CruelBenevolence
Member
Hey Guys, first time posting here. I have had my beardie for about 3 months now. He is 5 months old from what I can tell. 15-16 inches long from head to the tip of his tail.
I would like to know what the best quality supplements/dusters there are on the market right now. What brand do you swear by.
I rescued a very sick dragon from Petco a few months ago. They weren't taking care of him, and I think he has the beginning signs of Metabolic Bones Disease. When I got him home he was very weak, and he has no strength in his limbs. He walks on the backs of his hands, almost like there is no feeling in his hands or back legs. But I know he has feeling there, because when I pinch them a little, he does react. And he does climb, pretty well actually. So I was unsure if it was nerve related or bone related.
I took him to the doctor to have some Xrays done, and sure enough there was some bone loss. I am taking him in for some routine blood work soon just to take a gander at his liver and kidneys and make sure everything is all good. They started him on this Calcium Oral Plus supplement, but he absolutely will NOT take it. I fight him every day to get a single drop of the stuff in his mouth. He hates it, and I feel terrible making him take it because he has no idea what is going on.
I am not taking him off his meds, don't worry, this will just have to be one of those things he will grow to accept until the doctor says we can go off it.
But I do want to know what the best dusting supplements there are out there quality wise. So we can get him the right stuff moving forward. I really want to make sure these supplements get in him. So what supplements do you guys swear by?
Currently I am using Rep-Cal Calcium with Vitamin D and dusting EVERY MEAL with it.
I am also using the Rep-Cal Multivitamins 2-3x a week.
He is not really into his veggies, although I do offer it to him every single day. I feed him dandelion greens, kale, and collard greens mostly. Then I put some fruit on top of it, some blueberries and rasberries. He does occasionally eat the fruit, but not really interested in the salad. We are working on it.
Then for bugs, I give him dubias, crickets, black solider fly larvae as his main feeders. Then super worms and hornworms as his after meal dessert. Maybe like 2-3 after a meal.
This week, he just decided he was going on a food strike (after we started him on Calcium Oral Plus), and won't touch anything... Anything but superworms and hormworms. That is right! He won't touch ANYTHING but those. So I have been forced to feed him supers as a staple, at least for the time being, so he has something in his stomach to take the medicine. That is another story though, perhaps for another thread. My vet thinks its weird, but I think he is toying with me and its all psychological. I fed him nasty medicine, and this is his revenge. Fine, I will take your stupid medicine, but all I want to eat is chocolate cake for the week. No dubias, no crickets, no larvae, just super worms and hornworms. I am sure its just a rebellious phase. I am not SUPER worried about it.
What I am worried about is him walking funny, and not getting the nutrients he needs. At least with the worms, he is getting some kind of protein for now, yeah its fatty but its better than nothing. Plus I am dusting them before I give them to him, so its another way to get him to take his vitamins.
I TRIED coating a superworm in the Calcium Oral Plus medicine, thinking I was being slick, but he spit it out right away and gave me the death stare. HOW DARE YOU WOMAN! So, that didn't work...
His tank is fine, we have ReptiSun 10.00 UVB strip lights... I actually have TWO of them, one across the back of the tank, and one across the front of the tank, so whereever he is in the tank, he is getting at that light. I have a MegaRay Mercury Vapor bulb 100 watts for his basking spot. His basking temps are around 110-115, although I think it might be time to start lowering them because he is spending less time in his basking area. I know when they get older they like it a little cooler. So I might drop it down to a 70 watt, and go for 95-105 and see if that changes his behavior. The cool side of the tank is about 80-85 degrees depending if I have the AC on or not. I have a repticarpet. A climbing tree thing. Basking rocks. Caves. Trust me, he is spoiled rotten. He is in a nice spacious 40gal with tons of stuff to climb on while I am at work. I think the husbandry is fine. Just trying to get my little guy to recover a little faster and make sure he is developing properly.
I would like to know what the best quality supplements/dusters there are on the market right now. What brand do you swear by.
I rescued a very sick dragon from Petco a few months ago. They weren't taking care of him, and I think he has the beginning signs of Metabolic Bones Disease. When I got him home he was very weak, and he has no strength in his limbs. He walks on the backs of his hands, almost like there is no feeling in his hands or back legs. But I know he has feeling there, because when I pinch them a little, he does react. And he does climb, pretty well actually. So I was unsure if it was nerve related or bone related.
I took him to the doctor to have some Xrays done, and sure enough there was some bone loss. I am taking him in for some routine blood work soon just to take a gander at his liver and kidneys and make sure everything is all good. They started him on this Calcium Oral Plus supplement, but he absolutely will NOT take it. I fight him every day to get a single drop of the stuff in his mouth. He hates it, and I feel terrible making him take it because he has no idea what is going on.
I am not taking him off his meds, don't worry, this will just have to be one of those things he will grow to accept until the doctor says we can go off it.
But I do want to know what the best dusting supplements there are out there quality wise. So we can get him the right stuff moving forward. I really want to make sure these supplements get in him. So what supplements do you guys swear by?
Currently I am using Rep-Cal Calcium with Vitamin D and dusting EVERY MEAL with it.
I am also using the Rep-Cal Multivitamins 2-3x a week.
He is not really into his veggies, although I do offer it to him every single day. I feed him dandelion greens, kale, and collard greens mostly. Then I put some fruit on top of it, some blueberries and rasberries. He does occasionally eat the fruit, but not really interested in the salad. We are working on it.
Then for bugs, I give him dubias, crickets, black solider fly larvae as his main feeders. Then super worms and hornworms as his after meal dessert. Maybe like 2-3 after a meal.
This week, he just decided he was going on a food strike (after we started him on Calcium Oral Plus), and won't touch anything... Anything but superworms and hormworms. That is right! He won't touch ANYTHING but those. So I have been forced to feed him supers as a staple, at least for the time being, so he has something in his stomach to take the medicine. That is another story though, perhaps for another thread. My vet thinks its weird, but I think he is toying with me and its all psychological. I fed him nasty medicine, and this is his revenge. Fine, I will take your stupid medicine, but all I want to eat is chocolate cake for the week. No dubias, no crickets, no larvae, just super worms and hornworms. I am sure its just a rebellious phase. I am not SUPER worried about it.
What I am worried about is him walking funny, and not getting the nutrients he needs. At least with the worms, he is getting some kind of protein for now, yeah its fatty but its better than nothing. Plus I am dusting them before I give them to him, so its another way to get him to take his vitamins.
I TRIED coating a superworm in the Calcium Oral Plus medicine, thinking I was being slick, but he spit it out right away and gave me the death stare. HOW DARE YOU WOMAN! So, that didn't work...
His tank is fine, we have ReptiSun 10.00 UVB strip lights... I actually have TWO of them, one across the back of the tank, and one across the front of the tank, so whereever he is in the tank, he is getting at that light. I have a MegaRay Mercury Vapor bulb 100 watts for his basking spot. His basking temps are around 110-115, although I think it might be time to start lowering them because he is spending less time in his basking area. I know when they get older they like it a little cooler. So I might drop it down to a 70 watt, and go for 95-105 and see if that changes his behavior. The cool side of the tank is about 80-85 degrees depending if I have the AC on or not. I have a repticarpet. A climbing tree thing. Basking rocks. Caves. Trust me, he is spoiled rotten. He is in a nice spacious 40gal with tons of stuff to climb on while I am at work. I think the husbandry is fine. Just trying to get my little guy to recover a little faster and make sure he is developing properly.