Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted this to the BD forum but no replies...

When I put crickets in Darwin's bowl he usally ignores them but eagerly goes after any calcium dust in the bowl. He is in semi-brumation so is not eating much anyway. I know this could be b/c he has a need, or maybe he just likes the stuff. He will NOT do this with the herptivite. I sprinkle some on his veggies, but not sure how much he really gets. He is not growing - has not shed since Aug or Sept.

Anyone else have a dragon that simply LIKES calcium dust??

thx
lele
-----
Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

If Darwin eats a little extra calcium dust, I don't think it should hurt him as long as he isn't getting too much vitamin D3 or UV or sunlight. From what I understand, the amount of calcium used is regulated by the amount of vitamin D3 that is available.

You said..."He is not growing - has not shed since Aug or Sept."...how close is he to adult size?

Do you feed him fruits, veggies, and greens as well as insects?

Does herptivite have preformed vitamin A?

(I kept beardies for over 10 years but when my last one died a year or two ago, I decided not to get any more. It was a hard decision since they are such neat creatures, but I have too many other creatures right now.)

thanks for replying

If Darwin eats a little extra calcium dust, I don't think it should hurt him as long as he isn't getting too much vitamin D3 or UV or sunlight.

Since he is not eating much he is not getting too much vitD3. The only Ca/D3 is from the occasional dusted roach or cricket he eats. If anything I was think he was not getting enough and that's why he kept going for it - like a craving. He has one full length (4') UVB bulb and one 18" over his cool down spot. I just replaced them both yesterday (since July).

You said..."He is not growing - has not shed since Aug or Sept."...how close is he to adult size?
He will be one year in Feb. He began this semi-brumation at the end of the summer and I asked on both forums, spoke to a local beardie guy at the October herp show and my vet. I got mixed opinions: "force him to stay active - he is too young to brumate" and others who said they had younger bd's that brumated in their first year and were fine. From the bd forum there were several posts right around the same time of other keepers with the same situation. I got to the point in November that I was not going to fight nature and let him do what he wanted. His lights are only on for 10 hours (my vet said no less than 9), I offer him his salad and a variety of supers, roaches, crickets and baby food (apple/plum). Not all everyday Today he ate an adult OH roach and one piece of kale. Tomorrow he will likely eat nothing. I'm not really worried as he has been holding at 362-364g and has had a recent clean fecal.

Does herptivite have preformed vitamin A?
it has beta carotene. I gutload his feeders really well so I rarely even dust with the herptivite. I cut back on the Ca as well since he was not growing, but when I would dust he'd lick the bowl, thus my thinking his body needed it - or he is just quirky

(I kept beardies for over 10 years but when my last one died a year or two ago, I decided not to get any more. It was a hard decision since they are such neat creatures, but I have too many other creatures right now.)

Yeah, he is a sweetie, but I'll be happy when he is his perky, pretty self again! I assume he has some more grwoing to do - he's about 16.5" but we have a long winter up here in the northeast so it will be awhile!
-----
Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I never brumated my beardies. They did get a drop in temperature in the winter due to the house being cooler, but it was not low enough for a real brumation.

I did brumate my uromastyx every winter though. Real brumation is IMHO risky to do with any animal that is not in good healthy condition. With the uros, they took it upon themselves to stop eating completely so as they started to slow down, I started to decrease the lighting/heat in their cage. They would hide/sleep under slabs of marble that I had raised off the ground on bricks (just the right amount of space for them to fit into)and I would rarely see them until spring. In case they did come out I would leave one incandescent bulb on at the far end of their 6'long cage which they would bask under for a very few minutes once in a while.

Concerning mixed opinions that you got from different people you talked to...people tend to do what works for them. In nature, animals that brumate as adults muust be brumating as "youngsters" if they are not the type of animal that attains adulthood before winter comes so they must "know" how to do it...but in captivity we are controlling their environment and may not be providing what they would need in the wild to brumate...that's were I feel the basis for the difference of opinions comes in. If their setup is close enough to nature, the lizard should survive brumation...but some may not want to risk it or if they did risk it had problems because the setup wasn't close enough.

i don't know what to tell you about the number of hours of light for brumation because (as I said) I never tried it with my beardies. My light schedule didn't change by more than a couple of hours in the winter....but then I wasn't brumating them either.

He sounds like he's a good weight and size for a beardie that is almost a year old!