Baby Food Supplementation Help? ***UPDATE

[CountofCasualty]

Cho'Gath is eating baby food right now since he doesn't want crickets because of the stress. He's eating it CRAZY well, but I'm worried about over supplementing or under supplementing and was wondering if anyone had some basic guidelines on how much to powder(rep-cal calcium w/ d3 and rep-cal multivitamin) to put into 1/4th of a teaspoon. I lost my syringe and have to get another one in a few days, but right now I'm feeding him out of a measuring spoon so that's all I have to go off of.

He's eating the Heinz Chicken and Vegetables stage one baby food. I couldn't find a straight chicken or straight turkey when I went looking, unfortunately.

Can anyone lend me a hand?

 

[ilovestripedragon]

The general rule ive heard for supplementing with baby food is a 1:3 ratio, one being the supplements, so for every 1/4 teaspoon your looking at a pinch, or filling 1/8 tsp measurement not all the way to the top. This should be plenty.

 

[CountofCasualty]

Wow great okay! That helps so much. Thank you! Do I supplement regular calcium 5x a week and multi 2x until he starts eating his feeders?

 

[ilovestripedragon]

I would amp it up a little pit and do calcium 6 days a week and vitamins 4 days. This is to make up for not having any real nutrients, unlike when he eats regularly. When he eats feeders, he gets most of the vitamins and minerals he needs, and the supplements just make sure he gets it all. When hes not eating well, you need the supplements to fill in for a lot of meals! Hope this helps!

 

[CountofCasualty]

Great okay! He had 3 crickets this morning, but I just want to make sure if he doesn't have crickets or has to little, when I feed him his baby food and he takes it he gets everything.

If he has crickets for one meal, but baby food for another should I supplement still? I imagine so, but how much should I supplement with in those cases?

 

[ilovestripedragon]

The same will be fine. You could skip the vitamins if you think hes getting too much, but theres really no such thing as too much calcium!

 

[CountofCasualty]

Yes, there is a thing as to much Calcium. It can cause renal failure and kidney failure. So I won't dust the crickets with calcium if he gets baby food with calcium.

 

[icelore]

I would stick to the 5 days of calc. and 2 days of vit. A body can only absorb so much vitamins and minerals, giving too much can cause toxicity as well, so overloading in an attempt to make up isn't a very good idea. If you skipped a meal today, taking a second human vitamin wouldn't help you, and it's the same for other animals.

As long as he's getting a decent amount of baby food, that's the most important. Calcium is your second priority, and other vit/supplements afterward till he can get on his feeders full time. Also, no matter how many times a day he eats, you only need to dust one feeding.

 

[CountofCasualty]

Alright, I'll stick with that. He's eating it really well, and is getting a few crickets everyday but he's not eating them regularly. And he's pooping like a little machine, 3-4 times per day so far. I'm also feeding him 3-4 times per day as well if I'm home and not at work.

I know there's something called 'Carnivore Care' that I can get from the Vet that can be added to baby food and help a lot too. Deb(Sweetie) fed her dragons baby food with that added when they wouldn't eat the insects and had really great success with it. If he's to be on baby food longer then a week I'll probably get some and keep it on hand.

 

[icelore]

That sounds like a good plan. The Carnivore Care really boosts the protein and nutrients of baby food. Remember that it has no plant nutrition in it though - it's used for obligate carnivores (animals that can *only* eat/digest protein) so you'll want to mix it with a veggie baby food (squash usually works great!) to make it more omnivore friendly. It's also really high in fat as well, so watch out for that. When used with a bearded dragon's needs in mind, it's definitely a great supplement!

If he's pooping that often, you're definitely getting enough food into him. So good job.

 

[CountofCasualty]

Ah! The Carnivore Care is made by Oxbow?! That's great, my work orders products in from Oxbow all the time. I can probably get it straight from work next week!

Do I still mix it with the chicken and veg, or just with the Squash baby food? I have the Squash on it's own so that's no problem if that's the case. Would I feed it once a day(say, in combination with his calcium and multi vitamins with the other feeding being normal baby food, perhaps the chicken and veg) or both feedings? It's probably weight based, too, and I don't have a scale yet. I should probably order one in if I plan on feeding him that, hey?

 

[icelore]

Yep, the Carnivore Care is from Oxbow. You can usually only order it through vets or licensed practices, but there are some other ways to get it as well.

How much you give is based on weight, but it's not a huge deal. The main point is to get it in him. It's a powder that you mix with water (2 parts powder to 1 part water usually), but when mixing with baby food, you may want to use slightly less water. You can adjust it to work with the size syringe you're usuing, and yes, I'd just mix it with a plain veg baby food, just to make sure that he's getting some veggies. The CC will take care of almost all his protein needs. I would feed it to him at every meal since baby dragon's need a lot of protein. Or you could feed it only half the feedings and use the chicken and veg food for the others.

In the end, because baby dragons are so small, you aren't going to use much, and you won't have to measure it out. For a half pound reptile (which obviously is way larger then a baby dragon) you use a half a tablespoon a day of the powder mixed with whatever you want. So for tiny animals, you might just put a pinch in the baby food and add a bit of water if needed to thin it out, however many times a day you want, and leave it at that. The carnivore care can also just be fed by itself when mixed with water - it's a complete diet for carnivore-only animals. So for beardies, you just have to supplement with a bit of veggies to round out their diet!

I've used it with rescue ferrets on the brink of death as well as with baby hawks in rehab and it's a really great product.

 

[CountofCasualty]

That's all great to know. I'll for sure get some in this week if I can and if not go to the vet. Thank you so much for being so helpful!

 

[CountofCasualty]

Should I supplement the baby food w/ carnivore care and calcium/multivitamins as well or should just the carnivore care be fine on it's own? I'm getting it tomorrow from the vet close to my house.

I also asked if they would be able to do a fecal for Cho without seeing him, and the receptionist said probably not. So that sucks. But I know a good exotics/herp vet, and my manager at work said she'd be willing to drive me and Cho there if I needed it! So long as it's on a saturday. But she's so nice for offering.

 

[icelore]

He'll still need the calcium, but I'm not sure on the vitamins. The CC has vitamins in it, but I don't know if it has all needed for a reptile... I would only give him additional vitamins once a week just to be sure. You said he was eating some crickets on his own, so hopefully he won't be getting syringe fed for too much longer!