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heres one for you longnose fans...
enjoy
Lat

Cool, I recently was able to successfully incubate my first clutch of G. wislizenii. Four beautiful babies. I have a grim question-- I happened to notice that one of the babies was in the middle of a severe siezure, and on it's back. The next thing I knew two more were in the same state. I was in shock. They spapped out except for one which succomed to whatever caused this. What could have caused this to happen??? They are being kept in a 10 gallon tank with paper towels for substrate. I'm using a 50w bulb to heat them, and they do have room to regulate their temp. I was feeding them small, small crickets. The only thing which I may have overlooked, was the proper amount of water to be given. Please, if anybody has any ideas or an answer post, or send an e-mail Thanks

Are you using UV and a phospherus free calcium supplement?

-Alice

I'm using a full spectrum incandescent bulb. What supplement do you reccomend?? I really want to keep these guys going. Thanks D.S.

If I'm not mistaken full spectrum incandescent bulbs don't produce UV. You want to get a flourescent like a reptisun 5.0 or if you have a big tank, a mercury vapor bulb which provides heat as well as UV. Both of these type of bulbs will emit UV radiation.

Most diurnal lizards need UV in order to synthesize vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 in turn enables them to metabolize calcium. In addition to building strong bones, calcium is vital for proper fuction of the nervous system. Seizures and tremors are common symptoms of calcium defiecency. For vitamins for insectivores, I use repti-cal for calcium and herptivite as a multi-vitamin. I also gut load crickets with foods like fish flakes, crushed high quality dog and cat food, rodent chow, and fresh fruits and veggies for at least 4 hours before feeding since 50% of your lizards' nutritrion can come from the stomach contents of its prey.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that in order to metabolize calcium lizards need a 2:1 ratio of calcium to phospherus. Feeder insects tend to have a lot more phospherus than calcium. Therefore, it's best to use a phospherus free calcium supplement. Several year ago, I actually had some of my baby leopard geckos start to develop metabolic bone disease (MBD) when I used a calcium supplement containing phospherus. Once I saw symptoms, I made the switch to the above supplements which halted progression of the disease.

-Alice

What setup are you useing for those lizards?
My research and Collection

These animals were kept in 55 gallon long aquariums with a small 175 metalhalide lamp over one end of the tank. Fed crickets, silkworms, mealworms, some greens occassionally, 3x a week. Hibernated outside in an icechest at 55degrees over the winter, they bred like rabbits in the spring; March through June. When I get another house I will be setting up a group outside where I live in the SW. They make great pets once acclimated to captivity and breed within a year of hatching.
They WILL eat any other lizard you put in with them so dont mix smaller ssp. in with them unless you are prepared for what happens.
Cheers
Brett