Confusion about calcium

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GriZZle

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I have had my bearded dragon for about a year now and although I know they are hearty animal I can’t help but fear that I might not be giving him enough calcium. I used to work a pet store that sold bearded dragons (it was a mom and pop business and they took good care of the animals and made sure people who bought them actually cared). I had many times seen someone come in with a dragon that has MBD. My guy is perfectly healthy as far as I can tell, no leg twitching, lack of appetite or any other tell tale signs. I only give him calcium with vitamin D3 (which I have just found out he doesn’t need every time he gets calcium) and I powder some freeze dried bugs 2 times a week as long as give him plenty of dark greens that my dad grows in the garden (no pesticides or anything dangerous). I’m just wondering if I may have anything to worry about in the future. He also has his UVB and I’ve been giving him some pinkies once a week for the last 2 weeks bc he likes them and he’s a little underweight (15oz). Please let me know if I’m doing anything wrong. I really like my little guys and I want him to be happy and healthy. Thank you in advance.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Supplementation IS definitely confusing.
For an adult, we normally recommend a good calcium schedule of 2-3 times per week, as long
as they eat a relatively balanced diet meaning greens, gut loaded insects, etc.
You could consider increasing him to 3 times per week just to be sure he is getting adequate
intake of calcium. Great to hear he is eating good healthy greens grown by you!
Which UVB lighting do you use?
Watch overfeeding of the pinkies, they can be too fatty & sometime cause impaction issues.
Feel free to post pictures of your dragon, along with your tank setup so we can get an overall
idea of his environment.

Tracie
 

GriZZle

New member
Original Poster
Drache613":1y2oixin said:
Hello,

Supplementation IS definitely confusing.
For an adult, we normally recommend a good calcium schedule of 2-3 times per week, as long
as they eat a relatively balanced diet meaning greens, gut loaded insects, etc.
You could consider increasing him to 3 times per week just to be sure he is getting adequate
intake of calcium. Great to hear he is eating good healthy greens grown by you!
Which UVB lighting do you use?
Watch overfeeding of the pinkies, they can be too fatty & sometime cause impaction issues.
Feel free to post pictures of your dragon, along with your tank setup so we can get an overall
idea of his environment.

Tracie

I’m not sure how to post pictures on the forum, I’m new here.

He has a 22” Exo Terra UVB 5.0 which I believe is 24w. He has a big branch (that I bought at a pet store and was cleaned before I bought it) that extends up towards a reptile hammock that he uses for basking. Under the hammock I have used some fake plants to block off the light so he can go into a shaded area if he wants to. On the other side of his tank (50 gal) he had an open space about 2.5x his width by 1x his length nose to tail.

Do I need to be on a computer to post images?

Edit: his primary source of greens are radish greens, my dad grows radishes in the yard and it‘a easily his favorite type of green. Couldn’t find much online in terms of how these rank against collard greens or dandelion greens but they are very dark in color and nutritious but they are often not eaten by humans.
 
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