Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I do NOT want to start a war but I told my cousin about giving Fido Calcium Tums & this was his reply.....any thoughts? I'd like more input...thanks...

D's reply... Hmmm. You would be wise to either do a lot more research on your own, or trying to consult with a Veterinarian before feeding Tums to an iguana. I know people's first thought is, "Well, it has calcium in it, and is safe for us, so it has to be good." This is definately not true. Three things that immediately popped into my mind were: 1) The suppliment has potassium in it as well, and the calcium and potassium are balanced in the right proportions for an iguana's metabolism. 2) Tums neutralizes stomach acid, with greatly slows digestion. Not that big of a deal in humans, but iguanas already have a slow digestion process, so much so that food can actually rot in their stomach. Slowing down an iguana's digestion even more doesn't sound like a good thing at all. 3) The calcium in Tums may be more of a marketing gimick than an actual health benefit. In order for Tums to work, it is made from a bicarbonate salt. Without going into all the details of the chemistry and physiology of salts, I'll just say that they tend to actually pass through the body pretty quickly, so the fact is, you may not be absorbing much, or even any, of that calcium.

So basically I am saying, unless you got that idea from a very reliable source, I wouldn't do it. Also, remember that I said iguanas are creatures of habit. Yes, when presented with food he doesn't like he will turn his nose up at it. But, eventually he will get hungry enough to eat it. Then he will get used to eating it, and from then on you will have him 'broken in' out of habit and he will eat it without resistance. You can't think of him going hungry as some sort of punishment or something and give in to him. He has a slow metabolism and can go hungry for a LOT longer than we could. Him not eating for three days is like us not eating for several hours. It's really no big deal at all. (And his metabolism slows even more once he gets bigger. Sometimes you'll start to think they can go forever without eating.) So all in all what I am saying is, be patient, make him eat his suppliment, and don't worry about him going hungry. If he is genuinely hungry, he'll eat his food suppliment and all.

Tums are a big NO NO.

Calcium is useless unless u have Vitamin D to help absorb it.
Stick with supplements made for pets, not humans. Tho I heard Centrum tabs are popular as last resort.

Remember, too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. So talk with ur vet first.

-IJ

>>Calcium is useless unless u have Vitamin D to help absorb it.

From what I have read on Melissa Kaplan's site, it's thought that iguanas do not process dietary D3, but instead rely on the D3 their bodies produce in conjuntion with UVB exposure.

Meri
Scales & Tails Rescue

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Meri Martin
Scales & Tails Exotic Pet Rescue - http://www.scalesandtails.org
NJ Herp. Society - http://www.njhsonline.com

I think I stated in one of my posts that my vet told me to
use it on the baby Ig I had just adopted that had the start
of MBD. I am very comfortable that my vet knows what she
is talking about. It basically is calcium carbonate.

But, it is your choice of course.

Linda

My understanding is this. You cannot give too much of the
multivitamin or you can oversupplement which I have read
is worse than undersupplement. When using strictly a calcium
supplement daily the body will only use what it needs. This
in conjuction with a multivitamin (D3 and others)2 times a week gives a good balance. I believe it is true in all the reading I have done that Igs have not been found to utilize D3 in powder
form due to being a plant eater only. They produce it by their
own bodies.

Any thoughts one way or another?

Linda