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Reptile and Amphibian Care

Vitamin Supplements

Many books on herptile care suggest giving your herptiles some type of vitamin supplement. Whether this is necessary or not is open for debate, but feeding high quality foods is more important than using supplements. Often the supplements are in powder form and are sprinkled onto the food or "dusted" onto the prey. Some supplements are liquid and designed to be added to the pets drinking water. The major problem with both forms of supplements is that they may impart unappetizing flavors to the food and water. Animals may not want to drink water with such vitamins in it and may refuse to eat food that has been coated in vitamin powder. Also it is possible to order supplement food and cause premature mineralization to occur in the herptile's organs. Kidneys, liver and heart are all particularly susceptible to mineralization and can become compromised by over supplementation. Insectivores (like chameleons) whose prey items (like crickets) are habitually dusted with vitamins can develop damaged organs, whereas insectivores who are fed well-fed or "gut-loaded" prey are much less likely to develop these problems.

Basically when it comes to vitamin supplementing "less is more" is a good approach to take. Ideally, feeding high quality food should provide all the vitamins your pet needs.

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