Cork Rounds drying out my geckos feetsies?

Stellarreality

New member
It has occurred to me that if my tokay sits inside her cork round for an extended period of time the cork round dries her feet out, and she loses complete grip.

I've tried angling my mister to keep the cork round damp but it seems like it just absorbs too fast, the air in the cage will be humid but the cork round will be dry and that makes my geckos feet dry.

Any ideas?
 

billewicz

New member
Hello,

I've never seen this in over 5 years of breeding and raising hundreds of Tokay. Their natural hide is on, and under bark. If misting, temps and humidity are all actually good, than the biggest culprit in dry sheds stuck on feet is poor nutrition.
 
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Marauderhex

New member
I know this post is now old as dirt, but Michael, what do you use to keep the nutrition up in the horde? I've been feeding a steady diet of dusted gut loaded dubia with the occasional horn worms and have noticed that I'm seeing some stuck shed on my gecko's toe pads.
 

billewicz

New member
Tokay.jpg

Hey, Happy New Year to you. My gut load mix includes Paprika for Vitamin A. I also include carrot and dandelion greens for their moisture and other vitamins and nutrients. Plant based is always more assimilatable that manufactured supplements.

Speaking of which, Dr. Scott Stahl, the premiere reptile vet, highly recommends the ZooMed product, ReptiVite™. Originally formulated for zoos, it seems to work better than any other product I've tried including the Rapashy supplements.

reptivite.jpg
 

Aimless

Super Moderator
Michael, have you ever used Minerall? I switched to it last summer. I haven't noticed any decline, but then I'm not currently breeding any geckos besides cresteds and lugubrus, which are pretty textbook.
 

Marauderhex

New member
I've been feeding the Repashy Bug Burger with some added mineral/calcium. Maybe it's a bit more lacking than I need it to be. All of my other insect eaters are doing fine, but they aren't tokays either.
 

Stellarreality

New member
Well my geckos feet weren't "drying" out per se; it just so happened to have parasites and I gave him to someone who had the monetary ability to care for the sick gecko...sucks I had to do that but it was the geckos life in jeopardy.
 

billewicz

New member
I've been feeding the Repashy Bug Burger with some added mineral/calcium. Maybe it's a bit more lacking than I need it to be. All of my other insect eaters are doing fine, but they aren't tokays either.

yeah, I used the Rapashy line for a couple of years. Then, all of a sudden I had egg binding and shed issues. I don't have the exact facts, but there were apparently major changes/downgrades to their formulations at one point producing several complaints throughout the industry.

Also, I noticed that some Tokay just don't seem to assimilate vitamins and minerals very well compared to other reptiles.
 

billewicz

New member
Michael, have you ever used Minerall? I switched to it last summer. I haven't noticed any decline, but then I'm not currently breeding any geckos besides cresteds and lugubrus, which are pretty textbook.

No, I have not. Given Dr. Stahl's standing as the premiere Reptile vet, treating reptiles from all major zoo's across the US, I've trusted in his high regard for the ReptiVite™ product and have not wavered since.
 

Riverside Reptiles

Administrator (HMFIC)
Aimee, minerall is great stuff, contains 50 different minerals, and it has been a proven standard of the hobby for many years.
Do keep in mind though that it is just minerals and not a vitamin supplement.
Vit-all is their vitamin supplement and is packaged separately because mixing them together degrades the quality of both vits and minerals. Vit-all is a gutload for your feeders and minerall is (as you know) a powder coating. This method keeps them separated.
 

Aimless

Super Moderator
I use a variety of things in my gutload and don't actually use a vitamin supplement, just minerals. thanks for making the distinction, though!

I used a vitamin and mineral before I got roaches, as I felt that crickets need a little more boost.
 
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