problems with komodo nutrical?

[Michaelm1990]

so I have been using komodo nutri-cal to dust my live food since sparx was a juvenile as it was what the pet shop person had gave me when i got him. (it is one of the most reputable specialist reptile stores around here so i figure he knows his stuff and its what he uses on his reptiles) but i was browsing around today brushing up on my husbandry knowledge as i figure its good to keep fresh and re learn stuff that you forget over time and I read that a common issue for beardies to be lethargic due to vitamin A overdosing. Apparently this can be due to supplements that use artificial sources of vitamin A.
it recommends that you should stay away from supplements that don't have natural sources of vitiman A listed on the ingredients and use ones which do for example the herptivite multivitamin which instead of having vit A it has beta carotene which the reptile will convert to vitamin A and uses sea vegetation as a base.
my question is has anyone had this issue with supplements especially the komodo nutri cal and is it worth the swap?
i never thought much of it until today but i was thinking about it and i did notice that after feeding him insects that have been dusted his activity levels did drop fr a while after compared to non dusted insects. I don't know if this is true or it is a placebo effect after reading the article so any advice or experience is greatly appreciated

P.S Sparx says Hi

 

[CooperDragon]

I haven't used Komodo's supplements but they are a reputable supplier. I've used Repashy products for years and it has worked quite well so I'm partial to those. If he's eating well and acting normally I wouldn't worry too much about it. A blood test during a regular exam would help reveal any oddities in terms of nutrition affecting his systems but if you don't see any physical signs I wouldn't go out of my way for a test yet. In general I like to provide a wide variety of food (bugs and especially veges) to ensure that most of the nutrition my dragon gets is directly from a healthy diet rather than worry too much about supplementation.

 

[SHBailey]

We've been using Zoo Med Reptivite (with Vitamin D3) for both of our reptiles (corn snake & beardie) ever since we got them, and we haven't had any problems. Bugs for the beardie and mice for the snake get dusted with it every meal, along with calcium powder for the beardie. I like it because the list of vitamins and ingredients on the bottle is fairly easy to read, but I just noticed that the Vitamin A is in the form of "Vitamin A acetate" -- Not good?

I wouldn't expect to see an immediate reaction to an "overdose" of a vitamin right after feeding like you're describing, not unless it was an extreme overdose. I would think an excess would build up over time, and you'd start seeing symptoms gradually. But it's weird that you only see that reaction with dusted bugs versus non dusted ones. :?

Cooper -- I just got some Repashy Grub Pie but haven't tried it with our beardie yet. I've been meaning to ask if it needs to be dusted with anything or if it's already got all the requisite vitamins in it. We have a heck of a time getting a varied enough diet for our beardie -- between what's available in the stores and his pickiness, we're down to only a few options, so I figure that supplements are important for him. I'm also hoping he'll like the Grub Pie because it would be a good thing to keep around (longer shelf life than live bugs and fresh greens) just in case we ever get into a situation where we can't get his usual staples for a while. (We're pretty dependent on what can get shipped in through the port around here -- that's why it's called "Anchorage". For example, around a year ago, one barge broke down on the way up here and even though they eventually got it fixed or loaded all the stuff onto another one, the stores were using that as an excuse for why they were out of stock on half of everything for months afterwards.) He won't touch the dry kibbles, but I'm hoping I can make the Grub Pie look like an artificial worm just long enough for him to try it. :roll: --and hope he decides he likes it. Then I won't have to worry so much about him going hungry if we ever run out of his usuals and can't get more right away, although if it happened in the summer we would at least always have a yard full of free dandelion greens. :mrgreen:

PS Sparx is beautiful, and looks like he has some fun things to climb and bask on too.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Aristopet ReptiVite on weekends for yonks and yonks here for skinks and beardies .... seems to work OK.

 

[Michaelm1990]

hmm yeh that is a good point maybe it has built up over time, maybe not
i am going to keep a track when im feeding him incase it is just a placebo effect of me reading that article
am going to try the whitepython veggie mix as he is very picky with veg. he very much is a meat lover
thanks, am going to start a custom build within the next month maybe two so he will have all sorts of climbing and plants to keep him self amused

 

[CooperDragon]

Double check the label but I would offer grub pie on it's own as a balanced food source.

 

[Michaelm1990]

no problem will have a look into that

 

[SHBailey]

We also have a beardie who is very much into "meat" (as in any kind of bug that's moving) and veggies not so much. I've tried to teach him the difference between "carnivore" and "omnivore", but he doesn't seem to get it. :roll:

I have to admit that I don't set a very good example for him. I'm not very good at eating enough veggies either.

 

[Michaelm1990]

yeh hes quite stubborn lol, I am going to persevere but it might just be the case that he will be a bug lover for ever as i know that this can be the case.
its like trying to force a human to be a vegan, if he doesn't like veg then he doesn't like veg.
I've tried everything from adding lots of sweet fruit to entice him to topping it with wax worms but he just picks the wax worms straight off lol, he is quite smart that way

 

[SHBailey]

Our beardie is also pretty good at picking a worm out of a salad without getting any of the greens. Funny how they all have different tastes. He used to like greens but he never liked fruit, and I kind of envied him for not liking "sweets" as much as I do, but I'm not much of a carnivore, either. I'm sort of a vegetarian at heart myself, but not in practice. My taste buds seem to think that the 4 basic food groups are sugar, salt, grease, and chocolate, so I can't really blame my beardie for not liking his greens.

 

[Michaelm1990]

haha yeh sounds like me, when i say 5 a day, its usually five cans of relentless energy juice a day
my sweet tooth is out of control so am the same as you, i empathise with sparx not eating veg :L

 

[SHBailey]

Yeah me too. I have a whole mouthful of "sweet teeth", and every one of them has a filling in it.

Our reptile vet knows about our beardie's limited diet, and seems somewhat concerned, but so far he's managed to stay reasonably healthy even with adenovirus. Me, not so much -- I'm afraid it's catching up with me. Probably headed down the road to "metabolic syndrome". Oh well... :roll: