Calcium and Herptivite?

[Ekko]

I've asked a similar/the same question before but once again I'm confused... (Sorry, sorry, sorry...it's my bad, I am a dunce!)

I know that alot of people consider Calcium with D3 to be somewhat "bad" in comparison to plain calcium without D3, and I've been trying to figure out if Herptivite is beneficial to my leos in any way (I have it for my beardies, and I'm wondering if I should give it to my geckos, aswell). I've read numerous care sheets, and every sheet seems different when it comes to how often to dust with calcium and other supplements...I'm unsure what to do.

What is your dusting schedule? I'm confused as to how many times a week I should dust with the Calcium w/ D3 and if I should be dusting their feeders with Herptivite, aswell?

Urk.

 

[Dinosaur!]

Well, i just copied and pasted this from a little guide i wrote, and it shows exactly how I supplement

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5: Supplementing/dusting

It is extremely important that you are supplementing your leopard geckos diet with calcium and vitamins in order to prevent your gecko from contracting MBD (metabolic bone disease, or having vitamin deficiency. I'll tell you what method works for me, but there are other successful methods out there that you may choose to use instead.

First off, you need calcium WITH vitamin D3. D3 is an essential vitamin for leopard geckos, and without it, they cannot absorb the calcium they intake, making it pointless, and causing MBD. You should sprinkle this on top of the mealworms after you put them in our geckos food bowl, as the "shake and bake" method will suffocate and kill the worms. This is the calcium with D3 that I use.

you should only dust with D3 every other feeding, as high amounts can cause illness.

Second, you need to have a multivitamin with vitamin A in it. Your gecko needs this to help prevent shedding, eye, and organ issues. Dust the same way as with the calcium, but only ONCE a week. to much can be harmful. This is my vitamin supplement.

And lastly, you will need to keep a small bowl of D3 free calcium inside of your geckos tank. This way, your gecko can lick up the calcium when it feels that it needs it, without the risk of overdosing on D3.

 

[Ekko]

I obviously need to get some plain calcium, urk
So is herptivite pretty much useless for leos? (And how would this dusting schedule differ for young leos?)
So many reptile vitamins/supplements, waaaaaah~

 

[Dinosaur!]

im sorry, but i know nothing about herpvite whatsoever, and i really wish i could help!

 

[Olympus]

It's not as complicated as it sounds, truly! Dinosaur did a great job breaking things down.

I know it sounds like a lot of things but once you know why it's this way hopefully it makes more sense.

1. Reptiles need calcium because most feeders (crickets, for example) have a really high phosphorous to calcium ratio (3:1), while the body ideally needs it to be much closer to 1:1 to function properly. So by dusting lightly with calcium we correct this ratio and everything functions properly. So that's why we need calcium. (This is also why calcium supplements boast they are "phosphorous-free!" for anyone that has wondered.)

2. We need D3 because without this vitamin the body cannot properly absorb ingested calcium, and since these geckos do not bask under a UVB bulb in captivity (and form this vitamin naturally in the skin) we have to give it via the diet. However, it is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means that it builds up in the body over time and if given in very high doses it can cause significant harm, calcifying the soft tissues and mimicking the symptoms of MBD. So, we do want to give this vitamin but lightly and in moderation.

Therefore, you can dust your feeders lightly with calcium AND D3, because you control the dose, but you want the little tub in the cage to be plain calcium, so you don't have to worry about the gecko overdosing itself by accident.

And the multivitamin you have is fine, you can totally use it as your vitamin supplement. It contains vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene, which is something found in carrots, for example, and it's harmless in large doses. We're not sure how well reptiles convert beta carotenoids into vitamin A, like we do, but it can't hurt.

I don't know if this made things more or less clear! lol But if you have more questions let us know. I'm a big fan of people understand WHY we do things.

 

[Treefolk]

It's as simple as mixing osteoform SA and vionate at a 1:4 ratio (volume) and leaving it in a dish for your geckos to ingest when they desire. This covers all calcium and vitamin needs (aside from egg production time when more calcium is needed). Ron Tremper and many other large breeders who have owned literally hundreds of thousands of leopard geckos use this exact method with flawless results.


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[Josh P.]

It's as simple as mixing osteoform SA and vionate at a 1:4 ratio (volume) and leaving it in a dish for your geckos to ingest when they desire. This covers all calcium and vitamin needs (aside from egg production time when more calcium is needed). Ron Tremper and many other large breeders who have owned literally hundreds of thousands of leopard geckos use this exact method with flawless results.


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Vionate is great but Osteoform is hard to come by in Europe. Do you think that formula might work well with the same ratio but using pure calcium instead such as the one by ZooMed and mixing it with the Vionate?

 

[Treefolk]

Really hard to say Josh. You would need to compare the calcium and phosphorus levels and adjust accordingly. You can't order it on amazon in Europe?


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[Josh P.]

Really hard to say Josh. You would need to compare the calcium and phosphorus levels and adjust accordingly. You can't order it on amazon in Europe?


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Sadly Amazon UK usually doesn't have it and Amazon US charges extremely high for shipping and often gets extra taxes from customs.