Maybe you know it alls on this board need to take a look in the mirror.Sure seems to be alot of vet bashing here by a bunch of people with no veterinary degrees of their own.Much of what was stated by his vet is true.The vet that is a member of our herp society just did a brilliant lecture with slides last night showing numerous growths and mineral like crystals that he has had to remove from pet lizards over the last couple of years due to over supplementation.Lizards bodies will eventually start storing extra vitamins and minerals in body parts where they were not intended to be.He showed a very nice and healthy looking ornate uromastic that could no longer crawl because of the crystals that had formed in his front leg joints due to over use of calcium and vitamin supplements.8 such crystals were removed from his body in total.The lizard made a full recovery and is once again a top notch breeder with the necessary adjustments to his diet.Calcium powder and vitamin supplements should not be used daily by any means.Once a week is plenty.It is also true that UV bulbs are not 100 percent true replacements for natural sunlight.My vet suggest at the very least 30 minutes of direct sunlight 3 times a week for bearded dragons.He also agrees that crickets should not be the main staple in a bearded dragons diet.He meets on a regular basis with a large group of vets that specialize in reptiles and most of the find that mealworms are a better choice for bearded dragons.They also feel that both crickets and mealworms should only be used as a supplement and not the main staple.I would also suggest for those who are using crickets to get babies started to make sure to feed your crickets the vegetables you want the dragons to eat on their own eventually.I also feed my crickets the Rep-Cal pellets.This gets the taste of the pellets in the dragons mouth and seems to get them used to eating the pellets quicker.I would like you all to stop bashing the veterinarians and if you have concerns about what they tell you simply ask questions and explain or show them where you are getting opposing info from.They have the years of medical school behind them that you don't.

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