Vitamins

[crickest]

My son's beardie (I'm sharing ownership until I get my own) Spark is in great health. He eats great every day, is active, nice and fat. He is between 5 and 6 months old (or so we were told - his is between 12 - 13 inches long) and a great eater. He is handfed squash 2 X day, eats about a half cup of cut dandelions, 40 - 60 crickets 2X day and 10 -12 silkies. I am dusting the crickets once a day, 5X a week with calcium. My problem occurs when I dust the crickets with the multi-vitamin.

He refuses to eat them. He will take one or two, look at me in disgust, beard and turn dark, then leave the crickets and go to his basking log. While on his log, he remains dark and does his best crouching-dragon-I-am-one-with-the-log routine, and he beards and displays if I try to pick him up to take him back to the crickets (I feed them out of a tall sided pyrex dish that I put in his viv, since he stresses and won't eat if I try to take him out.)

If he won't eat the multi-vit criks, what else do I need to add to his squash and dandelions to give him all the vites he needs?

Thanks for the help. Karen

 

[RioReptiles]

IMO, I would only dust a portion of his crickets with the multi vitamin, especially since he eats a good amount. Variety is the key and you seem to be doing a great job with that. I have the same problem so I mix it up. Put vitamins on one food item one day and then on something else the next. This way you don't become predictable. They aren't dumb, thats for sure. If you gut load your insects, put some of the multi vitamin in their food, I put it in my cricket and roach chow when I grind it up in the blender. THis way you know they're getting it somehow. Hope this helps, Cheryl

 

[SJM]

Seadooz's idea is good. Put the Vitamins in the cricket's food. Will he eat the veggies if they're dusted? You can use the same vitamins and put it onto the vegetables if he'll accept that.

 

[crickest]

Nope. He won't eat the vitamin dust. Doesn't matter what I put it on.

I am already gut loading the crickets. We use the green flukers cricket food. I can certainly add the dust to the mix we make of cat food and dragon pellets we feed the crickets. We are growing criks and feed them cat food and dragon pellets as a main staple, then I separate them by size once a week and feed them an exclusive diet of Flukers cricket food. I start feeding them to Spark when the turn green. If gut loading them is enough, I won't worry.

 

[BeardieBaby69]

I have a question related to this too. Can I use the vit spray? The kind you spray directly on the BDs back? Is this a good way to get them the vit they need? or does it need to be the powder kind?

 

[RioReptiles]

If you are gutloading with nutrient rich foods, I wouldn't worry about the vitamins, especially if you mix some in. I would however, dust with calcium. I gave up on vitamins (Herptivite) too when my beardies wouldn't touch anything I put it on. I did later start using the Beautiful Dragons supplement and then putting childrens multivitamins in my cricket food.

I have a question related to this too. Can I use the vit spray? The kind you spray directly on the BDs back? Is this a good way to get them the vit they need? or does it need to be the powder kind?

I don't see how any vitamins sprayed on a beardies back would get into their system. On their food or dripped on their nose to lick off, yes but not on their back. There are a bunch of products out their that claim some pretty outlandish stuff. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true... and there is no instant, quick or easy way to do anything. Everything still done the old fashioned way is usually the best way.

 

[herpfreak]

I have a question related to this too. Can I use the vit spray? The kind you spray directly on the BDs back? Is this a good way to get them the vit they need? or does it need to be the powder kind?

I recently read a thread on another forum about a beardie that had a bad reaction to a supplement spray that was applied to the feeders. There are so many companies that are only concerned with making a profit and create products that can be extremely harmful for a beardie. Therefore, it's best to use only products made by brands that have been reccommended by others. That's what's so great about these forums; users can compare their experiances with certain products.

If I were you, I wouldn't use it. And as Seadooz said, beardies can't absorb things through their backs. In this case, it sounds like it would do more harm than good.