Week's worth of calcium at once?

[DragonsForBreakfast]

Hi,

My 2 year old beardie will snack lightly on greens every day but only eats very well every 3-4 days. On his "feasting days" would it be okay for me to give him 3 days worth of calcium dust, or would his body pass a lot of it since it's all at once?

I know that can happen with humans who take high quantities of multivitamins.

Thanks!

 

[diamc]

Hi, I'm not sure what you mean about giving him 3 days worth of calcium at once? How did you plan to do that?

That's good that he's eating a few greens daily. What and how many feeders is he eating weekly?

 

[DragonsForBreakfast]

Um... I don't write it down but about 30-40.

The beautiful dragons website says to sprinkle calcium powder on his greens 3-4x per week, but he doesn't eat enough of his greens to get all that calcium powder. So I could give him like, an extra lot of calcium one day to make up for not eating all the calcium the other 3 days.

 

[diamc]

Oh, ok. Now I get what you mean. I actually wouldn't recommend doing that with the calcium though as it's a lot at once & his body needs to be able to absorb it. Too much at once could affect his urates too causing them to become hard making them difficult to pass. Also, calcium is drying so might affect his hydration.

Since he's 2 yrs old, calcium 3 times a wk is fine and they don't need a lot of it. If you were afraid that he wasn't getting enough the 3 days a wk, you could add a small pinch of it to water or even diluted juice or even a little bit in some type of baby food like green beans or peas, he might really like one of those.

 

[Taterbug]

You might find it easier to just dust his prey - since that is where the bigger imbalance will be. Good high calcium greens shouldn't need frequent dusting (or at all really) and adding calcium supplants too much out of balance relative to other nutrients can cause blood chemistry problems.

 

[DragonsForBreakfast]

Thanks!
His staples right now are butternut squash and kale.

 

[sue09]

I'm sorry to say but kale is not good as a staple it binds calcium,myabe try some of the other greens that are around .Check out the Bearded dragon care sheets for advice. Good luck with your beardie Sue

 

[DragonsForBreakfast]

Oh no! Thanks for telling me!

 

[diamc]

Here's a link to the site that shows the best foods to feed in green print: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html