# vitamin d3



## Guest (Sep 21, 2010)

iv seen this on a few things of calcium.iv heard some good and bad things about this vitamin.one being it doesnt alow the dijesting of calcium andsome say its good for the lizards.i have a thing of the calcium with the d3 and was wondering what everyone opinion was on it.


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## tora (Sep 21, 2010)

On most cal + d3 supplements it says not to use it for basking animals. I do use it maybe 3-4 times a month though. Other times it's just pure calcium. I think maybe it's because if it's a basking animal they can overdose on it?


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## Guest (Sep 21, 2010)

So you *can* cause your reptile to overdose on D3. Now, if your reptile gets his UVB from natural sunlight, then it will produce his own vitamin D3, and has no need for additional D3 supplementation. However, if your reptile gets his UVB from an indoor UV bulb or MVB, then it's perfectly acceptable to dust his meals once or twice a week with a calcium + vitamin D3 powder. Other times, just use a non-D3 calcium. In addition, a multi-vitamin supplement can be used once a week.


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## Guest (Sep 22, 2010)

ahh ok, thanks for clearing that up.


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## Guest (Sep 22, 2010)

Sure, no prob!


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## Chuey (Oct 21, 2010)

Esoteric but if you have a sick animal and they do a blood test and they have low Calcium values the Calcium with D3 is temporarily ok.


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## Guest (Oct 21, 2010)

From what I understand, they get that calcium from the bones of the rodents they eat so they dont need the d3 powder supplement if your feeding them rodents 1-2 times a week. At least, thats my understanding of it.


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## Guest (Oct 21, 2010)

i give the bahamut the calcium with d3 because he broke his leg before i got him and it helps to restore the cast thing aorund hid leg.


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2011)

Fish, eggs and cod liver oil all have some amounts of the vitamin. The other way most people have access to D vitamins is by exposure to the sun.Vitamin D3 promotes calcium's absorption and functions for teen's and children's healthy teeth and bones, prevents loss of bone mass, and treats bone disorders. ItÃ¢â?¬â?¢s the vitamin that we get from exposure to the sun. In fact, the need for vitamin D is important in the human evolutionary cycle.


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## markkevin123 (Mar 13, 2011)

Cellular differentiation results in the specialization of cells for specific functions in your body. In general, differentiation of cells leads to a decrease in proliferation. While cellular proliferation is essential for growth and wound healing, uncontrolled proliferation of cells with certain mutations may lead to diseases like cancer. The active form of vitamin D, inhibits proliferation and stimulates the differentiation of cells.1Vitamin D is metabolized into a potent steroid hormone called calcitriol, More recently, it has become clear that receptors for calcitriol, are present in a wide variety of cells, and that calcitriol, has biologic effects which extend far beyond control of mineral metabolism.


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## Gedy (Jun 20, 2011)

Not enough D3 is bad for the bone development, but what happens if they get get too much ?


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## Strange_Evil (Jun 20, 2011)

Gedy said:


> Not enough D3 is bad for the bone development, but what happens if they get get too much ?






> Quote:
> Linda Randall, DVM, ABVP: Is it possible to overdose a herp on calcium?
> I have never been able to overdose a reptile with just calcium, nor have I spoken to a veterinarian who has. Reptiles are able to regulate the amount of calcium their body absorbs, and the rest is excreted in the feces. The problem begins when Vitamin D is added to the calcium mixture. This vitamin encourages the reptiles system to absorb excessive calcium, which eventually leads to hypercalcemia, a serious condition. The calcium to phosphorus ratio is also very important when looking at calcium levels in the food offered to reptiles, and when reading blood chemistry results. If you have a herp that requires calcium supplementation, make sure it is only calcium that you are using. (At our hospital we use calcium carbonate, which is inexpensive and comes in a fine powder.) For anything else, consult with your veterinarian first to ensure you are feeding your particular pet correctly. When you read labels, you will find that many of the products sold as calcium supplements have Vitamin D3 added. This is not necessarily a bonus!


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## laurarfl (Jun 20, 2011)

The problem is that no one knows how much is too much for tegus and how much is absorbed from the diet. There are far more cases of HYPOcalcemia than HYPERcalcemia in omnivorous/carnivorous lizards. The mechanism for dietary D absorption is different for herbivorous lizards.


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## shinywatt (Jul 3, 2011)

Vitamin D3 is very essential in for health of bone and spinal joints. It is also helpful to maintains your calcium balance in joints, boosts body immunity and improve blood pressure regulation. Vitamin D3 is also protects some kind of diseases such as osteoporosis, cancer, alzheimer's disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.


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## alstonkenn (Dec 27, 2011)

Vitamin d3 is very good for bones and joints of human being. Add foods like which are containing more vitamin D in your body. These vitamin is very good to protect your body from several types of diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, alzheimer's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and many more.


