Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so what do you use for the calcium dish in the tank for him..just pure calcium? i ordered Rep-Cal w/D3.... is that good for inside the tank or what?
i'm not to clear on that part...so i figured i would ask you guys

What has worked for me for years is mixing 2 parts Rep-Cal Phosphorus Free Calcium with D3 to 1 part Herptivite Multivitamins & using that mix in my calcium dishes.
But now with some newer products on the market, I'm reserching some of those & considering the possibility of making some changes.

if you're leaving a dish of minerals in the tank, it should be PURE calcium, nothing else. Leos that ingest too much D3 are prone to a whole slew of problems, because too much of it makes it impossible for the leo to properly absorb the calcium.

So PURE CALCIUM in the dish, and just dust the feeders with the cal D3 once weekly, and the multivite 2x weekly.

I have a calcuim dish with PURE calcium in it, and I have the Leopard Gecko dust (mineral stuff), as you said, you only need to dust the crickets with minerals once a week, does that mean that you don't have to dust crickets with calcuim the rest of the time since you have the calcuim in a dish? Just curious as what you guys routine is
Thanks

Allie
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What does man love more than life,
Fear more than death or mortal strife,
What the poor have, the rich require,
And what contented men desire,
What misers spend, and spendthrifts save,
And all men carry to the grave?

Ok, if you have read any of my past post this week you would see that for the health and welfair of my geckos I've taken this subject to heart & I'm concidering makeing some adjustments and/or useing other products. But my dilema is that I've used the 2 to 1 Repcal D3/Herpvite mix for several years now & haven't seen any ill effects that I can contribute to an overdose of D3. I have some Leos in my collection that are up at about 8+ years old & some 4 to 5 year olds that I've breed myself useing this mix all there lives that from what I can see are very happy & healthy. So in part, I've got a part of me saying "If it aint broke, don't fix it" & another part saying "I need to make changes". So what I've been doing is alot of intence research on D3 which has lead into reavaluating even other vitamins to make sure my geckos are getting enough of them or possibbly to much, but that's another topic. I've kindly asked members of this forum on more than one occasion for information, resorces, and studies to help me in this research with minimal responce. With all due respect & honestly I personally find it hard to take someones advice/opinion as fact if I can't see the cridentials to back it up. I do agree now after some independent research that problems can occure from excessive amounts of Vit D3.
Even since I posted, I've done some more into the wee hours of the morning research which is leading me to more questions then answers. As of last night my research has taken me in a different direction. I've been trying to find a daily, weekly, or monthly amount of Vit D3 needed in a Leos diet to properly metabolize calcium & how much D3 in the diet is too much? I may be looking for a needle in a haystack here, but I'm trying to find some number.
Of the 2 products I looked at last night, Rep-Cal with Vit D3 has 400IU/G & Mineral I has 129IU/g. My Rep-Cal/Herpvite mix has 298IU/g. These number are what I have at the moment. I'll be getting these numbers off other products ASAP. My question at the moment is what is the IU/g needed in a Leos diet & how much IU/g is to much. As of last night, all I found was that the amount of D3 needed in a Leos diet is an unknown. Also I haven't come across a number for what is to much. For example will a mix with D3 at 300IU/g lead to an overdose or does it take a product with D3 at 3000IU/g to cause an overdose? Then there is the other side of the coin, if I had a mix with Vit D3 at 50IU/g would that be enough. I hope this makes sence.
Just for the record, I'm not trying to split hairs here. I do appreciate the input members of this forum have shared. But, I would like to see more information & data(Pro or Con) along with the input we share.
So again I'll kindly ask, If you have any information, data, or numbers you can share with me, it would be very much appreciated.
Thanks

I wish I had the answer, I've been awaiting someone to answer your posts.

I do have one suggestion, a friend of mine just received this textbook for christmas. I've been told it has the most complete information out there are far as reptiles are concerned. Way out of my current price range, but maybe if you can get your hands on a used or library copy? Don't know for sure if the information is in there, but rumor has it, if it is anywhere it is usually in here:

Reptile Medicine and Surgery
by Douglas R. Mader
ISBN-10: 072169327X
ISBN-13: 978-0721693279

Please post if you find any answers, I am curious too, but couldn't find anything and my access to the University's library has expired. In the meantime, I'll ask my friend to page through.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Thank you very much, I'm going to try & track that book down. Even if it doesn't have the answer I'm sure it will have alot of other information I can use.

there is very little 'practical' research done for leos, it's mostly what works for you over the years. I know keepers who have been breeding leos since the 70's with the same dusting schedule that I use now, and they have 20 year old geckos that are still thriving.

I have to absolutely agree with your line of logic. All the practices I do as it comes to herps is a melting pot of knowledge, advice, & exsperience of other breeders & hobbiest combined with my own research plus a little trial & error.
I also agree that the knowledge & studies are probably not out there yet. I'm seeing that first hand.
The hobby of keeping reptiles in captivity is fairly new in compairison to dogs, cats, ect, being kept as pets. It's a new frontier of knowledge out there that needs to be explored.
I've been keeping reptiles for about 15+ years now and in that time I've seen so many changes in products, liturature, & in the animals themselves that are avaliable for us today. It amazes me to think back 20 some years ago what was avaliable out there for reptiles, definently not much of what we see today. I now the way I kept my first pet reptile is definently not the way I would recommend anyone keep a herp today. But who knows if what we advise today will be practical tommorow.
Just my 2 cents. Thanks for the input.

Sorry, I just don't wanna get it wrong, you guys have had herps for wayyyyyyy longer than I have so I was just curious about ur dusting schedule. :-/
Thanks anyway

Allie
-----
What does man love more than life,
Fear more than death or mortal strife,
What the poor have, the rich require,
And what contented men desire,
What misers spend, and spendthrifts save,
And all men carry to the grave?

Nothing seems to elicit as many "definite" answers as the subject of vitamin D3. The best part is that everyone seems to believe that their answer is the absolute truth, meanwhile it is based on nothing. Here are a few things to think about...

1) Vitamin D3 is needed to properly utilze calcium. If an animal is deficient in D3 then it can develop MBD even with a high level of avaliable calcium.

2) Too much D3 can be toxic to any living thing, including leos.

3) Carnivorous/insectivorous animals can get all the D3 they need from their prey. Wild crickets have enough D3 in them to cover the needs of a leopard gecko.

4) Wild crickets eat a varied diet and are exposed enough natural light to synthesise D3. However, farmed crickets are typically not fed a varied diet and recieve almost no natural sunlight. How does this affect their D3 levels?

5) D3 has been put in products when the consumer of that product is known to have a history of D3 deficiencies that lead to problems with bone development. It has been added to milk for human consumption as well as in reptile products because of the problems reptiles have had with MBD, some of which has been caused by the inability to utilize calcium as a result of low D3 levels.