Wow, Thrasymachus has it made! I'd certainly be happy if I were a leo in his environment. :-) Interesting name, too.
Thanks for all the ideas! Diane On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:28:46 -0400, "Christopher Curry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > Diane, > > I'm no expert, but from my experience and what I've read, most > cold-blooded > creatures will eat less when their habitat is kept at a lower than ideal > temperature. > > For my one adult male (3 yrs old) Leopard Gecko (Thrasymachus), I use > repti-carpet (which I hand wash at least once a month -- I have two so I > can > give him a fresh carpet when the other one is drying), a one hundred watt > heat emitter, and a humidity shelter (with moistened sphagnum moss [great > stuff because its naturally anti-bacterial) directly under the heat > emitter > (it's a hand-built shelter that has a wooden platform for a lid, with > stones > to absorb some of the heat attached to the wood). His defecatoria is on > the > cool side of the 30 gallon tank (I use calcium sand [zoo med is the only > brand I like] in this area to keep the carpet clean). > > The warm side of the tank ranges between 85 in the evening (when the > emitter > is turned off by a household timer), to ~95-100 in the daytime. > > The cool side ranges from 65 in the evening to 75 in the daytime (I have > a > thermometer on both sides). > > Thrasymachus eats ~15 4wk old crickets, once a week. He is really slow > moving, so I use one of those "ant-hill" contraptions they sell at pet > stores that makes the crickets emerge one-by-one, single file, and not > until > they find the hole in the dark. He sometimes climbs up on the hill and > pounces on them as they come out--very cute. Sometimes I'll give him a > treat of wax worms or butter worms (they're fatty and delicious and stay > alive [dormant] for weeks in the fridge). He gobbles these up hastily > and > seems to relish them. > > It's also very important to take care of your food and feed your food > well. > Gutloading! > > My crickets, I feed on Dr. Gecko's Ultimate Feeder Insect Diet > (home-made). > You can find the recipe here: http://www.drgecko.com/insectdiet.htm. > Very > cheap to make and it lasts forever, vacuum sealed and frozen. This is a > dry > diet. > > I use the fluker's cricket globules (whatever they're called) for water > in > my cricket tank. Sometimes I'll give them a leaf of Kale or Collard > greens > (which are both great because they dry up rather than rot when left out). > I > feed these to my bearded dragon, Smaug, who waits until they dry out and > eats them like chips. > > I line the floor of my cricket tank (about 150 crickets in a 10 gallon > tank) > with moistened sphagnum moss mixed with a small amount of play sand to > avoid > the environment getting too wet. The food and water globules are both > placed on dishes inside saucers in order that no food gets knocked on the > moss and promotes mold growth. I give the crickets a paper egg carton or > two and/or paper towel rolls to hang out in. I've had crickets live for > a > month in an environment like this, with minimal smell and few deaths. > > I've had Thrasymachus since he was about 5 months old. When he was a > juvenile he lived in the same habitat, but he ate ~10 2wk old crickets > every > other day. > > Today, he is very healthy, has a big fat tail, he's relatively active for > a > creature with such a low metabolism, and he's very cheerful--of course > it's > hard to tell if a leo is unhappy with that smile carved into their faces. > I'm sure Thrasymachus is happy though. > > I hope this helps some. > > Good luck with Enzo! > > -- Diane Rudesal [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Choose from over 50 domains or use your own _______________________________________________ Global Gecko Association http://www.gekkota.com Classifieds http://www.gekkota.com/cgi-gekkota/classifieds.cgi gecko mailing list gecko@lists.gekkota.com http://lists.gekkota.com/mailman/listinfo/gecko