Calcium d3 and multivitamin questions?

[manda200414]

I have been doing a ton of searching on the internet and I am finding conflicting dosage recomendations. I also read in one place that beardies under a year old should have pure calcium instead of the calcium with d3? Please help. lol. I just want to get everything straight before I take on the responsibility of a dragon.

 

[richard]

with proper uvb lighting, especially mvb's like i use d3 is not needed. i also take mine outside when possible as natural sunlight is the best possible source of uvb and makes your dragon do all kinds of crazy stuff. the d3 helps the dragons brake down and process the calcium. as beardies get older the amount of calcium you'll give will decrease and some may have trouble processing the calcium and may need the d3. i personally do not use it. there are a lot of good people here and hopefully someone else will chime in on this.

 

[P]

Agree with Richard, heres some more info

D3 is made within the reptiles body if they are exposed to adequate amounts of UVB.
It is synthesised by the UVB.
Adequate UVB is either 3 hours of artificial UVB (measured with a UVB meter) OR 30 mins of natural sunlight.
As not many of us owns UVB meters and taking into considderation that our captive reptiles get 12-14 hrs of artificial UVB W/O D3 is recommended.

Over supplementation with D3 calcium can lead to kidney issues later on. I have never used D3. And only use plain calcium.

 

[manda200414]

okay. Thanks guys!