leos and mealworms, please read?

[lanalizard]

ok now i feed my geckos strictly mealworms and so far they are good and healthy. HOWEVER, i had tried to dust my meal worms and they died less than 24 hours later?

i use repti-cal. has anyone ever experienced this???

[Scotty Allen]

Keep a dish of whatever calcium supplement you use in with the leopard geckos Krissy, they will lick up what they need. Make sure your mealworms are well fed and you'll do fine.

[Linds]

I feed mostly mealies to my leos as well. I dust them at every feeding and have never experienced any deaths related to doing so. The feeding bowl has a good base of calcium powder in it as well so the mealies are living in the stuff until they are eaten. I change my mealie bowl every 24 hours, so the ones that haven't been eaten get a chance to fill back up again. Do you leave the mealies on the warm side? Is it possible they got a little baked?

[Blazin]

Going along with linds I would always make sure the mealies are rotated. Either switch them out with fresh gut loaded meals or leave them a small amount of bran in the mealworm dish. Also as regards to the calcium I would leave them a dish in the enclosure as well. I do this and notice it works well. Also if your worried about calcium I would recommend feeding a few crickets every once in a while also completely gut loaded with things like collard and mustard greens. Both those veggies are high in calcium and have a good phosophurous to calcium ratio perfect for leos! You can also completely coat the crickets with powder. But once again rotate those mealies they tend to dehydrate quickly. Keep in mind that also you want to keep them well hydrated with carrot juice. ( Carrot juice is good for the leopards coloration! ) Hope I helped.

[Tarzet]

This is my theory.... cause I too have had this happen.
Calcium powder is very fine ....when they are kept in it, it coats them and they eventually suffocate. If you want to dust them I would do it right before you feed.

[lanalizard]

ty all...i will try the suggestions.

[silke]

i have found that if i shake the mealies in the powder they die but if i have calcium in a dish and add the mealies on top of that the mealies are ok for a day