Enigma Vitamin D supplement concerns

[eliquidmatt]

Hey all,

I am slightly concerned about the options I have for Vitamin D supplementation for my Enigma.. here is the issue.

She simply will not eat crickets or locust, she find's them too fast, even after amputating the hind legs they just put her in a confused flat panic when they thrash about on the spot or walk around.

The annoying thing is, in my eyes she is not suffering from the syndrome badly enough to start syringe feeding. Mealworms for example, she will eat with relative ease. She misses around 3 to 4 times when I put the first one in, then by the time the 6th or 7th is dropped in front of her, it usually only takes one or two tries.

So... my concern is that Nutrobal simply wont stick to the mealies, and although it clings to waxworms quite well I can't use them as a staple diet.

Obviously if syringe feeding is the only option I will of course do it, but handling her too much causes tail chasing, star gazing and episodes severe hyperactivity, running around the enclosure, climbing the glass and hides, in and out of the water bowl.. she just goes crazy for an hour or two!

Any idea's guy's? I usually give her one waxworm every 2 or 3 days, the rest of the time it's mealies, both dropped in front of her to stimulate hunting and also provided 24/7 in a dish.

If I was to supplement JUST the waxworms, is once every 2 or 3 days on just one waxworm going to be enough, or can I increase the feed to say, 2 or 3 waxworms every 2/3 days? Sorry for the long post!

 

[Allee Toler]

I dusted the mealies for my enigma, and placed some of the powder in the dish. She willingly licked the dish. No need to stress with syringe feeding. I only supplement calcium twice a week, multivitamin once a week.

She had no enigma syndrome. Yours has it (spinning, star gazing when stressed). Syndrome only happens when stressed. Since yours does it when stressed, yours has it.

 

[eliquidmatt]

lol oh believe me I know mine has it I knew from the day I got her home!

My concern was the frequency and volume of the multivitamin supplements. I can only really get a decent amount into her when feeding with waxworms as the powder just falls off the mealworms.

But if once a week is sufficient then I may just switch to providing around 4 waxworms dusted in Nutrobal once a week instead.. Thanks for the info Alle

Does anyone know of a multivitamin supplement for water I could use as well?

 

[Allee Toler]

Zilla makes kind you can spray onto the food. I used to spray it in the water for the rescues I had.

I use Rep-Cal calcium with D3, Rep-Cal Calcium without D3, and Rep-Cal multivitamin, it sticks well to my mealies when I feed them.

 

[eliquidmatt]

Ah ok

Rep-Cal is not a brand I've heard of nor seen in the UK

Will have to have a chat with the guys at my local reptile store!

 

[Debbie7054]

There is a liquid calcium you can get in the UK but I can't remember the name at the moment I was think about getting some for one of my geckos that I was having problems with. I will try and find out what its called and post it on here later. I've got some exo terra calcium and that seems to stick to anything but I agree about the Nutrobal it wont stick to mealies at all.

 

[eliquidmatt]

There is a liquid calcium you can get in the UK but I can't remember the name at the moment I was think about getting some for one of my geckos that I was having problems with. I will try and find out what its called and post it on here later. I've got some exo terra calcium and that seems to stick to anything but I agree about the Nutrobal it wont stick to mealies at all.

Thanks Debbie, gave my local reptile store a ring today and they reccomended somthing called Zolcal-D made by Vetark, the same people who make Nutrobal. I also bought some stuff called VitaminBSP, again by Vetark.

The Zolcal-D is a water soluble calcium supplement with Vitamin D3, and the VitaminBSP (BroadSPectrum) is a liquid based multivitamin supplement with a seriously high potency.. 1 drop per 200ml infact! These two together are exactly what I was looking for

He has reccomended that I use them on alternate day's for maximum effect, then leave the water untreated for a couple of days too.

 

[norea]

Zilla makes kind you can spray onto the food. I used to spray it in the water for the rescues I had.

I use Rep-Cal calcium with D3, Rep-Cal Calcium without D3, and Rep-Cal multivitamin, it sticks well to my mealies when I feed them.

Are those powder-form? i use exo terra ones [powder] and they dont stick well to my mealies... not that i care because i provide a calcium dish . For calc+d3 and multivits i use crickets.

 

[Allee Toler]

Rep-Cal is powder.

 

[eliquidmatt]

I have noticed that if you catch the mealworms immediately after they have shed, their skin is softer and the powder based supplements tend to stick quite well.. the problem is catching them in that period because a newly shed mealworm will only be in that state for a few hours before it's skin toughens up again lol plus there may be no more than 2 or 3 shedding at a time.

Well, since I have found all the water based supplements, it's not a problem anymore

 

[cozcoz41]

See now immediately

 

[Debbie7054]

Nice one I'm glad your vet has helped you with getting some I'm going to write that name down in case I need some in the future. I've been looking around but couldn't find the one I'd found a while back. Thanks for sharing the names with us )