Need Expert Help w/ Red Eyed Tree

[TheLivingLegend]

How many IU/kg of D3 does this frog require per week?

[Heatheranne]

Okay...tough question!!! Whew! Challenging one .

I've done some research for you. I could not find any specific documentation or studies of required amphibian supplement amounts, such as IU's per day. All of the studies researched listed the numbers of days per week to use and by the pinch of vitamin D3 with each feeding.

To find a more accurate answer you would have to do a study. You would need several frogs with varying doses of the vitamin D with monitoring of low and high symptoms and side effects. It would still only be an average per the frogs exhibiting healthy replacement symptoms. It would end up being an average range.

If the studies I have found are 100 % accurate, we can conclude these estimated results. Of course, I do not have a lab to test these measurements or results.

There would be several variables including size of the frog, size of the cricket, number of crickets fed, size of the pinch of calcium, amount of calcium that actually clings to each cricket upon dusting, and whether you dust every other day with the variable of 3 or 4 days per week, as it would rotate every other week if the schedule was precisely followed.

This result is based on Fluker's calcium with vitamin D3 powder. So long as you can find the IU/kg of vitamin D3 in any supplement you can figure it out.

Fluker's contains 100,000 IU per one pound of supplement. This equates to 220,046 IU per kg.

Your average pinch of powder is approximately 0.25 ml. One ml of powder weighs approx 0.0005 kg. Therefore, one pinch of powder equals approx 0.000125 kg.

So, then 220,046 IU/kg multiplied by 0.000125kg would equal 27.50575 IU in one pinch of the powder.

So, keeping in mind all of the variables listed above, a daily dose would be estimated at the 27.50575 IU.

This would be for any frog. Of course the amounts would again vary per different sizes of other foods offered and dusted, such as worms, roaches, etc. and the number of pinches used to dust the frogs' food.

Too, remember that only about half or less of the supplement usually clings or sticks to the insects when dusted.

Well, that was the best I could do with the information I could find.

Another option would be to call the manufacturer of the supplement in question to see how they came up with the doses made. The pharmacokinetics of the supplements made should have been based on some scientific studies.

Hope this helps! Excellent question!!!!

[TheLivingLegend]

Wow, thank you heather!! Cant believe someone was actually able to find an answer for that question. You have found the supplement equation.

[flybyferns]

Wow - Heather - that's impressive?

Fun stuff !
Here's some food for thought ! One more variable !
Have you ever watched a cricket clean itself off after it's been dusted?

I wonder how much of the dusted supplement they can remove off themselves during the night.
They are quite proficient at it since they can't see, smell or communicate with the dust on them.
They have to make the best of the situation since they have really a short life span.
They only live up to ten weeks old. One day for a cricket equals one human year.
It's no wonder they work so fast.

CRICKET CLEANING ANTEANNA VIDEO - YouTube

cricket cleaning itself - YouTube

[Heatheranne]

Haha! For such stinky insects, they seem to clean up well :P.

This is true. So how will we every know? Even just if the frog eats them right away vs. it runs around in the soil for a bit.