[Nate Bell]

I got an adult female williamsi a while back, and had followed the quarantine procedure until she had a very good weight, and offered crushed cuttlefish bone from the minute I got her.

she never produced the cheek pouches, and now I have one of the magnaturals gecko ledges with both dishes filled with the bone, but still no calcium reserves. I have been feeding dusted insects, but I know this is not enough.

Is there any way to induce her to eat more calcium?

Thanks in advance,

N

[hexentanz]

Hi Nate,

Some females will not take the cuttlefish bone until they are gravid.

In a few of my females they did not start developing these nice sacs until after a few clutches of eggs despite taking up the cuttlefish bone the first time they became gravid.

Give her some time!

But also I am curious, wasn't she pretty young when you got her? Females under 1 year of age will need more alone time than just the 6 month quarantine time.

[Nate Bell]

This is a second female, captive bred, and good size, just a hair smaller than my male. She came with a good weight, and I got her up to where she was a bit chubby, even. But no calcium sacs.

Unfortunately, the other one, my little near-hatchling, just....disappeared I had her in a 12x12x12 exo terra. Noting her size, I even taped the front cracks. But one day, she was just...gone. One day she was on top of the background or on the vines in the middle, her usual spots, the next, she was nowhere to be seen.

I searched the viv in all the plants and around and under all the decor, and could not see any sign of a body. she was not behind the background. The only things I can think are that she either squeezed out the top rear, because there is a small (very small) gap even when the access holes for cords and tubes are "closed", or she tunnelled under the substrate and died. I have not completely purged the substrate, but at this point if I did, I doubt I would find remains.

I fear the little one escaped, then met an untimely end somewhere because of poor conditions outside the viv...I still look for her on the windows/shades/window sills and near the lights, but I have really lost hope of ever finding her

[hexentanz]

Oh man. :::

This is why I hate these Exo's!

On the older one really I would not worry just yet.

[Nate Bell]

OK, I am glad I am not doing something wrong on the other female. Everybody else on here things just seem to happen without effort, almost!

On my little baby girl, do you think it's likely she tunnelled under the substrate? It seems out of character for a Lygo, but I just hate the "not knowing" what happened to her

[hexentanz]

Originally Posted by Nate Bell

On my little baby girl, do you think it's likely she tunnelled under the substrate? It seems out of character for a Lygo, but I just hate the "not knowing" what happened to her

I don't think tunneling would be the cause. Most probably she got herself stuck someplace in the tank (backwall, bamboo, cork piece, etc) trying to get a prey item or got out.

[Nate Bell]

she must have gotten out then I thoroughly checked all the plants, wood, and the background and found no sign of her at all. Poor little lost baby

[Nate Bell]

I caught my little female at the calcium bowls a couple times this week You were right, all will soon be good' I just had to wait

Thank you

[hexentanz]

Originally Posted by Nate Bell

I caught my little female at the calcium bowls a couple times this week You were right, all will soon be good' I just had to wait

Thank you

Great news!!! )

[Williamsi_Fan]

Nate I have one of those enclosures and had to wedge paper towel around the entire top where the screen meets the tank and then I used black duct tape cut into 1" stripes to tape all the way around. My first baby escaped alot and I always him on top of the tank. I use Fruit flies and discovered how things were getting out of my tank. I now make my own tops and actually started selling them thru my local pet shop. I know most people around here have had alot of problems with them escaping.