When it comes to calcium and vitamins for pet reptiles, is there such a thing as too much? 🤔
Today, we’ll answer that question for you in this very helpful guide on reptile & amphibian supplements. If you need help picking out supplements for your own pet, we’ll be more than happy to help!
#guide #help #productreview #pets #care #reptiles
What’s up, guys? It’s Collin, and today we’re gonna be talking all
about reptile vitamins and calcium and can you overdo it? Quick disclaimer before we begin today’s video. I just want to say in no way are we attempting
to give any sort of veterinary or medical advice. Today’s video is about just general husbandry
information and kind of about prevention. If you do have any questions about your
reptile specific nutritional needs, I definitely recommend you contact your
local qualified exotic reptile veterinarian. So when we talk about nutrition in reptiles, there’s really two main categories
of product that fall in, and the first category would be calciums and the second category would be what we
would call multivitamins or things like that. So in general, you’re gonna find several
different types of calcium on the market. The type that we tend to carry
is we carry the Zoo Med calcium. So this is a calcium carbonate product. There’s many different
types of calcium on the market, but this product has a… I believe
it’s a 2:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio. It’s very important to have
that balanced in reptiles as excessive amounts of phosphorus can be a problem. You’ll see there’s a “with D3” and a “without D3”, and the with and without D3 is gonna be dependent on
the species of reptile you’re keeping. For example, certain types of animals that are
nocturnal or they have different nutritional needs will require calcium without D3. For example, certain types of chameleons can be… certain types of chameleons have
sensitivity to high levels of D3 or the other thing would be
animals that are kept outdoors, we usually recommend calcium without D3, and the reason for that is if they’re
exposed to enough natural sunlight, generally with most diurnal
or daytime awake reptiles, they’re able to basically
generate enough cholesterol in their skin from sunlight or UV exposure, and therefore, they can create their own D3, and then the D3 is the vitamin that helps the reptiles be able to synthesize
and digest calcium in the diet. So that’s basically how D3 works. So there’s two types. The type that you’re gonna use is gonna be
appropriate for whatever animal you’re keeping. If you’re unsure, just do your… do a little bit of research or ask someone
that’s kept the species before or qualified. As far as general recommendations on calcium, we usually recommend dusting with calcium
on any sort of insects they’re eating. We usually recommend that about three
times a week, and that’s a good regiment. Some people also like to rotate
through the different calciums, so you’ll also see people that’ll do “without
D3” and then do a “with D3” every third feeding. That works really well too. You’ll just be able to have to judge that on
your own depending on the species you’re keeping. One thing of note is it is
possible to have excessive amounts of vitamin D3 or a vitamin D3 toxicity, but in my professional experience…
again, I’m not a veterinarian… but it’s more common to see metabolic bone disease
than it is to see an excessive amount of D3. We usually recommend feeding with D3 for
diurnal species like bearded dragons and stuff because, of course, us being humans
and imperfect in nature, you know, you’re gonna forget that feeding, you’re gonna forget that dusting unless
you keep on a really rigid schedule. So in general and especially if you have uvb
lighting that’s not the best and things like that, it can be beneficial to have a little extra D3
in the diet so they can digest that calcium. Modern reptile lighting has gotten
a lot better but, in general, we still recommend using calcium
with D3 about three times a week. In general, as far as overdosing on calcium… and again, I’m not an exotic veterinarian, but I would say the main issue people run into
as far as, like, overdosing calcium would be if the animal’s already in a predisposed condition
where things are just not right in the diet. And the second issue would be there are
liquid calcium products in the water… that you can put in the water bowl. It’s,
like, a calcium gluconate, I believe. But these can be really overdone really easily, so I would definitely recommend
unless it’s recommended by your veterinarian for a medical reason, stay away from the liquid calciums
they add to the water bowl. It’s a really good way to have
high toxicity in the body, especially when it comes
to calcium and vitamin D3. One more thing I will say about calcium
in general is with most of your animals, what we call hypercalcemia or it’s, like, an excessive level of calcium
in the body, is pretty rare, but it is still possible, so I definitely
recommend whatever product you’re using just follow the manufacturer’s
instructions and you should be good to go. If you have any questions
or you’re having any issues, I would definitely recommend
contacting your local exotic vet. So the next category of products on the market
would be what I would call hybrid products. So these are, like, a calcium with
a multivitamin mixed into one. What you have here is Repashy’s Calcium Plus,
so this is gonna have a calcium in it. It’s also gonna include trace
