Eating calcium powder

[Fay789]

So I recently found out my baby is a girl. She is seven and a half months old. Now the thing is, she eats her calcium powder plain and I was wondering if this was unusual and if it means she is deficient in calcium, or maybe getting ready to lay eggs?

Basically I usually pour a little pile of calcium on her food rock and dip her worms in it before I tweezer them to her, so when I was done feeding her I would just leave whatever was left of the calcium on her food rock. Frequently I will come home and find powder all over her nose and beard, which I first thought was just from her walking through it, but then I saw her eat it! She will take about four licks of powder in a row, so I dont think it's just her normal exploring licks either. Is this normal?

 

[allusiontoanillusion]

From what I've read, some dragons just seem to like the taste of calcium powder. Haku will sometimes take a few extra licks of it from his feeding dish even after all his insects are gone.

 

[Fay789]

Strange, but good to know other beardies do it too thanks.

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah it's somewhat common from what I've read. I guess they like the taste of it. If she doesn't get into too much it shouldn't cause any issues.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Puff loved the taste of the stuff, he'd lick it off his greens and off my fingers when I was handfeeding his crickets to him. I think Rex prefers her crickets with Ca on them, so do Peppa and Toothless.
Water skinks : Lucky and Wriggles also loved the taste of it .... went bonkers for it.
Bluetongue skinks : George and Mildred were crazy for it's taste too, not so much now or since they became full grown adult bluetongues.

I think it's one of those things where they know it's good for them (birds will eat CaO and MgO rich clays for the same reasons) and some really love the taste of it.

Think of it like humans and how yummy savoury tastes like salt & vinegar , chicken salt on chips , and similar are to us.

 

[Fay789]

That makes a lot of sense. Or like how we give horses and other large animals salt licks and they literally lick the salt. It just seemed to me like eating plain dry powder would taste terrible, but I guess not , haha

 

[kingofnobbys]

That makes a lot of sense. Or like how we give horses and other large animals salt licks and they literally lick the salt. It just seemed to me like eating plain dry powder would taste terrible, but I guess not , haha

I am pretty sure lizards in general don't care for the taste of reptile vitamin powder mixes .... my observation over the years with skinks and dragons is they have to be REAL hungry to eat greens and salad veg with the vitamin powder sprinkled over it , I've bluetongues, water skinks and bearded dragons refuse to eat greens and salad veg with only the vitamin powder on it - reason why I took to mixing the calcium powder with calcium powder (1:1) , they don't seem to mind it so much then.