[Pleccy]

Hi folks, first post on here, so please go easy on me!

I intend to obtain a single or pair of Phelsuma klemmeri or Gold dusts later in the year, which would be housed in a 30 x 30 x 45cm Exo terra.

I have a few (possibly daft) questions regarding food, can anyone give me a general guide on how often to feed certain food items, such as insects, mashed fruit and Repashy? Also, can fruit flies be fed exclusively (along with mashed fruit and repashy) instead of crickets and do they need to be dusted with calcium?

Thanks!

[kruler]

A varied diet is always preferred but yes, you can feed flies exclusively and yes, they should be dusted.

[PhelsumaUK]

Mine get 4-5 crickets twice a week (size 3 for klemmeri, size 4 for laticauda adults) dusted with vits and baby fruit with Phelsumax and a couple of extras inc calcium with vit D once a week (about a level teaspoon). Fruit flies are OK for hatchlings and youngsters (I prefer pinhead crickets) but they tend to get through all but the finest mesh. The calcium dust can be left off if you include it in the fruit mix. Additional calcium can be supplied in a dish for females when laying if needed. You probably could feed exclusively fruitflies as the livefood element if you provided enough of them but you can get a better gutload in a cricket.

[Pleccy]

Thanks for the info, I'll offer crickets as suggested and fruit flies every so often (maybe around once a week?). Just one more question, can anyone provide a ratio for calcium:fruit mix?

[PhelsumaUK]

There are too many variables to give a one size fits all ratio. The uptake is dependent on the overall diet and quality of lighting. Mine get 1/4 level teaspoon calcium carbonate mixed in 2.5 jars of babyfruit but during the breeding season the females also have access to a 1:1 mixture of calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate which they can eat at will. If they develop large calcium sacs then you're probably overdoing it (but some females seem more prone to this than others)

[Pleccy]

Understood, I intend to fit a single 10.0 UVB tube (one of the Exo terra repti-glos). Do you only dust the crickets with vitamins (I would probably call it Nutrobal, as it's what I use for my other reptiles) or do you offer it in the baby food/fruit mix as well?

[Pleccy]

I've done some more thinking and I've come up with this as a 'feeding regime'...

Gut-loaded and dusted crickets 2-3 times a week, the crickets dusted with calcium one day and vitamins on the other. I can mix the insect around and offer others such as woodlice, fruit flies and banana flies periodically, all dusted with calcium/vitamins.

Blended fruit (i.e apricot/cherry/banana/peach) with (or without, I could mix it around every now and again) Repashy CGD, vitamins, calcium and maybe a teaspoon of honey once or twice a month.

Any thoughts on the above?

[PhelsumaUK]

The dust I use is a mix of vits and minerals I make up myself. I assume all the MRPs have various vits and minerals already added so you may not need to add more if you're mixing it in with the fruit (depends on how much/little you add possibly), but you'd need to find the nutritional breakdown of it to see. It might have lots of calcium added..or it might not (and after that the supplimentation gets complicated!). I don't bother additionally dusting any wildcaught livefood that they get as treats. I think the more varied the diet, the more likely that any excesses or deficiencies are going to even themselves out. That might include swapping between various brands of suppliments also