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## laurarfl (Dec 28, 2011)

Hmmm, I don't think low vit D caused my rheumatoid arthritis, but thanks. Be careful when reading some of these posts. Spammers pick up scientific data off the web that may or may not be useful or factual. But they have big key words. Then they have a link for some thing like a signal booster or escorts in the sig line. read carefully!


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## Aiion (Jan 2, 2012)

My Savannah Monitor died from D3 poisoning. It was what was given to me at the pet store and I dusted her crickets every day with it. D3 poisoning is devastating. It is a lot like MBD. There is a loss of bone density and organ damage. You must get calcium without D3 and if you are going to use the D3, please only once a week.


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## james.w (Jan 2, 2012)

Aiion said:


> My Savannah Monitor died from D3 poisoning. It was what was given to me at the pet store and I dusted her crickets every day with it. D3 poisoning is devastating. It is a lot like MBD. There is a loss of bone density and organ damage. You must get calcium without D3 and if you are going to use the D3, please only once a week.



How do you know he died from D3 poisoning? When I had my Sav, I dusted his crickets and roaches with calcium w/d3 about 5-6 days a week and had no problems. I did not provide UVB for him so that may have something to do with it. He was 29" and about 8-9 months old. I sold him about 2 weeks ago.


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## Aiion (Jan 2, 2012)

> How do you know he died from D3 poisoning? When I had my Sav, I dusted his crickets and roaches with calcium w/d3 about 5-6 days a week and had no problems. I did not provide UVB for him so that may have something to do with it. He was 29" and about 8-9 months old. I sold him about 2 weeks ago.



She appeared perfectly healthy until about a year and a half. Suddenly her foot broke. A week later her neck broke. I was working with the vet to bring her back to health. Amazingly she survived the broken neck and she was not paralyzed, though she was too week to feed herself. 

We worked with the vet, who made the diagnosis. I was feeding her with a syrynge but she had an anomaly, where the esophagus was broken and somehow the food was backing into her lungs and going into her inner ear. They increased her antibiotics and gave me a special syringe to bypass her breathing...it went really wrong. She started choking very badly and a lot of food went in her ear. We took her back to the vet for the second time that day and she seemed okay but she died later that night. She also had blood in her urine so we were thinking that her organs were damaged. She went downhill so quickly. It was heartbreaking. She died before the tests came back.

Here is a video...Fluffy didn't get this bad because her broken neck alerted us to her condition. Her bones could barely be seen on x-ray. 

Like I said... she looked very healthy until the week before her broken neck. I had no idea at 8-9 months that there was anything wrong.


[video=youtube]http://youtu.be/9rxhuuIcnTA[/video]


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## james.w (Jan 2, 2012)

Were you providing UVB? How big was he when he passed?


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## Aiion (Jan 2, 2012)

james.w said:


> Were you providing UVB? How big was he when he passed?



Yes I was. I don't know how big she was when she passed. I never measured her. I was told that it takes 4 years to get to adult size. That they could be brought up to adult size in a year but this causes fatty liver disease and death within a few years, so I just enjoyed her and figured she was growing at her own rate. She did have UVB. 

The first thing that a vet will ask when a lizard has her symptoms is if they have UV. The second question is "are you using a Calcium supplement that contains D3?"


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## laurarfl (Jan 7, 2012)

I wouldn't accept a diagnosis of Vit D poisoning without a blood test with Vit D levels. What actual happens is hypercalcemia. Vit D and calcium work together and Vit D is a sort of gatekeeper. Too much Vit D allows too much calcium in the system which results in over calcification of the organs. Balance is the key in the diet. If you are providing the diet and lighting for a reptile, you have to be very aware of how much calcium, vit D, UVB that animal is receiving. it isn't that that the animals gets too much Vit D or too much calcium, etc. Most of the time it is that things are out of balance. There is too much D and not enough calcium. Or too much calcium and too much D. Or too much phosphorous and not enough calcium or D. I use calcium and D with no problems at all. However, I don't use cod liver oil or other supplements with D and I have plain calcium to alternate with if needed.


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## Dana C (Jan 13, 2012)

I may have added this earlier and I apologize if I did. A great source of calcium carbonate are egg shells. I save the shells when I have eggs myself or scramble them up for the Tegu's. I dry them for three or four days or until the membrane is completely dry. Then I use a coffee grinder to powder the shells and use the powder liberally on my T's food. I use a reptile calcium powder with D3 about once a week and blend a little Herp vitamin powder when I pre-prepare my turkey / liver/ gizzard portions.
It seems to work well and my vet, who has a working knowledge of reptiles thinks that it is a good way to supplement.


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