I think it's important for us to share things that we discover, like, and dislike regarding box turtle care. Let's face it, research and development by corporations are no substitute for people like us.
I won't mention a specific brand name, but I'm VERY pleased with liquid calcium sprays. It's much easier to spritz a feeder insect than dust them. The best thing that I've found is that my turtles don't even seem to notice it's there. They would often avoid dusted prey. They'd even eat around the dusted areas on earthworms. I can mix it in with the prepared food concoctions that I make, I can inject it into pinkies or earthworms, and mix it in with drinking water. Dusts always made these activities difficult for me due to their poor solubility in water.
A couple of downfalls that I've found...if you allow it to dry on a surface, it is almost like a hard water stain and can be difficult to remove. A vinegar solution works for me. Also, it immobilizes earthworms. I haven't used it when fortifying earthworms for my very young hatchlings, as they typically require prey to wiggle. Actually, I'm happy that it immobilizes earthworms for my older babies since they often escape...my wife just LOVES to find dessicated wormies on the carpet!
With mealworms, waxworms, crickets, and superworms you have to spray lightly so that it doesn't clog their spiracles(breathing holes).
I'm now branching out to the liquid vitamin products. We'll see if I get positive results.
Note - I still have a couple of needles and syringes that I use to inject the solution into worms and pinkies. It works great for supplementing aquatic turtles, since the coating would immediately wash off in the water. If you find a small enough one, you can use syringes made for injecting marinade into meat. In this case, you have to exploit an opening that is already in the prey item as these are not sharp...use your imagination, no need to get graphic. I wouldn't recommend needles unless you have plenty of experience working with them.
