Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I see a lot of people that are confused as to how they should supplement their dragons with calcium and d3. I wanted to post my views, and what I feel other experienced keepers on hear believe hopefully they back me up. First off this is not a debate about using UVB. I will not get into that debate. I also feel that this topic will not really be debated, but widely agreed on. I just want to express what keepers think is a good supplementation schedule that is safe, as we know too much d3 is bad and too little d3 is bad, same goes for calcium. I think if using a quality flourescent tube that produces sufficient uvb (for sufficient uvb I mean 10 uw/cm/cm) go look up what bulbs do this (www.beautifuldragons.com) then your dragon should be supplemented with calcium with d3 (I like Trex super foods, Repcal with D3, and MinerAl I) by powdering his crickets twice weekly. I think that it could be a little more often for rapidly growing dragons or for females producing eggs. For dragons that are under mercury vapor bulbs I would think a sufficient dusting would be the same as above. Besides the Trex super foods I would not dust crickets daily with a supplement containing vitamin d3, as they are getting lots of uvb if the bulbs are working properly. If your dragon is getting natural unfiltered sunlight for at least a few hours a day I would then think that your dragon could be given just plain calcium once or twice a week. No d3 should be needed. I would not dust daily as they are getting some calcium daily from their diets. The reason why I believe that dragons under UVB light should be getting calcium with vitamin d3 is because there is only one way of telling if your bulbs are putting out enough uvb to allow your dragon to produce sufficient vitamin d3, and that is by owning a uvb meter which only a few people on here own. A lot of these bulbs are hand made and are prone to failure, and that is failure we know of. There is no way to tell if they stoppd producing uvb while still lighting up. So in the lack of a meter you do not really know if your dragon is capable of getting enough uvb to produce sufficient vitamin d3 to prevent the development of mbd. That being said even if your bulb is functioning properly their is no garanttee that your dragon is spending enough time close enough to the bulb to produce sufficient vitamin d3. The reason being is that the fluoro tubes only put out enough uvb at within 12" of the bulb. Outside that they are almost useless. So if 12" from the bulb is too hot for your dragon then it is not getting enough uvb to prevent mbd, as it will not be basking within 12". Also key to note no one to my knowledge has ever had a dragon get sick due to supplementing them twice weekly with a good calcium supplement with vitamin d3. So that being said in my opinion it is the best for your dragon to be supplemented twice weekly with a quality calcium supplement that contains vitamin d3, it is not a health risk and there is a potential health risk if you do not. So err on the side of caution.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

I don't consider myself very experienced (about 7 months) but have read a lot of info on this for months so I'll put my .02 in anyway.

I agree with what you have said here.
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Rob Talkington

I think you pretty much outlined a safe routine and the reasons why and I agree with this.

Flourescent tube, new and close enough = Probably sufficient uvb, but supplemented with calcium with D3 twice weekly is a good safety back up and should not harm them, especially advised for growing babies and gravid or breeding females

Mercury vapor bulbs, again close enough and new enough = Probably sufficient in itself, but again also, one to two dusting a week will not harm them and is a good backup if you do not have a UVB meter

Natural unfiltered sunlight for at least a few hours a day = Plain calcium should be fine once or twice a week. No D3 should be needed.

Adding pellets to their diet is another safety factor

Why the backup?

Becasue some bulb have been known to come from the manufactors defective. Unless you have a meter, and are checking it regularly, common sense says this is insurance you should use... also, you never know for sure when they stop producing enough UVB and you need to replace them, without a meter your depending on time factors and many studies have showed that those can range from a few months to a year... but you have no way of knowing when.
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www.reptilerooms.com

the superbowl, yay go patriots . I am also glad that you paraphraised my materials and not flat out plagerised it. It is nice to see that you have some ethics
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com