Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone, well he's my first call upon everyones' knowledge. I just got a lineatus male, 6 months old and the breeder fed him out of a deli cup with a sponge bottom. I fed him for the first time tonight since I got him and just dumped the crickets in to run around like I do for my crested geckos. My concern is he ate 2 crickets and got a mouthful of substrate each time and just kinda chewed it down. After this I removed the rest of the crickets and came to seek help before I did this again. I don't have this problem with my crested geckos as they are on papertowl, but I would like to keep this guy on a natural substrate as it helps hold more water which helps boost humidity. And it is very dry here so anything that will help humidity is a good thing. Do you think I should go back to the deli cup sponge thing like the breeder? Or will he learn and eventually get better at getting less substrate? Any advice or past experiences you'd like to share would be greatly appreciated. If you do feed on natural substrate like me do your animals get mouthfuls and how saafe is this? Right now my substrate is coco fiber and spaghum moss. I may change up the substrate if this stuff fails with a mixture of sand, peat moss, spaghum moss, potting soil (without vermiculite and perlite), and coco fiber. I odn't know what tthe mix will be but I'm just testing things out. Thanks everyone.

Mike

No no no... to sand in any sort of mixture... I keep my Uros on a layer of cypress (about and inch), then on top of that about 3-4 inches of very finely ground coco bedding, all topped with natural, but dead moss... I too have noticed that sometimes they'll grab a little bit of substrate whether it be coco bedding or moss, but they nearly always work it out of their mouth while taking in the cricket/roach... i am sure that ocasionally some is ingested, but its not a big deal... Just be SURE to have the substrate free of things such as bark, small sticks, and large chunks of unbroken coco bedding and you shouldnt have a problem... I keep all my babies on a paper towel substrate until about 6 mo. just in case though...
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Ben

well, i can say i've viewed my crested geckos do the same thing, but i think there might be a few factors to why you lineatus is doing this. you just got him...so im guessing that the enclosure is pretty new. in that case, the substrate hasnt really had a chance to settle, therefore making it a lot easier for the geckos to chomp down a mouthful as they dive for their prey. my crested geckos are really aggressive feeders, i can often hear them throwing themselves into the cork bark and other cage furniture through the night as they eat. like you, i let the crickets go free-roaming. i have never seen my satanics have a problem with gulping down substrate, nor my pietschmanni or henkeli. i find that most of them feed while above the ground, since the crickets often tend to climb on whatever is available. since you lineatus is young and probably still perfecting his hunting skills, you have several options since this eating substrate could lead to impaction. first of all, like you said, you can try the deli cup feeding method. i've tried it before, and it makes it fairly simple to clean and all, but my henkeli love pooping in feeding and water dishes. you could try live moss, which still keeps the humidity up and looks very nice in natural setups. i use dried moss for my crested gex, and they seem to know when they've gotten a mouthful because they often find a way to pull it back out of their mouths. its also cheap and easy to change out (i buy big bags for $2 at michaels art supply store). another option is waiting for the substrate to settle a bit more, but even in that case your lineatus is likely to get a mouthful now and then. hopefully some others can provide some input, but i would say your best bet is sticking with the deli cup for now, since thats how he was raised.

Thanks for the input guys. I think I will stick with the deli cup and then every now and then let a cricket roam and see if he's gotten any better. As for the sand, Neil Meister told me it's good for drainage, so I was considering adding it to the substrate. Thanks guys.

Mike

I wonder if he adds a layer at the bottom, or mixes it amongst the other stuff?... the sand that is... I would think that sand would be a larger concern than just about any other kind of substrate...
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Ben

dont understand. i wasnt around to find her, so i dont know what happened exactly. rather sudden death while i was away on thanksgiving.