Crested calcium issue

[Canvas_geckos]

For all my paired females, I keep a dish with calcium. I also feed a mix of LL, Repashy, Pange and BPZ on a rotation with dusted live insects once a week.

I have 3 females that have been laying fertile but very thin shelled eggs that end up molding badly the last 2 clutches. I checked their calcium sacs today, and all 3 girls had at least one sac that was quite low (granted they all laid a clutch within the week).

Is there a better calcium supplement I can provide during their laying season without “overdoing” it?

 

[Michael]

Which calcium supplement are you currently using?

Also, are you sure that the eggs weren't infertile and then just went bad as the natural progression of a dud egg?

@MelissaSR is the crested expert - she should be able to share more insight!

 

[Canvas_geckos]

I candled them and definitely saw the fertile “Cheerio”. I am currently using zoomed repti calcium with d3 (powder).l, but am considering switching to the liquid calcium and adding that to their food instead of freely offering the calcium dish. I don’t want to over do it though.

 

[Pinraiser]

I would switch to pure sepia ... this definitely works for my cresteds and chahouas and they consume it voluntarily. I assume they just do not accept the version with added vitamins.

 

[MelissaSR]

My first question is are these all first year breeders? Cresteds can have weird first seasons.

My recommendation for calcium is Miner-all indoor formula, been using it for years, love the stuff. Generally in the breeding season I add it into the CGD on a bi weekly basis as many of my geckos stopped taking insects. But I would recommend switching over to Pangea Breeder Formula as the main CGD that you offer to the females, its a higher calcium food which will help increase the females nutrient intake. One thing I love about miner-all is that they have a berry flavored calcium which I find many will readily take on their own when you leave a dish in their enclosure.

If you decide to do a liquid calcium, which honestly is a good thing to keep on hand, I would recommend using the liquid calcium from www.beautifuldragons.com reason is that they have the dosing broken down better by weight than products like Bug-d-lite which groups the animals together I think by like 5-10g increments. The product I keep on hand is Repashy Rescue Cal, I prefer this over the beautiful dragons one. It is basically the exact same product, dosing is the same, the difference is BD has it already compouded for you (suspension orally) and Repashy you have to compound (add the water) yourself. The repashy product has a longer shelf life which is why I prefer it. Both can be given orally, or mixed into the food for individual females.

Also what medium are you using to incubate the eggs, and what temps are you incubating them at?

 

[Canvas_geckos]

Thanks for the feedback. 2 of the ladies are not first years. The other eggs I have are doing great (from other pairs); nice well formed shells. I have a first year female that consistently lays perfect eggs, even when she laid duds they were perfect!

I use prohatch medium, incubator set at 72. I have some older eggs that will be hatching any day now and grown nicely.

 

[Canvas_geckos]

As previously mentioned, I do offer Pangea breeding formula every 3rd day; also offer LL chewie fettuccine which also has higher calcium. The rotation of food I offer is breeding formula, then a fruit formula, then chewie fettuccini, then Pangea bugs mixed with BPZ on an every other day basis with live gutloaded roaches or crickets once a week for cresteds and twice a week for the chahouhas.

 

[MelissaSR]

Sorry, I haven’t had good internet service the last two days so I haven’t been online much!

I would say maybe they are having an issue actually metabolizing the calcium properly. Have you considered using UVB? I don’t normally use it on my cresteds except when I have females that either crash after a clutch, or those laying weirdly calcified eggs.