Phelsuma very weak and refuses to eat after laying infertile egg - please help (((

[Elizabeth Freer]

Of course, that's my initial intention. If it would help anybody else, means my experience was not gone in vein.

Will do.

 

[Nika]

Ok, I think to continue this thread, as this is the direct continuation of the story as I see it.

Today, my other Phelsuma Grandis laid an egg. What strange, she wasn't swollen like in the case with the first Phelsuma in this thread. And the egg itself is 3 times smaller than the one that the passed girl laid. My passed girl laid a huge yellowish egg, somewhat crumpled and nonuniform shape. I didn't manage to photograph it back then, because I was too much concerned about her health, and was panicking.

Here's the egg from my other girl, it's white, almost perfectly round, and very small comparing to the other one I saw. This girl doesn't have any problems at all, have healthy appetite, no change in the behavior. She just carries on as usual, which leads me to a thought, that something was wrong with the passed girl to begin with. I see huge difference in behavior, well-being, eggs' size and shape. Now I see how normal eggs should look like, and terrified how huge was the egg that the passed Phelsuma laid.

The question is - is this an empty egg? What to do with it? Leave it inside or take it out?

Thank you.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Ok, I think to continue this thread, as this is the direct continuation of the story as I see it.

Today, my other Phelsuma Grandis laid an egg. What strange, she wasn't swollen like in the case with the first Phelsuma in this thread. And the egg itself is 3 times smaller than the one that the passed girl laid. My passed girl laid a huge yellowish egg, somewhat crumpled and nonuniform shape. I didn't manage to photograph it back then, because I was too much concerned about her health, and was panicking.

Here's the egg from my other girl, it's white, almost perfectly round, and very small comparing to the other one I saw. This girl doesn't have any problems at all, have healthy appetite, no change in the behavior. She just carries on as usual, which leads me to a thought, that something was wrong with the passed girl to begin with. I see huge difference in behavior, well-being, eggs' size and shape. Now I see how normal eggs should look like, and terrified how huge was the egg that the passed Phelsuma laid.

The question is - is this an empty egg? What to do with it? Leave it inside or take it out?

Thank you.

View attachment 42438

This egg may also be infertile (empty). Don't disturb it. Let nature take its course.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

. . . . . .

Arcadia makes excellent bulbs! :cheer: Arcadia bulbs are supposed to equal Zoo Med ReptiSun bulbs and tubes. As long as the bulb you just ordered is made for the height of your Exo Terra (60 cms high/tall) your geckos should not need any additional powdered D3. Remember the screen on top reduces UVB transmission by ~50%!

Does your Arcadia bulb take into account the 60 cm height of your Exo Terra as well as the reduction of UVB rays because of the screen?

 

[Nika]

Does your Arcadia bulb take into account the 60 cm height of your Exo Terra as well as the reduction of UVB rays because of the screen?

I got this lamp only yesterday. It is very bright, lightens up the whole terrarium. With Exo Terra UVB100 26W lamp the terrarium was pretty dark, and I used additional lighting sources. But this Arcadia lamp seems to be very bright, it reaches the bottom of the terrarium too. I don't think the screen reduces any sufficient amount of rays, it seems that there's enough light to reach even the far corner of the terrarium, despite the lamp is located over the left corner (just above the favorite spot).

Here's two photos for comparison. Both were taken in a dark room with shut blinds, in order to show the lamp without interfere of natural lighting.


1 – Exo Terra UVB100 26W without additional lighting and without natural light.
Cons - weak light, doesn't fill the terrarium, requires additional lighting sources.
As additional lighting sources I used Exo Terra Day and Night 24 Led lamp.
Pros – very pleasant color of the light, looks natural, soft sun light.




2 – Arcadia D3 23W E27, without additional lighting and without natural light.
Cons – very bright and unnatural light.
Pros – due to brightness reaches the whole terrarium, doesn't need additional lighting, reaches the bottom. The terrarium is all lit, every corner receives a portion of light, wherever Phelsuma sits she gets her light.



