M
matthew
Guest
Hi,
This is aimed at anyone but I'd be grateful for a few more of your perceptions too, Ed.
1)I have, for the first time, seen Ca as a spray-supplement (not just vitamins). Has anyone tried this? Some of my anurans have "dropped" dusted crickets out of their mouths so I'm wondering if a liquid spray might be more palatable.
2) Pure intellectual curiosity: can Ca be absorbed through the skin?
3) I have seen reptile keepers use multivitamins in a solution which is dissolved into misters and water bowls (i.e. to be drunk). It struck me that it would be easier to overdose this way... fair?
4) For some time now I've been wondering what is the best way to fit uv lights - bulbs or tubes - in treefrog set-ups. The risk of a frog jumping onto it as if it were a branch seems high.
I think treefrogs are traditionally kept in:
*plastic tanks - could fit above the tank and have it shine through the lid. I fear the heat and the lid/mesh blocking much output;
*glass tanks with mesh-top or metal lid with meshing - again much light blocked out;
*glass vivs - I have used the mesh at the back, with the tube sited parallel to it, again shining in through the holes;
*wood and glass vivs, as traditionally used for reptiles. Here you can't fit the tubes inside can you, for the first reason I gave? I once saw, in a petshop, a UV bulb with a large net around it. How hot would it get? How much light is blocked out?
So how do others do it?
[I was intrigued to read that proximity to the UV source is a big factor in effectiveness.]
5) Finally, I wanted to mention a sight I saw in a petshop. Small hylids, not very active, very ground-dwelling. Two-thirds of the small group had "heavy-looking" bellies, but their sides were somehow sucked in - they looked very concave. The back-bone was clearly visible through their skins. One or two seemed to move in a twitchy, jerkey way. There was an abundance of food running around and being ignored.
Care to offer a possible diagnosis? MBD?
Where would you start with an animal like that? (I've been shown one method of force-feeding frogs but always worry people bringing me animals that might need it and my choking them by accident... or that, when I buy an animal unseen, something like what I saw in that shop will arrive.)
Cheers for any comments or suggested answers.
Best//M
This is aimed at anyone but I'd be grateful for a few more of your perceptions too, Ed.
1)I have, for the first time, seen Ca as a spray-supplement (not just vitamins). Has anyone tried this? Some of my anurans have "dropped" dusted crickets out of their mouths so I'm wondering if a liquid spray might be more palatable.
2) Pure intellectual curiosity: can Ca be absorbed through the skin?
3) I have seen reptile keepers use multivitamins in a solution which is dissolved into misters and water bowls (i.e. to be drunk). It struck me that it would be easier to overdose this way... fair?
4) For some time now I've been wondering what is the best way to fit uv lights - bulbs or tubes - in treefrog set-ups. The risk of a frog jumping onto it as if it were a branch seems high.
I think treefrogs are traditionally kept in:
*plastic tanks - could fit above the tank and have it shine through the lid. I fear the heat and the lid/mesh blocking much output;
*glass tanks with mesh-top or metal lid with meshing - again much light blocked out;
*glass vivs - I have used the mesh at the back, with the tube sited parallel to it, again shining in through the holes;
*wood and glass vivs, as traditionally used for reptiles. Here you can't fit the tubes inside can you, for the first reason I gave? I once saw, in a petshop, a UV bulb with a large net around it. How hot would it get? How much light is blocked out?
So how do others do it?
[I was intrigued to read that proximity to the UV source is a big factor in effectiveness.]
5) Finally, I wanted to mention a sight I saw in a petshop. Small hylids, not very active, very ground-dwelling. Two-thirds of the small group had "heavy-looking" bellies, but their sides were somehow sucked in - they looked very concave. The back-bone was clearly visible through their skins. One or two seemed to move in a twitchy, jerkey way. There was an abundance of food running around and being ignored.
Care to offer a possible diagnosis? MBD?
Where would you start with an animal like that? (I've been shown one method of force-feeding frogs but always worry people bringing me animals that might need it and my choking them by accident... or that, when I buy an animal unseen, something like what I saw in that shop will arrive.)
Cheers for any comments or suggested answers.
Best//M