Why do beardies need calcium supplements?

[DovahDad]

It's a golden rule among beardie owners that our dragons' diets should be supplemented with calcium daily, or at least a few times a week. I do it daily. But lately I've been wondering more and more, why do they need this?

If husbandry is right and the dragon is eating high-calcium greens and insects, why should he/she need any more calcium beyond that? It's not as if bearded dragons in the wild are eating pure calcium. So I'm just wondering if anyone has any science behind why dragons need more calcium than they get from their food.

Oh and here's Nova, just because I like to show him off

 

[CooperDragon]

As far as I understand, their diets in the wild are quite varied. In captivity we offer bugs like crickets which really don't have much calcium so we supplement that. Natural sunlight provides enough UVB to allow them to synthesize D3 on their own. With some of the lower output bulbs there isn't enough output for them to synthesize on their own so we supplement with D3 as well (this is still a relatively hot topic of debate however - I opt to use higher power UVB lighting and use plain calcium for staple bugs). With adults we provide salads which can include lots of different veges so we're better able to replicate the varied diet they get in the wild. In these cases I don't feel supplements are needed as much as they do get their vitamins and nutrients from the salads. It mainly just comes down to the limited bugs we offer them in captivity. The more variety we can add to the diet the better off they are and the less supplementation they'll need.

 

[DovahDad]

Yeah, I suspect you're right that as long as you give them a variety of greens and a variety of insects, and the UV lighting is strong, you wouldn't need to supplement. But you're also right that it's probably best to do it as a precaution just in case anything is missing.

 

[Taterbug]

in commercially raised insects calcium is most certainly missing. of the common feeders only black soldier fly larvae (phoenix worms and other brands) have a significant Ca ratio to them, everything else is a deficit. though, its possible to use formulated gutloads to achieve the same thing as dusting (http://www.timberlinefisheries.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/finke%20et%20al_2005_evaluation%20of%20four%20dry%20commercial%20gut%20loading%20products%20for%20improving%20the%20calcium%20content%20of%20crickets.pdf). wild insects 'gutload' them selves on a wider variety of food items than we typically feed, and some bugs like isopods (rolly plies, centipedes and so forth) have exceptional calcium levels due to their biology that bugs like crickets and roaches just don't have. its also suspected that wild lizards can self supplement from the environment (like some birds do) or that they gain minerals from ingestion of soil/dirt.