It have happend...

[Progrmor]

Stella is 2 months old (Veiled). She has been eating and drinking really good since I got her. But now, for the last 3 days sha have not even paid attention to her feeding bowl when I have put it in her cage. She usally just sprinted down to the bowl and started eating.

I dont know if it is a hunger strike or that the food is bad?

I feed her fruit flies right know since she is so little and pinheads when they are available. But something ive discovered with the fruit flies that might be the problem is that when I have dusted them in calcium in a plastic bag. They tend to only be moving aroung the bowl for like 5 min and then they kind of die

Cant I dust them or whats up?

 

[SaintJimmy]

I don't think you can dust fruit flies.

 

[Progrmor]

I don't think you can dust fruit flies.

Is that why they die?

 

[SaintJimmy]

Is that why they die?

I think so. The calcium is big compared to them so it probably crusts them all up so they cannot move.

 

[sandrachameleon]

You absolutely can and should dust fruit flies.
But you may be dusting to heavily

What other prey besides fruit flies and small crickets do you offer?

perhaps she is about to shed?
is she drinking?
what are the cage temps?

 

[Saldarya]

That's not the issue, I dust FF regularly. Now cleary you don't want to overcoat them, but that goes for every feeder.

There is likely a different issue.

 

[Progrmor]

You absolutely can and should dust fruit flies.
But you may be dusting to heavily

What other prey besides fruit flies and small crickets do you offer?

perhaps she is about to shed?
is she drinking?
what are the cage temps?

That's not the issue, I dust FF regularly. Now cleary you don't want to overcoat them, but that goes for every feeder.

There is likely a different issue.

It´s kind of hard not to dust them to heavily... Either they get dusted or not in my oppinion since they are so small.
I also give her mealworm some days. She drinks fine and she shedded a few weeks ago. 84F Basking and 73F in the middle part.

Okey but why do they die then? :/

 

[ridgebax1]

I noticed that if I dust my crickets too heavily they will die also. I think the dust sort of suffocates them. Now I put a very very small amount of dust in the container first then the bugs and swirl them around until they are coated. I try very hard to not overcoat them. It may just take some trial and error to get the amount right. For fruit flies I think I would just take a pinch of dust out of the jar into the container and then put the FFs in.

 

[Progrmor]

Haha I only took a corn of calcium today for 20 flies.. 18 of them died Damn those flies... becoming expensive..

 

[pssh]

Thats way too much for 20 flies. I might use like a pinhead sized amount for that many. Try pinching some dust in a cup, swirling it around (without bugs) then pour the dust out. The inside should have a thin coating of dust in there. Put the flies in that and shake them around so they pick up the dust off the bottom/sides. You can also just dust some of the bugs a little more heavily, and leave some uncoated when she starts eating again (only if she will eat both though. If she avoids the dusted bugs, then this won't be an option.)

At 2 months I would think she could eat bigger bugs. Maybe that is the issue? If the bug is smaller (from side to side, not head to butt) than the space between her eyes, then she can eat it.

I think the dust gets in their air holes (on their sides) and either suffocates them or dries them out.

 

[Progrmor]

Thats way too much for 20 flies. I might use like a pinhead sized amount for that many. Try pinching some dust in a cup, swirling it around (without bugs) then pour the dust out. The inside should have a thin coating of dust in there. Put the flies in that and shake them around so they pick up the dust off the bottom/sides. You can also just dust some of the bugs a little more heavily, and leave some uncoated when she starts eating again (only if she will eat both though. If she avoids the dusted bugs, then this won't be an option.)

At 2 months I would think she could eat bigger bugs. Maybe that is the issue? If the bug is smaller (from side to side, not head to butt) than the space between her eyes, then she can eat it.

I think the dust gets in their air holes (on their sides) and either suffocates them or dries them out.

hold your horses! I have always thought that you took the lenght from their head to butt and if that lenght was larger than the space between her eyes then they were to big? So the bodylenght of the feeder is nothing to think about? just the width??

 

[pssh]

Mostly. With worms you don't want them too long (2x the length of the head is as big as I would go.)

 

[Progrmor]

Mostly. With worms you don't want them too long (2x the length of the head is as big as I would go.)

In that case I could probably feed her adult crickets in a couple of weeks.