calcium needed after PW's?

[Epic]

i feed my beardie Pheonix worms in the morning now because he wasn't eating too many circkets in the morning. i then feed him 40-60 crickets in the afternoon with one small silkworm for dessert. then another 50-75 crickets around 7. his lights go off at 930. if i'm feeding him PW's in the morning, do i have to dust the cricets in the afternoon with calcium? little Hou is about 10 weeks old and 8-9 inches. thanks!

 

[nesta's mommy]

if i feed pw's at a sitting i dust only 1 other time for the crix and its sometimes with a vit....

the other members may have some more ideas though.

 

[Epic]

i'm not too clear on your answer? i feed the PW's every morning. not sure if i need to dust the crickets with calcium after that...

 

[auntylolo]

What kind of uvb lighting are you using? Does your calcium have d3 in with it?
If you've got an mvb then I wouldn't give any more calcium, just vitamins.
If you're using a tube uvb, then i would dust with calcium if it does have d3 a couple of times a week. If it doesn't have d3 then I wouldn't bother.

 

[cricket119]

I had asked this question awhile ago. Dr. Gary Sheppard answered the question on the post. He is the owner/ creator of the phoenix worm store site. You can look at my old posts. You should only dust with calcium one meal a day, 5x a week. The phoenix worms are high in calcium, so they count for that days calcium. So... no. do not dust anything with calcium on the days you feed phoenix worms. Dr. Sheppard will answer any questions on his site!! Hope this helps. Chris

 

[auntylolo]

Yes but beardies still need to get d3 from somewhere :?

 

[nesta's mommy]

Yes but beardies still need to get d3 from somewhere :?

that's where i'm coming from... the d3 is still needed unless you have an mvb

 

[cricket119]

Sorry, I didn't mean to confuse anyone. I have a MVB, so I wasn't thinking if she didn't have one.

 

[Epic]

i am using a reptisun 10.0 the calcium i have has D3 in it.

 

[diamc]

I found this info on the phoenixworm site:
"Thank you for taking much of the guesswork out of the feeding and supplementation challenge in keeping bearded dragons. For 8 years we have been seeking a formula that would allow our customers to provide the required daily 2:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio without the risk of a vitamin D-3 overdose. If too little calcium supplementation is given, the dragons develop Metabolic Bone Disease. If too much calcium with D-3 is given, the dragons are at risk for toxicity, calcification of the kidneys and liver and death. Now, thanks to your efforts in developing the Phoenix Worm, there is a feeder insect that naturally provides very high calcium with low phosphorus levels, is easy to maintain and the dragons relish. It is exciting to be afforded a better feeding solution for ourselves and for our customers."
Terri Sommella & Adam Seltzer
Fire and Ice Dragons
Adams County, PA

And also the post that cricket119 was talking about:

Hello All,
Craig Sheppard here, the producer of Phoenix Worms. We want to address the several questions raised on this topic so please excuse the length of this post. First, the calcium content of PWs is provided in this nutritional comparison chart : http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/thephoenixwormstore/Page?template=comparison. PPM (parts per million) is the standard way micronutrients are reported. Waldo asked about the mg of calcium per gram of worm--8155ppm = 8.155mg calcium/gram of PW. The calcium in PWs occurs naturally. We do not gut load or artificially add calcium.

Most feeder insects are very high in phosphorus and low in calcium. This imbalance (ratio) is not good because the high phosphorus overpowers calcium and it can't be used by animals so metabolic bone disease (MBD) can develop. That's why most insects should be dusted with calcium--to improve the calciumhosphorus ratio by making them more equal (experts state that the ideal ratio is 1.5:1). Phoenix Worms are unique in that they naturally have a balanced Ca ratio so please do not dust them. Frankly, we know how much calcium your animal receives when fed Phoenix Worms, but how much calcium is provided from dust that clings to crickets?

Breeders began feeding Phoenix Worms in 2000 and many thousands of customers have been feeding these worms for three years now. There has been NO report of any problem with excess calcium. There have been many reports of cured MBD, improved reproduction and better color in animals. Recently completed breeder trials show that babies that are fed PWs grow 26% faster than their hatchmates who are only fed crickets. We believe that PWs are an excellent staple and certainly are a wonderful supplement to improve nutrition when fed along with other feeders.

Our expertise is in insects, not animals. We rely on breeders and hobbyists for feedback. We welcome any information you'd care to share, whether good or bad, and promise to read all email.

Craig Sheppard, Ph.D.
President, Insect Science Resource
Professor Emeritus, UGA
http://www.phoenixworm.com

 

[cricket119]

Thank you for posting that! I am not very knowledgable with the computer and didn't know how to do that. Chris

 

[beardie parents]

I do have a question. I know we don't dust the phoenix worms. I only feed my girls anywhere from 10 to 20 phoenix worms per day. Should we dust some crickets with the calcium since we don't feed that many phoenix worms? It's hard to get the calcium to stick to the crickets, in fact the repcal calcium says to mix it with their vitamins. That's sort of confusing when it's suggested on here to not mix them.