U. phantasticus feeders

[tha3rdman]

I have read tons of Care sheets and most say crickets, pill bugs, and roaches. What about fruit flies either Hydei or Mel.? I ask because being we have darts flies will be one feeder we wont be in short supply of, that or the mealies.

[Gecko Ranch]

No harm in trying fruit flies! If they do take them consider them an entertainment food. Nothing beats a good gut-loaded diet of roaches or crickets!

[umop_apisdn]

fruit flies arent going to be enough for adults. i dont use it past a couple months of age. of course, mealworms and other prey items like that should work just fine.

[tha3rdman]

So, Mealies are acceptable? I was wondering.

Ultimatly I was planning on placing at least 1.1 in out tropical viv w/ the dart frogs, and really didnt want crix harassing the D. Azureus. But that plan may have changed as Jody and I have decided to try and breed (semi pro) U. Phanta for the hobby, it's just to hard to find CB specimines, and I really cringe when I think about the plane ride from Madagascar and a few more hops to a persons home.

[Gecko Ranch]

Mealworms should be fine - I would keep them isolated in a dish where they can't get out but the Uros can get them. This way you can control the quantity, keep the terrarium from getting over-run by worms and beetles and easily monitor how many they are eating.

[Scott F]

phants and darts really dont get set up the same way. if your serious about trying to breed them, i would keep the phants set up by themselves in an enclosure speceficly designed for them; use small ficus for your main plant cover. in my experience, mealies (and little grubs, waxworms, etc.) dont move fast enough to catch there attention to get good feeding responses. as stated above, fruit flys are just way to small for adults, and i really dont think they would even pay any attention to them. 1/4 grown crickets and roach nymphs are the way to go.

[tha3rdman]

It has been ages since I posted here, but I felt as though I should share a finding. We have had our enclosure infested (or so we thought) by millipedes, since it's construction.

However it seems as though out Satanic that we have had for 2 years now is fat an healthy. On occasion we'll through some little crickets in for variety but the only thing she can be feeding on is those millipedes.

Now it's time for some maintainence, hopefully i don't kill off the food source.

[Salzy]

Wow, you definitely haven't been around in a long while. Thanks for swinging by!

That's interesting that you think it is feeding on millipedes. Are they are the same type you find crawling around in basements and are under rocks and such outside?

[tha3rdman]

Yeah, I think they came in or either some wood bits or some plants we had ordered, just little millipedes. The are very prolific breeders and eat decaying plant bits, they actually made for a great recycler.

[umop_apisdn]

I was always under the impression that millipedes carried certain toxins, if nothing else to make them very distasteful. Have you actually observed your geckos eating these millipedes?

I had a small infestation of the small millipedes back when I was an undergrad, but didn't let it get to the point where the geckos had enough to feed on. They came in through an odd infestation of millipedes at the house where I lived during the summertime.

I wouldn't doubt they'd make awesome recyclers, but when you have geckos in an enclosure eating animals that are likely eating their geckos' poop from time to time, that can pose a serious problem with disease transmission.