I hope this new lighting will affect this Phelsuma's appetite in a good way, because I started having problems with it. Now I can clearly see the cons of keeping just one Phelsuma. When they were two, they ate literally everything, because of jealousy, or competitiveness, or who knows why. If one started to taste Pangea, the second immediately did the same. They looked at each other and copied. Each time I had empty Pangea bowls. They ate everything and fought for food between themselves. Now there's no one to fight, so my Phelsuma G doesn't eat Pangea. Like at all. She eats small dubias, crickets, moth, date syrup - any amount, but never Pangea. Neither she eats fruit mash. So how can I feed her vitamins now? My only hope the lamp may be a game changer...

P.S. The Phel opened her egg today, didn't eat it, just broke it. It's yellow inside. I took it out from the terrarium afterwards.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

. . . . . .

I hope this new lighting will affect this Phelsuma's appetite in a good way, because I started having problems with it. Now I can clearly see the cons of keeping just one Phelsuma. When they were two, they ate literally everything, because of jealousy, or competitiveness, or who knows why. If one started to taste Pangea, the second immediately did the same. They looked at each other and copied. Each time I had empty Pangea bowls. They ate everything and fought for food between themselves. Now there's no one to fight, so my Phelsuma G doesn't eat Pangea. Like at all. She eats small dubias, crickets, moth, date syrup - any amount, but never Pangea. Neither she eats fruit mash. So how can I feed her vitamins now? My only hope the lamp may be a game changer...

P.S. The Phel opened her egg today, didn't eat it, just broke it. It's yellow inside. I took it out from the terrarium afterwards.
Phelsuma very weak and refuses to eat after laying infertile egg - please help (((-egg-jpg

I'm happy your Arcadia bulb finally arrived. WOW, what a huge difference it makes!!! That's excellent, Nika! (Zoo Med says right on the box how much the UVB transmission is reduced because of screen tops.)

I had an Exo Terra UVB compact fluorescent coil-type bulb once that I did not use. I finally returned it. I was not confident that it would produce sufficient UVB at all.

Where does your remaining Phelsuma grandis usually bask now? How close to the bulb? (Cms fine.) Now she needs some time "to catch up" on the UVB rays she missed from the Exo Terra. With this Arcadia bulb it seems like she should get all the UVB and D3 from those rays. I recommend verifying that with Arcadia customer service.

It's OK that she'll just eat insects. In fact, Phelsuma don't get Pangea in the wild.

Can you buy a multivitamin that does not contain vitamin D3 in Israel? Then you can lightly dust it on the bugs. Some multivitamins should ONLY be used at 1 feeding per week. That depends upon the multivitamin.

• Zoo Med makes Reptivite multivitamins with and without vitamin D3. I use Zoo Med Reptivite multivitamins without D3 for my Phellsuma that have UVB.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Rep-Cal Calcium and D3 for food, Exo Terra liquid calcium for drinking water.

PS:

Maybe your remaining Phelsuma grandis needs a little powdered vitamin D3 right now until the UVB rays "work"? I don't know.

Does she have places to hide if the rays are too much?

Nice to see she has diagonal sticks.

Here is my Zoo Med Reptivite without D3.

 

[Nika]

Where does your remaining Phelsuma grandis usually bask now? How close to the bulb?

She always sits on the vertical branches exactly under the bulb. It's her favorite spot. )))

It is practically impossible to purchase reptile vitamins in Israel. Reptiles are hardly present here, regulations are very vague, and basically almost everything is banned or forbidden. So 90% of products for their reptiles people buy from abroad anyway. Me too, everything I need I get from eBay and similar.

PS:
Maybe your remaining Phelsuma grandis needs a little powdered vitamin D3 right now until the UVB rays "work"? I don't know.

