Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have just recently read about the San diego Zoo turkey diet and decided to try it out on my Savanna. He's about 6 months old and 2 feet long. I was wondering if it is ok to feed them B-12, because the only bone meal i could find for the turky diet has 25 mcg per teaspoon of vitimin B-12. Is this bad for him? This is not the only thing hes eatin , just a filler between crickets and mice.

Hello,

I feed my Black Throat on the SDZTD exclusively, after research and referrals from well-known breeders. He has continued to grow substantially and eats it readily. I feed at his schedule, when he's still really full from eating I hold off until he's ready. He has a healthy fat store in the tail base and is in great health. In the last batch I did add milk and two eggs and increased the multi-vitamin to a full crushed tablet instead of half.

As far as the bone meal is concerned, I had a health food store order some for me. It was around $9.00 for an 8 ounce container. The manufacturer is KAL and they have been making dietary supplements since 1932. It is pure bone meal that has been sterilized. You can probably get it from Vitaminshoppe.com. This maker does not have B-12 in their product. Here's a listing of the ingredients:

Calcium(from bone meal)
Iron(from bone meal)
Phosphorous(from bone meal)
Magnesium(from bone meal
Zinc(from bone meal)
Copper(from bone meal)
Fluoride(from bone meal)

No added yeast, wheat, corn, milk, egg, soy, glutens, sugar, artificial coloring, starch or preservatives.

I'm not aware of any harmful effects brought on by Vitamin B-12 in herps, or any other vitamins for that matter. I use Nature's Way Daily Two Multi-Vitamin Iron Free Formula with my diet mixture. It has higher levels vitamins and minerals and a better variety than the "grcoery store" multi-vitamins. The ony catch being that it's about $24.00 a bottle. ~Gene

most adult mammals have difficulties processing lactose and I'm pretty sure a reptile would be even less capable, so I wouldn't bother giving a monitor milk. Just my opinion, of course.