Manttle Geminy
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Hi everyone！I am new to keep Leopard Gecko and I don't know which kind of Calcium and Vitamin should I buy, could you give me some advice? Thank you!
Which kind of Calcium and Vitamin is a good choice？
- Thread starter Manttle Geminy
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dupecaliente
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Hi, congratulations on your gecko, and welcome to the forums! I highly recommend "Repashy Calcium Plus", which is an all-in-one supplement. There's no need for extra vitamin supplements while using it.
If you have any more questions don't be afraid to ask!
I highly recommend "Repashy Calcium Plus", which is an all-in-one supplement. There's no need for extra vitamin supplements while using it.If you have any more questions don't be afraid to ask!
Manttle Geminy
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Thank you so much! But just Repashy Calcium Plus ? Don't you use any other supplementation ? In China, I see many keeper selling their pet geckos who lack of Calcium, so I am very worried about my little guys, they come to me, come to my family and I think I need to consider them (I have 4 turtles too) to be my friend or my kids. I don't want to make them unhealthy and hope them could have a great time with me everyday. Repashy Calcium Plus hasn't been heard and little people use it, but when I come to this forum first, I have seen many people use it and it sounds great. Could you show me a picture so I could know better? :main_laugh:
JessJohnson87
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Products By Name (retail) :: Calcium Plus :: Calcium Plus 3 oz (85g) JAR - Repashy Ventures - Specialty Pet Products
That's the direct link to Repashy. It's basically a multivitamin and calcium supplement in one. I use it now as well, takes the hassle out of writing up a dusting schedule and it can be used more often with gut-loaded feeders. I still only dust once a week, to be safe.
That's the direct link to Repashy. It's basically a multivitamin and calcium supplement in one. I use it now as well, takes the hassle out of writing up a dusting schedule and it can be used more often with gut-loaded feeders. I still only dust once a week, to be safe.
Manttle Geminy
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Thanks a lot! This product looks great and convenient. Once a week is Ok to adult and to a baby I could recommend twice a week. I don't like to use supplement too much, as you say not safe.
JessJohnson87
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I know some people in the UK and Europe use Nutrobal, that's an all in one to. I love the Repashy, takes the hassle out of a dusting schedule that I would forget and screw up, plus it smells so good. I'm weird, I like to smell it before I dust my insects :main_lipsrsealed:
Once a week for an adult and twice for a hatchling/juvenile sounds good. Unless someone else has another recommendation.
Once a week for an adult and twice for a hatchling/juvenile sounds good. Unless someone else has another recommendation.
dupecaliente
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I actually met a lady that works with Mr. Repashy, and while she said it's perfectly safe to use with every feeding, she recommends using it with every other feeding to avoid overdosing on D3. That's what I have been doing since I purchased Calcium Plus. It works like a charm, and Mondo seems to love the banana flavor.
If your gecko is still a juvenile, I recommend putting a bottle cap full of Calcium Plus in his enclosure. If he's an adult, put a bottle cap full of pure calcium in his enclosure. He'll lick this stuff up if he feels he needs it.
If your gecko is still a juvenile, I recommend putting a bottle cap full of Calcium Plus in his enclosure. If he's an adult, put a bottle cap full of pure calcium in his enclosure. He'll lick this stuff up if he feels he needs it.
Manttle Geminy
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I am gald to hear what the lady told you, it makes me or all of peopel who uses Calcium Plus less worried about overdosing on D3. But in China, most gecko keepers use Rep-Cal (Calcuim with D3 and Multivitamins). I don't like it because of its bad smelling. I love banana flavor and I am sure my little guys do either. But I want to know what kind of pure calcium you use? and using Calcuim Plus every other feeding, both adult and juvenile?
JessJohnson87
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Just plain calcium carbonate. They sell it at human health food stores or you could probably order some. I still use mine twice a week but every other feeding is fine to.
dupecaliente
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I personally use Zoo Med's "Repti Calcium" because they offer a large amount for a fair price; in fact, it will probably expire before I use it all. But, like Ms. Jessica said, any calcium carbonate is fine.
Yes, lightly dust your insects every other feeding for both juveniles and adults. I do this because, even though Mr. Repashy designed Calcium Plus to be safe if used with every feeding, I want to avoid even the slightest possible chance of my geckos developing hypervitaminosis. I have had great success with Calcium Plus health wise.. my high-yellow now retains his "freshly-shed" color until his next shed, and he's significantly more active than before. I think you will enjoy this product greatly.
