Can D3 overdose?

hong said:

I just curious about is that vitamin D3 can overdose if given too often to your lizard?Any ideas?

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Please read everyone. It is a continuing problem we fail to catch on time.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Reptiles-704/gecko-12.htm

i have a fat tail and dust a 2 crickets a day (1 morning, 1 at night) with reptivite with D3.....it says it has 10,390 IU per lb. of D3....is this safe for my gecko?

I usually feed my gecko a few mealworms every night, and twice a week I'll toss in 4-5 small crickets just to give her something to chase. I always keep a bit of calcium dust with D3 in her worm dish and don't dust the crickets with anything. It seems like the chance of my gecko overdosing might be slim, but to be safe I think I'm going to change the calcium in her dish to one that doesn't contain D3 and start dusting her crickets with the dust that has D3. Would this be a good idea, and should I use any other supplements?

Macularius613 said:

I usually feed my gecko a few mealworms every night, and twice a week I'll toss in 4-5 small crickets just to give her something to chase. I always keep a bit of calcium dust with D3 in her worm dish and don't dust the crickets with anything. It seems like the chance of my gecko overdosing might be slim, but to be safe I think I'm going to change the calcium in her dish to one that doesn't contain D3 and start dusting her crickets with the dust that has D3. Would this be a good idea, and should I use any other supplements?

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yes please do that, leaving d3 with them in the tank can be very dangerous for there health if over supplementing.

I know this is an old thread without recent comments but it popped up, so I'll leave a though.

It is possible that D3 hypervitaminosis is a rare or non-existent problem with leopard geckos, but not so with other reptiles. I see it relatively commonly in chameleons and there are reported cases in other reptiles, like green iguanas, in science journals. But these are basking lizards, so it makes sense that since they depend primarily on their skin to produce vit D when exposed to UV light. However, it's terrible because people will use calcium + D3 supplements daily and watch their reptiles develop MBD-like symptoms and so they turn to supplementing more heavily with the same product, since they think it's a lack of calcium. And since too much D3 actually begins to interfere with calcium absorption, it really does cause MBD after sufficient time. And to make matters worse it will redirect that calcium to where it builds up in the soft tissues, and you can actually feel this when you palpate a reptile with severe vitamin D hypervitaminosis. One of my best friends is a herp vet and I got to feel that first-hand on a rescue panther chameleon he had received, and it was an extremely creepy texture, like you know that organs and muscles are not supposed to feel rough under skin.

So, I don't know where the line is for leopard geckos. It may be a pretty broad margin for them, perhaps not, but like with all things too much will eventually lead to problems. So just don't be excessive! lol

Yup. A, E, D, an K can all build up to toxic levels in fat tissue. Don't overdue it with the supplements. Dusting every other feeding should be sufficient with properly gutloaded insects.

I've searched about that.... and I found that amount of vitamin D3 in reptile calcium supplement is too small to harm our lizards.