Yes I gave her calcium and D3, because I was concerned she doesn't get it from the Exo Terra bulb, plus she stopped eating Pangea.But I determine her conditions by wet glass - if she runs fast on the wet glass or hanging upside down - all is good. In this case I give her once a week as a precaution. If she has trouble to move or stay put on wet glass - then it's time to boost. It's easy to see - she kinda slips/drifts down while sitting on the glass.

This time I gave her twice a week small amount as prophylactic measures. I also found yesterday a way to trick her into eating. I made her mango with honey, and added a little bit of Pangea. She still doesn't eat it from the bowl, but she fed from my fingers several times.

Does she have places to hide if the rays are too much?

Yes, sure, she has 6 hiding placed:
1 – Inside the bamboo
2 – Inside the big cork bark – it's hollow inside
3 – Behind the second cork bark there's a big dark place at the back wall
4 – Large cave with 2 exits in the dark corner of the terrarium
5 – Dark tunnel between the big cork bark tree and big Fluker's Driftwood
6 – Side hollow in the big cork bark

But she rarely hides, mostly never. She always sits on the vertical branches which she loves, close to the front glass, right under the bulb. She loves these branches more than bamboo and cork bark. Even now she's sitting there. Always ))))) She just switches positions between these three branches during the day. She also sleeps there or on the front glass.

Here is my Zoo Med Reptivite without D3.

View attachment 42487

Thank you, I will try to locate these vitamins and buy it.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

For you too.

I just phoned a friend who has bred Phelsuma mad mads and other Phelsuma for years. Here's what she shared regarding UVB lighting specs.

Ratio of UVB : UVI (Ultraviolet Index)

• Exo Terra compact fluorescent bulbs = 14
• Zoo Med Reptisun compact fluorescent bulbs = 31
• Zoo Med Reptisun fluorescent tubes (T 8 ) = 34
• Arcadia D3 23W E27 - no rating available
• Sunlight = ~40-50

She recommends

• a horizontal basking bar (bamboo is fine) about 6 inches below the bulb
• 29.4-32.2*C (85-90*F) right underneath the bulb
• thermal gradient from top to floor of enclosure
• floor of enclosure: 23.9-26.7*C 75-80*F during the day
• temperatures about 10*F lower at night
• she suggests that Phelsuma might choose their location by temperatures rather than by UVB rays

Melody also shares:
"I have info on reflectors too, which can make quite a difference! Arcadia sells a good reflector, but you can make one yourself by bending cardboard in an arc and covering it with tinfoil. Surprisingly, the dull side of tinfoil reflects UVB better than the shiny side! And white paint reflects light but not UVB!"


There's a FB group called "Reptile Lighting". Fran Baines is a good resource.

 

[Nika]

Finally got today Zoo Med from US.
Amazing, it has white color and NO scent whatsoever. My previous Calcium with D3 vitamin from Rep-Cal smells so repulsively, that the gecko runs away from it. She would it an insect with this smell only if very much hungry. I'm very glad and grateful for Zoo Med recommendation. It doesn't smell, light and fluffy and white.On the other hand Rep-Cal large, heavy, gray and smells. ((((

My Phel Gr again laid only 1 egg, which is strange, I hope all good with her. The breeder I got her from claims he never saw anything like this - there always are two eggs. While mine lays 1 egg once in three weeks. Is it normal?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Finally got today Zoo Med from US.
Amazing, it has white color and NO scent whatsoever. My previous Calcium with D3 vitamin from Rep-Cal smells so repulsively, that the gecko runs away from it. She would it an insect with this smell only if very much hungry. I'm very glad and grateful for Zoo Med recommendation. It doesn't smell, light and fluffy and white.On the other hand Rep-Cal large, heavy, gray and smells. ((((

My Phel Gr again laid only 1 egg, which is strange, I hope all good with her. The breeder I got her from claims he never saw anything like this - there always are two eggs. While mine lays 1 egg once in three weeks. Is it normal?

