I occasionally provide calcium supplementation for females post oviposition, but I prefer to provide a wide variety of prey items such as rabbits, rats, mice, fish, chicken, quail and frogs, working with Drymarchon spp. allows for such, as they will literally devour anything that will fit in their mouths. Keep in mind, when supplementing a diet with vitamins and minerals, hypervitaminosis is hazardous and many fat soluble vitamins have the potential to reach toxic levels, if not administered carefully. Also, D3 is actually a hormone, not a vitamin, and too much can be hazardous to your animal’s health. Straight calcium carbonate, without added D3, is quite safe, though a good diet of vertebrates generally provides sufficient calcium. Should you decide to use a vitamin supplement, read the label and try to use such which uses beta-carotene, rather than vitamin A, which is a fat soluble vitamin and can prove harmful in high dosages, as can vitamins D, E and K…

Best regards,

Jeff



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Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947

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