Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone, I have two henkel females and one male and I plan to try my luck at breeding them this spring. The problem is that I want to boost the female's calcium reserves but don't know how to go about it. I dust their crickets which are their main diet but I have a habba mister in their cage and it is constantly spraying out over the whole cage and the calcium doesn't stick to the crickets for long enough. I want something that I can give to them orally that I could add a lot of calcium to. I tried meat baby food a couple of times, which they like but I don't know if that's good for their systems. In cresteds it supposedly is ok but I don't know about Henkels. Any help would be great.

i will occasionally mix the calcium powder with water and drop it on their nose. Other times I will dust an appropriately sized roach and feed them that. Make sure that you're releasing the dusted food at night so it won't have long to run around and rub off the powder. Sometimes they ignore the crix, but I've never seen my female let a roach last long.. I've also heard of people having success with pinkie mice.

i supplement by putting some calcium powder with peach baby food or whatever the geckos will willingly lick off of a syringe just like my crested geckos.
i've been doing this with lineatus and mossies for over a year with no ill effects.

Try using Roaches dusted with Calcium powder. Also use a good UV light as well, nothing over 6 months in age.

Jason

just a little different suggestion here if you're willing to experiment a little

i've heard in the past that phants will take calcium dust offered on a small plate, lid, whatever. since your problem is the mist washing it away, you could try making a small dish under something that will act like an umbrella to keep the supplement from running away. dont know for sure if it will work for henks but its worth a try. another thing you could try is putting the mist machine on a timer, or simply turning it off when you go to feed. if you put the crickets in right when the lights turn off, if your henks are anything like mine, they're instantly in feeding mode and the crix wont get much of a chance to rub off the supplement. a final option is terrestrial snails, i've heard quite a few times that they're fond of them. im trying the idea but havent noticed any phants or henks feeding on them yet, but thenagain im not ALWAYS around to notice (and i still offer dusted crickets all the time).

Hey, thanks everybody for the suggestions. It's great hearing what other people do for their leaftails. I think I'm going to try roaches and see what they think about those. Roaches seem to have so much more meat on them than crickets do. I will also try just mixing the calcium with water and see if they will lick that off their nose. Thanks a bunch!

I feed mine pinky mice! I give them 1 every week-week and a half and dusted crickets in-between the pinkies! My female has grown to over 70 grams(Shes a Henkeli and I only breed Henkeli) Also I mist mine 3 times a day HEAVILY and she lays 2 eggs every 25-30 days! So try pinkies out! ERIk

I wouldn't know, but I have always wondered about the benefits or lack of for that matter, of feeding an insectivore pinkies. I know w/animal protein of that nature they definitely get larger and bulk up.

But how healthy is it to feed them such prey over an extended period of time, when in the wild the eat insects?

I just wouldn't know, and wouldn't feel safe in doing it, at least not with Uroplatus.

I'd like to hear some input on this one
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Uroplatus sikorae 1.1
Uroplatus henkeli
Ball python
Hogg Island Boa Constrictor
Several species of tarantula

Well I kinda made a typo too Its my leopards that eat a pinky every week-week and a half. MY henkeli eat one every 2 weeks(about). But I have heard in the wild that they will eat anything that moves. I also only feed them pinkies in the breeding season because It helps her with her calcium and keeps his stomach full so he breeds!. She and her mate have been eating pinkies and crickets(dusted) for about 6 months and I couldnt be happier with how they are doing! I would like to see what other people have to say about this also! ERIk

Hey Erik, I've heard about people feeding pinkie mice but wondered how you go about it? Do you feed live; my henkels wouldn't go for anything that wasn't moving? Do you set the pinkie in a dish? What do you find to be the most successful way of feeding it to them? I wouldn't think pinkies would hurt them. In the wild I'm sure they probably go for anything that moves and so they probably end up eating a lot of different things; that's my opinion. ~Jess

live pinkies move.