View attachment 42746

:yahoo: for Zoo Med's Repti Calcium. That's pure precipitated calcium carbonate. I am happy to recommend it.

Rep-Cal's calcium is manufactured from oyster shells.

I don't know about consistently laying only 1 egg. I think that's normal once in a while.

 

[Nika]

Rep-Cal's calcium is manufactured from oyster shells.

Wow, now it is clear why this calcium has such a nasty smell )))

 

[Nika]

Hi all,

I don't to post it into another thread, because here I shared the problems with both of my Phelsumas. As I wrote previously, after she stayed alone, she ate poorly and stopped being active. Bad appetite, infertile eggs and lack of movement made her slim and non-active. I was worried. I started considering of packing up another Phelsuma to spice up the life of the survivor a bit, but lately everything changed. She started eating well, became very active and curious to everything. Gained weight and became very beautiful, energetic and funny. ))))) She moves quite a lot, plays, studies everything around her and in the room. She stopped hiding and stressing, on the contrary, she moves closer to new objects and even lets to pet her. I love this new behavior of hers.

Another news, I was forced to change the substrate. I found a lot of small creatures inside it, small beetles and ants. Appears to be that ants climbed up to the second floor of our house through the window and through the terrarium's net straight in to the terrarium. We noticed that on time, and was forced to sterilize the whole thing. Instead the usual substrate I used a soft green carpet from Exo Terra. It is usually used for frogs, but I decided to give it a go anyway. Appears to be it is cleaner, cozier and there's no unwanted insects for three days now. The Phel seems to like it. She never used to make trips on the substrate, yet she travels every day now on the carpet. She actually goes down and walks around on the carpet, exploring each hole in search of food I presume. She never done that before. For example today she dropped a food insect, and jumped down and chased it on the carpet. Caught and ate it. Never done it before with the usual substrate.

Another con of the natural substrate is that when an insect drops down and hides inside it, it is very hard to catch it. They can't do it with the carpet. So I decided to stay with the carpet for now. The carpet holds humidity well, and is very easy to clean. Given that Phelsumas use to go in same spot, I placed there a paper towel and now it is super easy to clean.

So to conclude all is well, I changed my mind about getting a second Phel for now. My girl is active and curious and playful and eats well. Later I plan maybe to get a crested gecko and another terrarium.

 

[Nika]

Hi everybody,

My Phelsuma lays unfertilized eggs every month. At first she laid only one egg and after 3,5 weeks again one egg. But now lays 2 eggs every time. I wonder if phelsuma has a break in laying eggs or she will continue to lay unfertilized eggs 12 times a year? I worry about every egg laying ((( 24 eggs in year??? Wow (((

Also I started to use Zoo Med Reptivite without D3 (thanks Elizabeth Freer) and I am happy. My phelsuma has a very good health. Sometimes she doesn't eats for several days before laying of eggs, but she is strong and active. She runs fast on the wet glass or hanging upside down on the glass - all ok.

Also I use Arcadia D3 UV E27 Reptile Basking Heat Light Lamp Bulb Infrared 80w and Trixie Neodymium Basking Spot Lamp Reptile Heat Bulb 75w E27 Thread. + Night ceramic heat lamp (without light) from Arcadia.
For me Trixie lamps the best after my experience.
My first lamp Arcadia was broken within 4 weeks after the purchase ((((( This is very good lamp as UV light, but the quality of this lamp is not good . Then I bought another lamp from Arcadia with heat function and this lamp 80W is more weak than Trixie 75W. Phelsuma loves Trixie Neodymium more. Arcadia is very good brand (I continue love it), but after a month of use, new lamp began to blink after switching on.

Now my phelsuma has reached the growth of 21 cm. Her age is 1 year))))

Another question. How often do your phelsuma shedding? The fact is that my phelsuma was shed last week. But today she again molts. Why??? 8 days...



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