NAME: Marty McFly (Back To The Future!)
AGE: 4-5 months, owned 2-3 months.
HANDLING: Only when necessary.
FEEDING: 5-7x crickets daily, gutloaded with commercial cricket feed, bread, small slices of gold potatoes on occassion and veggies when I can get my hands on them.
SUPPLEMENTS: Calcium w/o D3 every feeding. Calcium w/ D3 once a week.
WATERING: Cup drip system, hand misting 1-2x daily.
FECAL DESCRIPTION: 04/25/2011: Solid brown feces, semi-yellow urate.
CAGE TYPE: All screen, 18x24x12.
LIGHTING: Reptisun 5.0 Compact UVB; 50W HeatGlo Infrared -- Would not be using a compact UVB, but the cage top is a tiny bit too narrow to allow for a tube's correct fixture. He will be getting a larger enclosure after he's better, and then his lighting will be upgraded.
TEMPERATURE: 85 at highest point (6-8inches from light), 72 at lowest (floor). Measured on an analog thermometer.
HUMIDITY: Analog humidity meter recently broke, was reading 50-60%.. not sure if it was accurate or not, replacing soon.
PLANTS: Fake plants only.
PLACEMENT: Side of living room, not much traffic.
LOCATION: Central Florida.
PROBLEMS: Sudden weight loss and dehydration. When we took him to the vet, he checked out fine other than said problems. No worms, parasites, etc. Can't remember exact weight.
Me and my boyfriend are currently living in a sour roommate situation (hopefully moving out soon, within a week). When I go to work, I will mist Marty and put water in his drip cup so he can drink the drip for the next hour-ish. We think that my roommates may be removing/emptying the cup to be vindictive, and that the weight loss is due to dehydration..
Here are the things I am putting in place to right the situation:
- Obviously, moving him into my room, which is locked when I'm not home.
- I have ordered the Habba automatic misting system, and will be setting up a larger drip system (water bottle with pricked holes) so he can drink more throughout the day.
- Cricket gutload was lacking, I do admit.. my roommate would always eat all the veggies and fruit I'd buy for gutloading, and being a college student, I'm skim on too much extra money.
- Adding multivitamin/reptivite/herptivite to dusting schedule once every 1-2 weeks.
- Replacing the humidity meter.
- Maybe add a live plant?
* What is all of y'alls experience with gutloading? I know apples, collard greens, carrots, etc are good for gut loading, but have you had any experiences with other stuff that worked out?
* At around Marty's age, what is the IDEAL weight I should push for?
* To combat dehydration and weight loss, what is the most effective method y'all have used? Anything I'm missing?
* Would adding a live plant (with the pot meshed off so he can't much on the substrate) benefit him? I've heard hibiscus is a good option, but I may have to rotate between two - one outside in the sun, and one in the enclosure.
AGE: 4-5 months, owned 2-3 months.
HANDLING: Only when necessary.
FEEDING: 5-7x crickets daily, gutloaded with commercial cricket feed, bread, small slices of gold potatoes on occassion and veggies when I can get my hands on them.
SUPPLEMENTS: Calcium w/o D3 every feeding. Calcium w/ D3 once a week.
WATERING: Cup drip system, hand misting 1-2x daily.
FECAL DESCRIPTION: 04/25/2011: Solid brown feces, semi-yellow urate.
CAGE TYPE: All screen, 18x24x12.
LIGHTING: Reptisun 5.0 Compact UVB; 50W HeatGlo Infrared -- Would not be using a compact UVB, but the cage top is a tiny bit too narrow to allow for a tube's correct fixture. He will be getting a larger enclosure after he's better, and then his lighting will be upgraded.
TEMPERATURE: 85 at highest point (6-8inches from light), 72 at lowest (floor). Measured on an analog thermometer.
HUMIDITY: Analog humidity meter recently broke, was reading 50-60%.. not sure if it was accurate or not, replacing soon.
PLANTS: Fake plants only.
PLACEMENT: Side of living room, not much traffic.
LOCATION: Central Florida.
PROBLEMS: Sudden weight loss and dehydration. When we took him to the vet, he checked out fine other than said problems. No worms, parasites, etc. Can't remember exact weight.
Me and my boyfriend are currently living in a sour roommate situation (hopefully moving out soon, within a week). When I go to work, I will mist Marty and put water in his drip cup so he can drink the drip for the next hour-ish. We think that my roommates may be removing/emptying the cup to be vindictive, and that the weight loss is due to dehydration..
Here are the things I am putting in place to right the situation:
- Obviously, moving him into my room, which is locked when I'm not home.
- I have ordered the Habba automatic misting system, and will be setting up a larger drip system (water bottle with pricked holes) so he can drink more throughout the day.
- Cricket gutload was lacking, I do admit.. my roommate would always eat all the veggies and fruit I'd buy for gutloading, and being a college student, I'm skim on too much extra money.
- Adding multivitamin/reptivite/herptivite to dusting schedule once every 1-2 weeks.
- Replacing the humidity meter.
- Maybe add a live plant?
* What is all of y'alls experience with gutloading? I know apples, collard greens, carrots, etc are good for gut loading, but have you had any experiences with other stuff that worked out?
* At around Marty's age, what is the IDEAL weight I should push for?
* To combat dehydration and weight loss, what is the most effective method y'all have used? Anything I'm missing?
* Would adding a live plant (with the pot meshed off so he can't much on the substrate) benefit him? I've heard hibiscus is a good option, but I may have to rotate between two - one outside in the sun, and one in the enclosure.