Before I feed the crickets to her 12 hours in advance I feed them carrots and their normal cricket food the the next day I feed them to her with her calcium and her calcium with D3. But only give the D3 2-3 times a week.
What "normal" cricket diet do you feed the crickets?
This is what gutloading means:
Gutloading the Feeders versus Feeding the Feeders 24/7
The term gutloading causes some confusion. Feed your feeders a nutritious regular diet all the time to build strong feeder bodies. Then only feed a special GUTLOAD product to the crickets, for example, 1-2 days prior to feeding the crickets to your geckos. T-REX Calcium Plus Cricket Food is a good gutload food. Top off the crickets by lightly dusting with a multivitamin containing D3/vitamin A acetate and phosphorus-free calcium with D3 no more than 2x weekly.
Generally 2-3x per week light dusting with a phosphorus-free calcium with D3 is all the calcium that is necessary. You might want to add a mulitivitamin with vitamin A acetate. Best not to dust with plain calcium on the other days.
2 March 2013:
Captured directly from Hilde's post #134, 27 Feb 2013, on "spoiled by crickets" thread in the crestie forum:
"If you feed the insects a decent diet full time, not just a day before feeding them off, you really improve the nutrients they'll provide - build a better body, not just fill the relatively short intestinal tract."