Yes, lightly dust your insects every other feeding for both juveniles and adults. I do this because, even though Mr. Repashy designed Calcium Plus to be safe if used with every feeding, I want to avoid even the slightest possible chance of my geckos developing hypervitaminosis. I have had great success with Calcium Plus health wise.. my high-yellow now retains his "freshly-shed" color until his next shed, and he's significantly more active than before. I think you will enjoy this product greatly.
JessJohnson87
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You can tell if you're giving too much of the Repashy by the urate color. I was doing Every other feeding and the urates were slightly yellow, when I cut back to once a week, they were pure white again. But I gut-load my roaches 24/7 so they are already full of everything he will need vitamin wise.
Manttle Geminy
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Thank you! I have search on internet yesterday that I think Zoomed is a good brand and as you mention the price is cheaper. You have helped solve a great problem, I give my appreciation to you for my leos. And Ms. Jessica, thank you!
Manttle Geminy
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So what is the normal color of urate？Do you mean that if the ruate is not very yellow or deeper yellow, it is ok? If the color is pure white that can tell the gecko need Repashy again? I am sorry, what do you mean “gut-load the roaches 24/7”？Could you explain？ I usually feed my Dubia with carrot and apple, actually I take them to my geckos after 12 hours they have eaten. That is, I might feed my roaches this tonight and give them to my gecko at the noon of torrmow. And I find that Dubia is so great, my staple diet is mealworms and I change to Dubia every 2 days. For example, Monday and Tuesday is mealworms, Wednesday is Dubia and Thursday mealworm...
JessJohnson87
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"gut-load" just refers to feeding them a quality diet rich in vitamins and calcium before feeding them off to your reptiles. I use Zoo Med adult bearded dragon food to feed my roaches and crickets when I get them, will throw some collard greens or carrots in there once or twice a week as well. Healthy urates are white, when they're a little yellow it can mean an excess of vitamins or slight de-hydration. I went away for Thanksgiving and when I came home, my leo's urates were slightly yellow, I don't think he uses his water bowl anymore since I added his moist hide but they cleared up a couple of days after I was home.
I love Dubia roaches, I used to go buy crickets the day before I was going to feed and have at least 2 of them die before I fed him. I've had roaches for 2 months and only had 1 die on me. Just picked up 25 more from the pet shop I buy them at so I have a food supply for a few months now and I don't have to worry about them dying on me
I love Dubia roaches, I used to go buy crickets the day before I was going to feed and have at least 2 of them die before I fed him. I've had roaches for 2 months and only had 1 die on me. Just picked up 25 more from the pet shop I buy them at so I have a food supply for a few months now and I don't have to worry about them dying on me
Manttle Geminy
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"gut-load" just refers to feeding them a quality diet rich in vitamins and calcium before feeding them off to your reptiles. I use Zoo Med adult bearded dragon food to feed my roaches and crickets when I get them, will throw some collard greens or carrots in there once or twice a week as well. Healthy urates are white, when they're a little yellow it can mean an excess of vitamins or slight de-hydration. I went away for Thanksgiving and when I came home, my leo's urates were slightly yellow, I don't think he uses his water bowl anymore since I added his moist hide but they cleared up a couple of days after I was home.
I love Dubia roaches, I used to go buy crickets the day before I was going to feed and have at least 2 of them die before I fed him. I've had roaches for 2 months and only had 1 die on me. Just picked up 25 more from the pet shop I buy them at so I have a food supply for a few months now and I don't have to worry about them dying on me
I think of you are a professional breeder of leos and really learn so much from your every reply. Thanks for your so great opinions! What amazing forum...wish you have a good day!
JessJohnson87
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I don't breed, do not have the room and I have never had much luck with hatchling leo's. I just have 1 leopard gecko and a crested gecko. I owned many different species of reptiles 10+ years ago and got back into keeping reptiles 3 months ago. I just read a lot and absorb everything I read to make sure my 2 scaly babies are happy and healthy. Have a great day as well!
Manttle Geminy
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The most important thing is not how much you read but what do you absorb and use it in your practice. I don't breed too, I have only two leos and I just want to make them have a great life in my home. I treat them like my kids haha!
