I think that the advice you've been given is sound, but there may be a lot of gray area here and more than one good answer. I think the key is to provide a balanced diet to ensure they receive the vitamins and minerals they need. With the farm raised bugs, they may need supplements to make up for lack of nutrients they would provide in the wild. This is why we dust them. Going with plain calcium is a good, safe route. Plain calcium being the calcium carbonate. The Vetark brand has a good reputation but is not as readily available as others in the US (it is UK based I believe). There are a lot of good brands though and it is less important with something like plain calcium so check the ingredients.
Building on the base calcium supplement (which in a lot of cases will be enough on its own, especially if your dragon is eating salads which can be nutrient rich) you can add mulivitamins and D3. This is where it can get a bit open ended. If you want to add a multivitamin (probably more important if they aren't eating veges) you can swap that in a couple of times per week (roughly) instead of the calcium, as others have suggested. Using a reputable brand is probably more important here. I've had good luck with Repashy products. Not the only good option, but many people have used this brand with success (healthy dragons for a long time).
D3 supplementation becomes more important if you are using UVB lighting that isn't comparable to natural sunlight in terms of strength. This is typically applicable to older bulbs such as T8 or bulbs that are not at an appropriate height for their output. This is best checked with a Solarmeter, but we can use close approximations based on previous test results and what people have found via Solarmeter readings with various bulbs over time. The thinking here is that if a dragon gets strong enough UVB and heat, they can synthesize D3 on their own, so supplementation is not really needed. Too much D3 can be problematic, but I think that would require pretty frequent use at high doses. There are supplements that have low D3 amounts built in - often these are the all in one supplements. The lower dose makes them (in theory) better for more routine use. Repashy makes calcium supplements with no D or low D options, as well as an all in one option that includes some vitamins so you can use that in combination with plain calcium or in conjunction with it.
I just wanted to review some of the current thinking and try to explain why there is so much varying information on this topic. You've gotten good advice in this thread and I think that if you come up with a routine that works for you in terms of product availability and based on some of the guidelines provided here, you shouldn't need to worry about it too much.
Building on the base calcium supplement (which in a lot of cases will be enough on its own, especially if your dragon is eating salads which can be nutrient rich) you can add mulivitamins and D3. This is where it can get a bit open ended. If you want to add a multivitamin (probably more important if they aren't eating veges) you can swap that in a couple of times per week (roughly) instead of the calcium, as others have suggested. Using a reputable brand is probably more important here. I've had good luck with Repashy products. Not the only good option, but many people have used this brand with success (healthy dragons for a long time).
D3 supplementation becomes more important if you are using UVB lighting that isn't comparable to natural sunlight in terms of strength. This is typically applicable to older bulbs such as T8 or bulbs that are not at an appropriate height for their output. This is best checked with a Solarmeter, but we can use close approximations based on previous test results and what people have found via Solarmeter readings with various bulbs over time. The thinking here is that if a dragon gets strong enough UVB and heat, they can synthesize D3 on their own, so supplementation is not really needed. Too much D3 can be problematic, but I think that would require pretty frequent use at high doses. There are supplements that have low D3 amounts built in - often these are the all in one supplements. The lower dose makes them (in theory) better for more routine use. Repashy makes calcium supplements with no D or low D options, as well as an all in one option that includes some vitamins so you can use that in combination with plain calcium or in conjunction with it.
I just wanted to review some of the current thinking and try to explain why there is so much varying information on this topic. You've gotten good advice in this thread and I think that if you come up with a routine that works for you in terms of product availability and based on some of the guidelines provided here, you shouldn't need to worry about it too much.
