to much calcium

Question
hi i have a juvenile bearded dragon that is 10 inch tip to tail not sure how old he is, what want to know is how much calcium to give him and can you give to much at the moment i coat crickets every other day and use vmf on is veggies every day look forward to your reply

Answer
Hi Paul, There are plain, calcium only, supplements available and there are those with vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 is a fat soluble vitamin which means it has the potential to be overdosed. Vitamin A, E and K are the others. There are no exact rules and amounts for supplementing, just general guidelines that have been derived from the many thousands of dragons that have been successfully raised in captivity. These guidelines may vary according to the conditions such as artificial vs natural sunlight or mercury vapour lights vs. fluorescent. As a general rule small babies are supplemented daily. What worked for me was using cal with Vit. D3 about 4 or 5 times per week and plain calcium the other times. I would use a multi-vitamin once per week. The multivitamins will likely also contain some vitamin D3 as well as vitamin A. Vitamin A comes in two forms, retinol, which can be overdosed and carotene which cannot.  You can start decreasing the supplementation frequency as the dragon grows. At 10 inches total length your dragon is likely just a few months old and still has plenty of growing to do. At that length I would have them on Cal with vitamin D3 2 or 3 times per week and plain calcium most of the other days with one day for the multi-vitamin. By the time they are about a year and virtually adult size I decrease the vitamin D3 to once per week and the plain calcium to once or twice a week. The multi is given once or twice per month. Others may have a different schedule that works for them but that is what worked for me when I was breeding and raising beardeds.