question for you guys

so charm is eating dubias like crazy but she has these odd bubble like bulges were her are pits are, they look as tho they are filled with air because when i touch them they disappear into her armpit holes. some times they just vanish. any ideas? are these what every one calls calcium bubbles?

Yes, that would be calcium bubbles.

They are protein bubbles, dubia roaches are high in protein, so cut back on how much you feed her and you should be fine. Although if she's going to be a breeder, then the bubbles are not of concern since female breeders will use protein/fat storage for eggs development.

Overfeeding and over-supplementing causes these bubbles to form mostly. Female breeders will often pig out just before the breeding season begins, and often do get a tad overweight due to it. But it's normal cycle for them as they require extra fat/protein for when they stop eating during ovulation, and when they start developing eggs.

so i should cut back on how many dubias i give he, and should i stop supplementing for a bit too? she is only eating dubias cause she is a little picky shmuck right now, is there a feeder that is less in protein besides the super worm you guys can think of? like wax worms have a lot of fat in them but is that a good idea to give her? thanks for the help guys!

yes cut back on how many dubias you feed her, how often do you supplement charm's food and what with. I think it would be better to reduce her supplementation then to cut it out for a period off time

well so far she eats about 6 dubias every 2 or 3 days and i usually powder them every feeding with repashies all in one, tho because they aren't crickets they don't hang on to the powder very well, so every other feeding i don't really get all that much on them, does that make sense? lol

well perhaps cut her dubias down too four every feeding and she how she goes, yes it does make sense lol errm im not sure about how much supplementation charm should have as I have never used and all in one supplement before- but im sure someone else you give you a hand with that on here lol

Mystic wrote:so i should cut back on how many dubias i give he, and should i stop supplementing for a bit too? she is only eating dubias cause she is a little picky shmuck right now, is there a feeder that is less in protein besides the super worm you guys can think of? like wax worms have a lot of fat in them but is that a good idea to give her? thanks for the help guys!

Dubia roaches are great honestly, it's a great feeder for a gecko to get addicted to. And since she's a female, is she of breeding age yet? If so she'll naturally pig out around this time as the breeding season has just begun. Soon she should ovulate and stop eating off and on, and she'll use up her storage. If that's the case there's nothing to worry about. It's a normal cycle for them.

6 dubias per feeding does seem like a lot, but we aren't sure the size of them so it's hard to judge. Their stomach is very small, so if they are good sized roaches already, you can try cutting them down to 4 dubias instead of 6, and see how that goes.

Repashy calcium plus is a supplement that also contains protein, so you are adding protein on top of protein-rich feeders. So if you feed every other day, and thus dust every other day, you are dusting 4x a week. I normally recommend 2-3x a week tops. So if you are indeed dusting 4x a week, try cutting that down to 2-3x a week. If she's not going to be used to breed, then you've got nothing to worry about nutrition wise. 2-3x a week of multivitamin dusting is plenty.

If there going to feed every other day and dust every other feeding then that would be dusting 2x a week. If its an adult leo that isn't breeding I would recommend every other feeding with adults being fed 2-3 days a week. Sometimes just changing up the feeding schedule to more days between feedings will force the leo to use more of their natural fat stores as they would have to do in the wild. Eros eats like Tuesday, Friday and Sunday unless he just shed , then I'll wait 3 days after his shed to feed him.

thanks for all the replies guys! looks like charm is going on a bit of a diet no more pigging out for her lol