Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My leo girls have vermiculite in their moist hide/lay box. They are eating a lot of it as I am finding it in their droppings. They have dusted mealworms with vits/calcium everyday and a dish is always avialable in their tank. I'm now giving them worms with vaseline on them to help clear the vermiculite from their systems. What can I now use in their moist hide/layboxes that they won't eat???

I have been using vermiculite for 5 years and have never had them eating it are you sure they are getting enough to eat. Do they have a dish of fresh water in their enclosure? They may be just licking the moisture from the side of the hide container and in doing so ingesting a little of the vermiculite, you should also be giving them a little spray from a spay bottle once or twice a week. I'm not sure that putting vaseline on the mealies is good for them and would stop unless you got that information from an expert in herpetology or a vet that is experienced in herps. As for different substrate to use in the hide container I know that some people use peatmoss or perilite. Hope this has helped.

i had a similar problem a few years ago with my first gecko, i've been told its alot more common and more fo a problem with babys. i tried moss for a while but didnt care for it, i now use torn paper towls(3-4 inch long peices) you can use just a single paper towl and lay it flat, but i've found they like it better when its more fluffy like a bed, so thats why i tear it us, their cheap to replace and most people already have them handy anyways.

i also prefer them because you can use a box with the hole on the side and it rarley gets dragged out like vermiculite always did for me.

I noticed you said you dust the worms everyday. Dusting is definitely a good thing but can also be bad if they get to much. I would only dust every other day for a juvie and 2 times a week for adults. and i know a lot of people have dishes of calcium in the tank but I prefer not to, that way I can keep track of how much powder they are consuming, dont want any little crackheads running around, haha. Some people might argue with this but ive been raising leos for a while now and never had problems. and as for the eating vermiculite i would think it was to get the moisture as well. and the paper towel idea sounds like a good one.

I too had this problem when I started out. Two changes virtually stopped them from eating ANY vermiculite-
1. Change to a larger particle vermiculte (message me to find out where you can get some)
2. Always include a dish of calcium/vitamins in their enclosure. The main reason they are eating the vermiculite is due to the fact that they lick the ground in nature to get their minerals. With the calcium dish, they should stop licking the vermiculite.
-----
Supreme Gecko

Quality leopard geckos
Quality crested geckos
MRP, crested gecko diet

Supreme Gecko Email