Elizabeth Freer
Well-known member
You're welcome, Britt!
Here's the explanation Hilde shared several years ago. Scroll to post 22 following my Leo Guidelines (linked below) for more details.
#22---***GU's Admin Hilde on Calcium, Vitamin A, & D3 interactions, et cetera***
......
"CALCIUM - excess:
Excess calcium in the digestive tract can hinder absorption of Vitamin A and D (we won't worry about E & K here). MBD is often considered to be caused by a shortage of calcium, but can happen even though there is ample calcium available. If there's not enough Vit D available, either stored in the liver or absorbed via food/supplements, then there won't be enough calcium absorbed. If you suspect a calcium shortage, it's easy to increase the amount available by dusting more often, even to the point of 'icing' the bugs with calcium, all of which just puts more calcium into the intestines but allowing less and less Vitamin A & D to be absorbed.... a vicious circle. The result is a gecko with possible MBD (even if it gets a calcium supplement), and a severe shortage of Vitamin A & D.
And so it continues.... more calcium, less vitamin A & D.
The next big worry is the next generation. Vitamin A and/or D imbalance can affect the young - offspring might hatch tiny, maybe shorter than normal tails, missing or deformed eyelids, a pouch-like flap of skin under the chin (looks like a tiny dewlap), weak, poor vision or even blind, weak or even deformed bones, including skull. It gets shrugged off as one of those things, after all, even in the wild they don't all hatch perfect.
Who would have thought that it could be traced to excess calcium?
Some people shy away from supplementing with pre-formed Vitamin A. It's been proven that geckos need it, they can't convert beta-carotene well enough to make do with just that. If the parents of your gecko were only supplemented with beta-carotene, no pre-formed Vit A, then they were prime candidates for a Vit A deficiency, and their offspring suffered the consequences. At the very least, add some pre-formed Vit A to the supplements a few times a month. Most can be beta-carotene, but the bit of pre-formed A will tide them over until they get enough beta-carotene converted."
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