Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For some reason my 6 month old beardie will only eat crickets if they are white from being dusted. She just turns her nose up at the others. Weird? I don't want to have to dust every cricket. That would be too much calcium right. Oh I dust with rep-cal calcium/Vit D. Any suggestions? Thanks

try silkworms...maybe he just likes white crickets, and silkworms are quite white...
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PHLdyPayne

I dust all the crickets. I put the crix in a plastic juice pitcher with calcium and then swirl them around so they all are covered. Way easier than putting them in a bag or something.

How often should the crickets be dusted? Every feeding? I was under the impression that too much calcium is bad for the dragon. Could someone please clarify for me and tell me how often you dust them. Thanks

for babies, dusting with calcium every feeding is fine, its when dragons reach adulthood calcium dusting should be cut back to a couple times a week at the most. With a proper diet of calcium rich leafy greens, don't need to supplement calcium as much. Egg laying females, however, should still get daily calcium dustings...

Too much calcium can cause excessive calcium build up on bones etc...I can't remember the medical condition or how much calcium is too much...hence I feel its more important to cut back on calcium supplementation after dragons are over 14 months and are not producing eggs. (which use up quite a bit of calcium to shell eggs, fertile or infertile, before being laid)
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PHLdyPayne

I dust every live meal, even for adults. As they get older they eat less live food so less calcium supplementation. But, the point is to offset the high phosphorus level in the live food we offer. I've never seen anything definitive written that over supplementing with calcium is possible. If something exists I'd like to read it.