Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just a few questions for you Phantasticus owners.

As far as feeding these guys, is it done during the daylight hours or do you feed them once the lights go off?

Also, how often do you feed? daily?

Thanks!

Aaron

ALL Uroplatus are nocturnal, therefore, they prefer to feed at night. Although, I have noticed them take the occasional cricket during daylight, but best to stick to evening feeding. For simple maintenance they can be fed three to four days/wk.

i have usually offered mine crix right as the lights go out. although sometimes i know im gonna be busy all night, so ill have to put em in late afternoon. the one obvious advantage to feeding after lights go out is that when you dust your crickets, it doesnt give as much time for the supplement to rub off. as for the amount and frequency, it really depends on size. if your phant is full-grown, i would feed it around 12 to 18 medium crix a week, i usually feed mine every 2 or 3 days. if its on the smaller size, you should really use the small crickets, and unless its only an inch long or so, it should take around 4 small crix each at each feeding, and like the adults i usually feed those at the same interval, but hatchlings i always offer more food when i notice the supply is getting low. the longer you have them, the more you'll notice their body size. when they eat they seem to inflate quite a bit sometimes (relative to the tiny overall size). i keep a good eye on their body size to tell who is eating good and when more food is needed. of course, i try to keep em plump, but my first one died unexpectedly even though he was quite plump. good luck with yours!

I feed all my geckos between 9 pm and 2 am because of my work schedule. I tend to get home predominantly between 11pm- midnight. I spray them right away no matter what. I wait twenty to thirty minutes after i spray them to feed them. I feed based on the number of animals in the cage. I do 4-5 crix per animal always dusted with calcium. I feed everynight depending on how much food is in each cage. I tend to only have 3-4 crickets left over by the next night. I take those out and spray then feed. Its a bit time consuming, but I've been doing it this way for years and it work well for me. I monitor them to make sure they are drinking and eating. I make sure I atleast see them take a cricket each before moving on to the next cage.

cheers
Jason

How do you see them at night to make sure you see them eat a cricket? Do you just have a light on in the room, or do you use a flashlight?
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Aaron

i would be careful with a flashlight, dont shine it directly on them. its pretty easy if you have a light on in the hallway or something, anything so you get a little bit of light to see. having a little light wont hurt them. dusting the crix also helps up their contrast against the background, unless you're using paper towel as substrate (although i think most of us use vivaria).

Some people use a red light to watch animals that are nocturnal including herps.

Alternatively there are those "moonlight" bulbs that are in the herp trade. I actually used one with a leopard gecko. It puts a very soft blue like glow that really does simulate light from the moon during the night.

I think the dusting does increase the contrast, but I have never seen my Mossy's miss an undusted cricket either. I feed every other day, but I also pay attention to behavior too. There are times when they are definitely looking for food, or rather actively scanning the moss substrate. More the female than the male. Some times I drop in a cricket..and they just watch it..and don't eat it. So I am fooled at times too.
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Uroplatus sikorae 1.1
Uroplatus henkeli
Ball python
Hogg Island Boa Constrictor
Several species of tarantula

Since I keep a few groups in my bedroom, I tend to keep the lights on relatively dim at night. In my animal rooms I keep a light on one side of the room to give a general low level light. It works quite well to be honest. Its a pain in the butt, but it doesn't fail. I don't like those specialty light really. I keep a window shade up to some degree so there is light coming into the room.

cheers
Jason