Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know this would be a problem with beardies but I'm not sure with ackies. His right rear leg is twitching/spasming. Any ideas? Am I missing something in his diet? He's been pounding the ground turkey and small roaches. Is something wrong or am I just worrying for nothing?

Thanks
Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

I went and picked him up and he had like a little mini seizure (full body). Alright I've got to be missing something. Calcium maybe? I haven't been dusting anything because I was told they don't need it, is this true?

Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

Sorry to hear that, but not too sure what's going on to be honest The people who say you don't need to dust are the ones that are also feeding whole prey. I'd say it sounds like MBD, but I may be wrong.
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hbailey

0.0.1 argus monitor
1.1 butterfly agama (L. Reevesi)

That was my first thought, if it was a beardie I'd say that's exactly what it was, I just don't know with monitors yet. Would it harm him if I mixed in a little of the beardies calcium dust (Mineral I) with the turkey burger?

Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

I'd do a search in the forum on that, but I wouldn't think so. As you know with your beardies and MBD, you need to get the calcium levels up. I'd consider getting some mice in the diet as well. You also may want to google the recipe for the San Diego (Zoo) ground turkey diet and see what they add.

Best of luck to you and your monitor.
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hbailey

0.0.1 argus monitor
1.1 butterfly agama (L. Reevesi)

"I know this would be a problem with beardies but I'm not sure with ackies. His right rear leg is twitching/spasming. Any ideas? Am I missing something in his diet? He's been pounding the ground turkey and small roaches. Is something wrong or am I just worrying for nothing? "

When I kept Ackies I never had one that leg twitched but I always fed whole prey (100% crickets dusted with Miner-All I)
In tegus I have seen this on babies that I have extensivly tested on different diets that are commonly fed in the pet trade which have either low calcium or the wrong calcium to phosphorus ratio D3 diet . This causes them to start rear leg twiching that when not corrected can lead to full body shakes .

If you have been feeding your ackie ground turkey and not mixing it like the San Diego Zoo diet you most likely have a calcium problem ( SDZ diet = for every 10lbs of raw ground turkey add 90 grams of bone meal and 2 Centrum vitamis )

Ground turkey unsupplemented does not contain enough calcium for proper growth and insects have the wrong calcium to phosphorus ratio so they need calcium added to them to be balanced .

For ground turkey it is very important to use bone meal and not a reptile calcium (reptile calciums are designed to be added to insects which are naturally high in phosphorus)If reptile calcium is added to ground turkey instead of bone meal their will be a shortage of available phosphorus which inhibits proper calcium absroption .Ground turkey should never be fed to any reptile unsupplemented .

All insectivourous lizards fed crickets or mealworms need extra calcium added with d3 . For insects you need to add a reptile type calcium such as Miner All I (these calciums are low in phosphorus to compensate for the insects high phosphorus to calcium ration )

Stella St.Pierre
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Stella St.Pierre
www.bluetegu.com - Ron St.Pierre

Pretty lizard in your sig. Thanks for the info guys, I'll go out and get some bone meal today. Last night I added some mineral I to the turkey and he seems to be doing better this morning but I'll definitely make sure to get the meal. Where do you think my best bet is at finding it, health food store maybe?

Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

Thanks =)

You can usually find it at a good health food grocery type store or online .

GNC doesn't carry it .

Also you don't want to use the type that is found in garden centers (used on Roses etc) as it may be high in heavy metals .
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Stella St.Pierre
www.bluetegu.com - Ron St.Pierre

San Diego Zoo diet recipe on the site. Use only health food grade steamed bone meal. I use Miner-all I on every insect my ackies get as well insects and greens for my beardies. I feed almost exclusively whole rodents and chicken peeps to my monitors except the ackies choose to eat less mice now, they even eat small adult mice.

Thanks, Stella, for clearing up a question I had, but never thought to ask. I knew that mixing reptile calcium rather than bone meal for the SDZ diet was wrong, but did not know why. Really appreciate the info. I have a lot of your posts printed out and in my tegu info folder. You really should print your post on feeding baby tegus to prevent MBD on about a monthly basis! LOL! There are always new people coming on this site that would benefit from it.

Gratefully,
Leslie

where can u get ground bone meal?