bearded dragon wont eat

Question
QUESTION: hello, I just asked a question to you about 3-4 days ago about my bearded dragon having the beginning signs of MBD and you suggested that I buy calcium powder with D3. I have done this, and the place I bought it from said to only give it to my bearded dragon about once every three days. I fed him some dusted crickets on Friday (today is sunday) and he loved them. Problem is, he hasn't eaten since. He ate his veggies, (turnip greens and peas) but refuses to eat his crickets unless they have been dusted. I gave him two dusted crickets about 5 minutes ago along with 10 undusted ones (he usually eats 15-25 crickets a meal) and he hunted down the dusted ones only. I am afraid of OD-ing him, but I also don't want him to starve.... What do I do?

ANSWER: Hello Eli,

Great, that is good you have purchased some calcium with D3.  Do you also have some plain calcium as well, to use so you don't give too much calcium with D3?  That way you can give a couple of days with D3 & a few days with just plain calcium.

Which UVB light are you using again, please remind me.  
They can sometimes go through this stage where they want everything dusted.  Will he eat non dusted ones at all, if there are no dusted ones around?  He must be calcium deficient.  So you will need to be careful with how much powder you give to him.     
At least he is eating is greens & veggies right now.  Hopefully you will be able to get him off of this powder kick so he will eat either dusted or non dusted!

How is he doing right now?

Tracie

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: He has a ReptiSun 10.0 tube light. He used to eat the non dusted crickets, but yesterday he refused to eat a single cricket becuase they weren't dusted... So you are saying that this is normal, that he doesn't want to eat non dusted crickets becuase he needs more calcium.

ANSWER: Hello Eli,

Yes, it can be normal for them to want to eat nothing but dusted feeders.  He may have been a little low in calcium, initially.  It should even out.  You should only dust once daily, 5 times a week.  
Hopefully you will be able to get him to eat non dusted ones as well.  You don't want him getting too much calcium.  A way to monitor the supplementation is to watch his urates to make sure they don't get too hard, or discolored.  
Great, the Reptisun 10 tube bulb is a good bulb.  Make sure it is 6-8 inches from him, with no plastic or screen inbetween him & the light.

Tracie

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Cool, Thank You. Just a quick last question, what are the signs of when he starts to receive too much calcium with D3? You mentioned watching his urates, is that the only sign?

Answer
Hello Eli,

You are welcome.  
The most common signs of hypervitaminosis D would be calcification of bones or bony protrusions on the cervical area on the spine or other joint areas, technically speaking.  So a blood test or x-rays would determine that.
If you follow a conservative approach for the use with D3, he will be fine.  
As for general oversupplementation, harder urates, or discolored urates are usually the first signs of too much supplementation, or dehydration as well.

Let me know how he is doing.
Tracie