Neon Aurora
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Jess, I've never heard that you can tell you're giving too many supplements by the color of the urate. Urates are typically yellow if the gecko is not hydrated well enough and white if they are. Where are you getting your information?
JessJohnson87
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Something someone posted on another forum that was taken from an article a vet posted. I'll go look for it and post the exact quoted text about the urate color.
"Urate color depends upon things like diet, health, et cetera. Generally urates are very white. More pigmented (especially green) urates can indicate an issue. It is possible that if the animal has not passed stool or urates for some time there can be a little staining of the urate portion of the waste products. I also think that this is sometimes the case if the stool is loose. Then there is a greater chance for pigments to bleed from feces to urates. If it is just little off-color I would keep an eye on it and if it is infrequent I wouldn’t worry. If we are talking dark yellow or green that's biliverdin and it implies that there is something more serious going on.
Reptiles lack an enzyme called biliverdin reductase that allows them to convert biliverdin to bilirubin (as mammals do). So their bile is green. If the liver cannot handle removing it from the bloodstream efficiently, levels can exceed the renal threshold and spill into the urates. That would result in the urates being a greenish yellow to green color. What confounds this is that there's some mixing of feces and urine/urates in the cloaca so that some fecal pigments can stain the urates a light yellow color."
I may have gotten some information mixed up about too much vitamins causing the urates to turn slightly yellow. If I have, then it's my bad. I could've sworn that someone, some where, said that they could.....who knows.
"Urate color depends upon things like diet, health, et cetera. Generally urates are very white. More pigmented (especially green) urates can indicate an issue. It is possible that if the animal has not passed stool or urates for some time there can be a little staining of the urate portion of the waste products. I also think that this is sometimes the case if the stool is loose. Then there is a greater chance for pigments to bleed from feces to urates. If it is just little off-color I would keep an eye on it and if it is infrequent I wouldn’t worry. If we are talking dark yellow or green that's biliverdin and it implies that there is something more serious going on.
Reptiles lack an enzyme called biliverdin reductase that allows them to convert biliverdin to bilirubin (as mammals do). So their bile is green. If the liver cannot handle removing it from the bloodstream efficiently, levels can exceed the renal threshold and spill into the urates. That would result in the urates being a greenish yellow to green color. What confounds this is that there's some mixing of feces and urine/urates in the cloaca so that some fecal pigments can stain the urates a light yellow color."
I may have gotten some information mixed up about too much vitamins causing the urates to turn slightly yellow. If I have, then it's my bad. I could've sworn that someone, some where, said that they could.....who knows.
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Neon Aurora
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After searching that, I see where you got the information. The person who posted that quote on the other forum mentioned over supplementation before posting the quote. It's just that the quote doesn't have a lot to do with vitamins. It's just saying that A) pigments from feces can mix with urates and cause the yellowish color since reptiles do not have separate openings for urates and feces. B) reptiles lack an enzyme that converts the bile pigment biliverdin into bilirubin. Biliverdin tends to build up in the blood when an animal has liver disease (causes Jaundice). The renal system overloads and the green pigment is secreted into the urate in the case of reptiles. But this would only happen if the liver was failing for whatever reason and couldn't filter out biliverdin.
Urates can also be yellow if the gecko is dehydrated, simply because they are more concentrated. Just like humans, our urine can be really dark yellow with severe dehydration or clear as water.
So anyways, I'm not trying to cause offense or anything, I'm just a stickler for accurate information. So please do not take offense, it is not my intention. =)
I would say it's unlikely that too much supplementation would cause yellow urates. And to the OP (because I really didn't mean to temporarily hijack this thread, sorry!), you shouldn't worry much about giving too much supplementation. I use my Calcium Plus a few times a week (every day for hatchlings and geckos under 25 grams) and this works fine. It's pretty difficult to overdose them.
Urates can also be yellow if the gecko is dehydrated, simply because they are more concentrated. Just like humans, our urine can be really dark yellow with severe dehydration or clear as water.
So anyways, I'm not trying to cause offense or anything, I'm just a stickler for accurate information. So please do not take offense, it is not my intention. =)
I would say it's unlikely that too much supplementation would cause yellow urates. And to the OP (because I really didn't mean to temporarily hijack this thread, sorry!), you shouldn't worry much about giving too much supplementation. I use my Calcium Plus a few times a week (every day for hatchlings and geckos under 25 grams) and this works fine. It's pretty difficult to overdose them.
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