Posted by:
PHLdyPayne
at Sun Dec 6 14:30:20 2009 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by PHLdyPayne ]
Too much calcium can cause just as much issues as too little. Calcium is NOT expelled from the body in the white chalky part of bodily wastes, this is uric acid. Excess calcium is deposited in soft tissues, veins etc...causing in the long run, things like bone spurs, stones etc.
For an adult dragon who isn't producing eggs (fertile or otherwise) supplemented calcium once or twice a weeks is sufficient with a multivitamin 2-3 times a month. Growing babies and egg laying females need much more calcium to support rapid growth and egg development.
I have no clue why anybody would eat some urates to decide whether it has calcium or not, but this was not a very bright thing to do. For one thing, it doesn't prove a thing. For another, it puts you at risk contracting salmonella or internal parasites (though not sure if common parasites in reptiles could survive in a human host). Unlike urine, I don't think urates have the benefit of being sterile, (yet can still contract many diseases from urine, so can't be totally 'safe' to drink). There is also the fact fecal matter is in direct contact with the urate in reptiles. ----- PHLdyPayne
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