Hi Jack,(i hope we don't meet on an airplane)

Jack, there is an important part your missing, its not important which has more calicum. The important question is, do pinkies provide enough calicum for a fast growing young monitor? the answer is YES plenty enough. I have raised hundreds of monitors and I am accused of raising them to fast and too large, and I use pinkies without dipping them in anything. My babies also grow up to preform a task, to reproduce like their parents. And with proper(normal husbandry) they do not show any calicum deficincies.



After all, the whole exercise is to prevent calicum problems in young growing varanids. Not measure whom or what has more or less calicum. Isn't that true?



Now why you practice dipping pinkies or mice is the question, it seems to me, its because you are ignorant in raising baby monitors. Please understand, I am not suggesting you have not done it, or don't know how to do it. Its simply that you don't understand whats needed so you add more then necessary so that you may not fail. Thats called shotgunning, You add steps that are not necessary so that you can cover your bum. Well, in this case you do not need to cover your bum. Adding calicum to pinkies is masking other problems that may exsist.



Whats important is the truth, and the truth is, normal healthy pinkies provide more then enough useable calicum. Will adding more calicum hurt, I do not know, but why do something thats not necessary. Also understand, doing something thats not necessary means your wasting your time and energy on something useless.



I can report far better results and progress then anyone who does dip them. So with that in mind, it may harm them. The reason is, the keeper is not experienced enough to understand this problem, so the keeper will most likely not be providing other key and necessary elements of husbandry.



Please understand this, one of the tasks of the experienced here on this forum is to inform and tranfer knowledge to keepers with less experience. If newbies(new varanid keepers) would learn the basics of what is needed, then they surely would not be newbies for very long. Wifestails and misinformation, prolongs their stay as newbies. Instead of learning a progressing in a positive way, they have to overcome poor information(a negative task)



The problem is, the old newbies, keepers who have kept varanids of decades without understanding and resulting success, keep teaching wifestails and false inaccurate information. Jack, you teaching and supporting this wifestail is clearly defining your experience level.



Consider this analogy, rodents have supported many many species of snakes thru many generations, without supplimentation, I may add, With that in mind, pinkies have supported those hundreds of generations of these same snakes when they were babies, again without supplimentation. As with the rodent diet, the question is, is that analogy appliable, the answer, yes, its been applied and successfully used with varanids. Success is the goal and the answer.



If your answer to the original question was, you may add calicum, but its not needed, then I would have no problem with your response. But you dwell on the old wifestail that pinkies are less then adults rodents, this indicates and supports the thought that you believe they need to be supplimented. That you believe that, is telling other newbies that they need to suppliment as well.



With your answer and approach in mind, I feel SHvar and I have no recourse but to correct you. That too is the function of these forums. Sir, please understand, its not my intend to degrade you, or insult you, just correct your misinformation. Thanks FR

[ Show Entire Thread ]