Can anyone verify that (calcium fortified) Cricket Quencher is an acceptable substitute for calcium powder??? Apparently I have an issue "ignoring" pet store ppl advice, even though they have been wrong about almost everything so far ;(
The cricket quencher will only hydrate the crickets - while it may have some calcium in it, there will not be an adequate amount of raw calcium available to the herp in it after being consumed by the crickets. It is always best to gutload your feeders before feeding them with a quality grain based gutload and hydration is equally important in keeping the crickets alive, but you will still need a good supplement for dusting the insects prior to being fed.
I'm personally partial to Rep-Cal brand supplement; they have a product that contains just calcium carbonate, one that has calcium + D3, and a very good Multivitamin supplement called Herptivite that utilized carotene in place of retinol as a source of vitamin A.
-Jeff Howell
ReptileBoards ( Branched from The Reptile Rooms )
"If you give, you begin to live." -DMB
The cricket quencher does not provide enough calcium, as jeff above has stated. I also use reptivite for their multivitamin. I have used reptical and currently use Flukers calcium/vita D3. Rapashy is also very good. You should dust with calcium every other day and multivitamin one day a week.
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agree with above. only i use repashy calcium plus and vitamins.
Thanks all! I got the flukers cal w/ D3 and the Herpivite. Now, I'm confused with the cryptic instructions on the Herpivite!?!?
it says something about NOT mixing w/ calcium product, then about mixing w/ fruits??? and then says you SHOULD mix with calcium powder.. It's seems incomplete at best. heh?
The Herptivite is simply telling you why the company does not combine calcium products and multivitamin into a single product for sale - the beadlets of beta carotene can become damaged in the manufacturing process of the calcium. In addition, it is generally not recommended to store the two together long-term due to the effects they have on one another...which can result in excessive clumping and dulling the effects of some of the components. This is not only true for Herptivite and Re-Cal's line of supplements, but is a universal truth in all supplementation. Supplements that contain excessive calcium and D3 combined with a multivitamin can be overkill if used with a high frequency of dusting one would follow when dusting calcium supplements - especially if the multivitamin contains retinol as a vitamin A source that can lead to toxicity.
You can mix the two supplements together immediately prior to a feed no problem, though most supplementing regiments call for a more frequent calcium or calcium w/D3 dusting, and a multivitamin (herptivite) dusting once weekly (give or take depending on species and age of herp). Usually you dust most of the meals with calcium, and only dust with the multi on occasion...
*The fruits/veggies mixing is simply for instructions on how to use IF your herp feeds on these kinds of items. Since dusting insects is fairly fool-proof, they are simply telling you how much to use if adding to a fruit or veggie paste/puree to provide adequate supplementation.
-Jeff Howell
ReptileBoards ( Branched from The Reptile Rooms )
"If you give, you begin to live." -DMB
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