What kind of calcium dust & vitamins?

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leighmck

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What brand calcium dust and vitamins do ya'll recommend? and How often do I dust my feeders? Do you just put some calcium dust in a baggy and add the feeders and basically shake them in it like Shake n Bake? or just sprinkle the dust on the feeders before you feed them? I don't want to over dust them and harm the dragon.

I have not gotten my beardie yet but I am trying to get everything together that I need beforehand.

My dubia colony arrived the other day so they are all set up and ready to start breeding. I had a dubia colony about a year ago when i was planning on geting my dragon but I let it die off. These guys are no where near as active as my other ones. I'm hoping they are just still adjusting to their trip. My light order will be in tonite so I will post a pic of my tank set up tomorrow so I can get some advice.

If all goes as planned and my tank set up with lighting and heating works well, I plan on getting my beardie next weekend or the following.

Thanks for all the help.
 

jewl495

Juvie Member
I think most people use rep-cal. If you get a reptisun 10.0 uvb light then you get the calcium with d-3 if you have a mercury vapor bulb you need calcium without d-3
 
Hi! I am also a newbie here but I have learned a lot online and from the forums. For mine I use 3 different kinds of dust a month. I have a 5 gal with tons of gut-loaded crix in there and I use this product here to get them out: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754051

^Its easy to use, you just put a small amount of the cricket dust in the bottom, twist it, take out the clear tube, scoop up the crickets, close it, shake it, and serve! It doesn't over-dust them either! Just the right amount ; ) Just remember to change out the dust.

Also, how big is your beardie going to be? Dubias can get sorta big and a good rule of thumb is the feeders need to be smaller or equal the the space between your lizard's eyes. Dubias are very crunchy too and a tiny baby dragon may not be able to pass that. I prefer small/medium freshly molted crickets because they are widely available and the fresh, soft exposed exoskeleton makes it easier for them to digest. When thye get older they can eat cockroaches-the dubias, superworms, and phoenix worms as treats. Also as a beardie gets older the more they will crave vegetables, and the veggies will become a higher % of their diet. Babies need to eat about I wanna say 80% bugs 15% veggies and 5% fruit. This kinda flips when your dragon gets big.


Here is my dusting schedule. It seems to work because my baby is growing-shedding every other week and hasnt had any illness signs yet. My herp/vet said this was a very good dusting plan.

-5 days a week I use ReptiCal -D3 -phosphorus on all crix

-2 days a week ( Friday and Tuesday only ) I use Herpivite Multivitamin -beta carotene coverts safely to vit A -phosphorus free and I mix this 1/2 and 1/2 with the ReptiCal on all crix

-every 2 weeks, replacing one of the regular ReptiCal feeding days I dust 1/3 of the crix with Fluker's Calcium WITH D3 -phosphorus. (This is not totally necessary if your lizzie is close enough to their UVA/UVB bulb which can supply your beardie with D3. Remember, reptiles generally need vitamin D3 to absorb and process calcium to promote good bone health and prevent MBD. Warning though, D3 can be very toxic in unsafe amounts just like vitamin A but is needed)


For some detailed information about nutrition, these articles below made it very easy for me to understand nutrition!


Vitamin D3 health in reptiles: http://www.uvguide.co.uk/vitdpathway.htm

Vitamin D and Calium: http://vetmed.illinois.edu/petcolumns/petcols_article_page.php?OLDPETCOLID=425

Vitamin D deficiency: ( I know it is for turtles but it works the same for most reptiles ) http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=17+1797&aid=2589

This forums's Vitamin Article: http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/vitamins/

And, If you are curious as to what to feed your dragon in his/her salad this list saved my dragons life! I printed this out and I use it as a guide as to what I should feed my dragon every day, every week: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html


** I really hope that his helped out, like I said I am also a newbie here so I know what it was like :p
 

leighmck

Member
Original Poster
Thanks for replying. I will read this more thoroughly when I get home from work.

As far as the dubias. I just got my colony so until they start producing baby dubias, I will go with the crickets. I hate crickets with a passion but I dont have dubias yet that are small enough for a baby beardie.
 

ShannyBeard

Extreme Poster
Glad you are getting a dubia colony to replace having to feed crickets. Crickets are so much dirtier than roaches! It helps that the dubia have less phosphorus, too.

If you are planning on getting a young dragon, then dust 5 days a week with the calcium + D3 powder, and the other 2 days dust with the multivitamins. Adults need less frequent supplementation.

When we must feed crickets, we do shake them in a bag as you described. When we dust worms or roaches, we put them in a tupperware type container and swirl them around in the powder.

We also have used Rep-Cal in the past. Right now we are using a special blend of calcium powder with serrapeptase added for the benefit of our rescue dragon. Everyone can have it as it is a natural enzyme present in silkworms and it helps break down inflamamtion and keeps the older dragons moving comfortably (joint pain). We get that blend from beardeddragon.co and we also use their multivitamin powder.
 
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