcium in the food are about twice that necessary for growth and egg production based on research done with other high producing species (leopard gecko's) Too much calcium can interfere with the absorbtion of many important nutrients.
When you feed crickets, you can coat them just like you do, because this is outside the balance of the CGD."

So I guess supplementing the calcium would not be a good idea after all; I was just concerned that my geckos were depleting the calcium in their bodies in trying to make eggs. If it is just that they are winding down for the year, that's fine.
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Terri
4:8:5 crested geckos: Popcorn, Goldfish, Harley, Bear, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Blackie, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Avis & Subtle, Toni(y), Kermit & Zipper

Terri,

I don't claim to know it all, but I'm not sure if laying only one egg would be necessarily caused by a calcium deficiency. That may be more directly related totheir overall nutrition and caloric intake.

The poor shell quality of the eggs probably is a result of not getting enough calcium, which I would guess is a result of them just not eating enough.

The CGD technically contains enough of everything for them to thrive, but if they don't particularly care for the taste of it (which unless they were raised on it, they probably don't) they may not be eating enough of it.

If possible, I would try to offer crickets more often and dust them with miner-all or just a plain calcium/D3 supplement. Moving crickets seem to really entice mine to eat, when if they only had a cup of CGD in their cage, they might not bother.

Hope this helps.

-Anthony

>>I keep all of my adult cresteds almost exclusively on T-Rex (Sandfire) Crested Gecko Complete Meal Powder, and up until now, everything has gone swimmingly. Suddenly, the last 2 clutches (from 2 different breeding groups) was only 1 egg each, and both with very bad shell quality. What is the best (brand name?) calcium to supplement their diet with, since clearly there is not enough calcium in the CGD? Nobody is killing themselves laying which does not bother me; per female about 6 weeks-2 months between clutches on average. About once per month, I do feed each breeding group a bunch of large gut-loaded crix dusted w/calcium powder. Thanks for any and all help!
>>-----
>>Terri
>>4:8:5 crested geckos: Popcorn, Goldfish, Harley, Bear, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Blackie, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Avis & Subtle, Toni(y), Kermit & Zipper
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Anthony Caponetto
www.ACreptiles.com

Thanks, Anthony.
I received a reply from Allen Repashy who suggested it may be just the females going into a seasonal rest period; that there was plenty of calcium in the diet. All of mine ARE good eaters; I watch to make sure everybody gets a turn at the dishes, but of course, there is nothing like fresh meat (crix) to get them moving. I appreciate the input. Looking forward to meeting you and some other frequent posters at Tinley. If anyone spots my tattooed left arm, please introduce yourself!

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Terri
4:8:7 crested geckos: Popcorn, Goldfish, Harley, Bear, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Blackie, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Avis & Subtle, Toni(y), Kermit & Zipper, ZigZag & Scallops