minerals like a multivitamin and different carotenoids and things like that. It also has a small amount of
amino acids and things like that. With this product, the trace
elements are pretty dilute, so it’s pretty much safe to
use every insect feeding. I like this one cuz it’s easy to remember. Basically, you don’t have to
worry about jumbl… you know, doing a bunch of different
powders and things like that. So for that reason, Calcium Plus can
be really useful to newer keepers. It has a… I would say it has a very high
safety profile as far as accidental use or accidental overages or anything like that. The next category of products I’d
like to talk about is multivitamins. So there’s two main types of
multivitamin on the market. So the first product we have is the Reptivite. So this product is made by Zoo Med. So this is a multivitamin. One thing to note about this product is… so basically in the reptile diet
world, there’s two types of products. So there’s products that contain beta carotene which is kind of a little bit
of a precursor to vitamin A. So beta carotene is basically
only found in plant matter, so animals like herbivorous lizards, they take beta carotene that’s
consumed in their plant matter diet. The body then converts that to what’s called
retinol, which is like a pre-formed vitamin A, so they convert the retinol in the body. One of the differences…
retinol only comes naturally, like, by consuming other animal proteins. So for example, in insectivorous
or carnivorous animals, they get their retinol from the
animal matter that they’re consuming. So one thing to note is if
you have an animal that’s, like, basically an herbivore or things like that, you’re definitely gonna want to stick more to
a beta carotene supplement like the Herptivite rather than a retinol-based
supplement like Reptivite. So that’s one thing to keep in mind. Basically with retinol it’s stored in the liver,
and it cannot be excreted out of the body. With the beta carotene supplement, the
animal can consume as much as it wants, and then any excess beta carotene
what’s not converted into retinol, is excreted in the urine or the urates. So beta carotene has a little bit higher
safety profile I would say, in general. And to be fair, there is some debate in the
community as far as the efficacy of beta carotene and can animals actually process and use it? That is a thing, but in general, most people tend to say that beta carotene is
one of the safer ways to go. The only thing with retinol
is vitamin A, in general, has probably been one of the most overused
vitamins in reptiles for many years. Vitamin A, like, insufficiency is probably one of
the top, like, diagnoses that reptiles get especially when they have a lot
of eye issues or things like that. So, in general, with these multivitamin
products as far as feeding goes, Reptivite, Zoo Med recommends using once per week. Now they also make a “without D3 version”.
We don’t sell the “without D3 version.” This has vitamin D3 in it as well. According to Zoo Med’s feeding schedule, what they usually recommend is
using a calcium without D3 product like their standard calcium
no D3 three times a week, and then you use the Reptivite once a week. The schedule that we usually
prefer here at the Tye-Dyed Iguana is to use the calcium
with D3 three times a week, and then we’ll do the Herptivite which is the
beta karotene supplement one time per week, and that’s for bearded dragons, so different animals are going
to have different care profiles, so just do your research on your
individual species and go from there. But, in general, if you were going
with a retinol-based supplement and you’ll be able to see it on the analysis,
you definitely want to be sparing on it. And when we’re talking about vitamin
A, it is possible to overdose, like I said, because it’s not easily excreted
out of the body. It’s stored in the liver, so basically if you have a hyp…
what we call hypervitaminosis A, basically the only treatment
is basically supportive care, which means, like, fluids and
monitoring and things like that. The body just has to excrete it on its own
and get it out there, and burn through it. So, in general, we like to be a
little light-handed on the retinol, and basically most of the time we prefer
beta carotene. Now as far as Vitamin A goes, for our amphibian
specialists or if it’s recommended to you by a qualified reptile veterinarian, we also do carry Repashy Vitamin A Plus. So this is a concentrated vitamin A supplement. In general, this product Repashy
says they like to use it… it recommends it about twice a month. In my experience if you’re keeping dart frogs
or mantellas or amphibians or things like that, I usually recommend maybe do it once a month, especially if you’re feeding
them a high insect diet already, and then generally for amphibians as well, I’m gonna recommend using a calcium
without D3 product is my staple calcium. And then on this guy, we
use it about once a month. This is also used for treating medical issues
like actual diagnosed vitamin A insufficiencies or deficiencies and things like that, but in general, I like to caution
people unless your vet recommended it or you’re keeping, like, dart frogs or
mantellas, really watch it on the vitamin A. If you have any questions about your
reptile’s dietary or supplement needs, you can always drop by the
store, talk to an associate, or you can always contact your local
exotic veterinarian. Have a great day!
