Anyone else have a picky juvenile pacman?

[chibikaie]

Hullo there. I have a juvenile C. cranwelli, and have had him/her (I wind up calling him a boy but who knows at this stage) perhaps 6 weeks, and the only things he seems to eat consistently are nightcrawler pieces (undusted only) and the Zoomed Pacman meal replacement powder. He will refuse to eat anything if it's been dusted. He'll eat crickets, soldier fly larvae (he wasn't really thrilled about them; they also all died within a week and a half, so they won't work as a staple food item), mealworms (these are fed no more than one worm every two weeks), waxworms (same), roach nymphs (not thrilled, again) - but ONLY if they haven't been dusted. If I dust them, he spits them out and stomps on them. If I then try to offer him another one that hasn't been dusted, he'll still spit it out. At this point, I typically quit for the evening and leave him be. I offer food with tongs daily, unless he's buried in the substrate, at which point I wait for him to emerge. He's still fairly small (around 2"; his last weight was 17 g, but he has grown since then), though I don't think he is underweight. I alternate food items and so far he usually eats 4-5 times a week.

I have picked up some calcium glubionate and can inject it into his food so that he still gets his calcium. (I'll get a new weight on him and give 1 ml/kg per day). I am looking into picking up some liquid vitamin D3 so I can do the same with that. It's just - this sounds a *little bit* extreme for everyday use; we usually reserve it for medications. Am I just catering to his whims and giving in too quickly? Should I try the liquid spray calcium? I do try to fatten up his feeder insects beforehand - I'm just concerned that I won't be able to enrich them enough solely by gutloading.

[Mentat]

Night crawlers are very nutritious and can maintain a frog healthy by themselves. You can mix any RepCal or Repashy product with dechlorinated tap to make a solution and inject it into a worm. If it's eating undusted crickets, make sure you gut load them with cherios cereal, carrots and lettuce 24-48 hours before feeding the frog. Good luck !