# Reptivite



## MichelleCarrigan78 (Sep 28, 2010)

Any thoughts on zoo meds reptivite with d3? I have some and was wondering if this was good or not? Would this replace cuttlebone? Thanks


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## DeanS (Sep 28, 2010)

I don't believe in any product with D3...the sun is the only reliable source and if you oversupplement with that stuff...it can be toxic to your tort. I used Reptivite without D3 more than a year ago...but now I try not to supplement often at all...I try to do it all with food...enough grass, weeds and cactus and you don't need anything else. I do leave cuttlebone laying around...but really only as a means to prevent beak overgrowth.


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## Tom (Sep 28, 2010)

I use Herpetivite from Rep-cal and like it. I only use it about once a week. If your tort gets regular sun, you don't need any D3 or UV bulbs... you know... pretty much what Dean said.


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## tortoisenerd (Sep 28, 2010)

I also don't believe in using any D3 for torts which get UVB/sun. I also would never use vitamins as I believe in giving a varied natural diet, with which you only need pure calcium powder (which is probably over kill, but safe as long as you don't completely chunk it on). Using a multivitamin & D3 is very different from cuttlebone/calcium.


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## Maggie Cummings (Sep 28, 2010)

I used calcium with D3 for over a year and nothing bad happened, you can over dose but when used carefully nothing bad happens...I use it about 3 times a week...I would not use it with D3 on an animal that can go out in the sun. But for somebody stuck in the house I do use D3 and have always been successful at raising my animals...


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## MichelleCarrigan78 (Sep 29, 2010)

Mine does not go outside, as we have no place for him to be out there. He does have a 10.0 uvb bulb though


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## Tom (Sep 29, 2010)

MichelleCarrigan78 said:


> Mine does not go outside, as we have no place for him to be out there. He does have a 10.0 uvb bulb though



Glad you said this. Flourescent bulbs don't do anything, but light up the enclosure despite what the people selling them say. I have pulled many reptiles out from under them with MBD. So two things: 1. If he's going to be inside all the time get a MVB. They are not as good as sunshine, but they are enough to prevent MBD. 2. Find a way to get him some sun. He only needs 20 minutes, twice a week as a minimum. More time would be better, but that amount will prevent MBD. When I lived in an apartment with all my reptiles, I get my monitor lizard on a leash in one hand and my juvenile sulcata in the other and we go sit outside at various places in the apartment complex for 30 minutes a day. Made a lot of friends and educated a lot of people that way. They didn't have MVBs back then, so I had no choice. I was they guy who tried to save all the MBD animals, so I knew darn well that the flourescent "reptile" bulbs did nothing.

Here's a thread on really cheap and easy sunning enclosures. Maybe you'll find something in there that could work with your situation.
http://tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Cheap-Easy-Simple-Sunning-Enclosure


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## MichelleCarrigan78 (Sep 29, 2010)

I also live in an apartment, but we arent allowed to have pets...so I have to hide my 4 turtles. Not easy feat with aquatic ones! We are currently looking for an apartment that accepts pets. Once we are able to move, (and summer comes again) I will be bringing him outside.


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## tortoisenerd (Sep 29, 2010)

Oh yeah---swap that 10.0 for a 100 Watt Mega Ray or T-Rex Active UV Heat MVB, although both are unavailable at the moment, so the Powersun is the next best. Replace every 12 months and put it in a ceramic socket deep and wide hood fixture with a lamp stand to mount it with the bulb face parallel to the substrate, 12 to 18 inches away to get the right temps, using a temp gun. With only one bulb & fixture and replacing every 12 not 6 months, for me, the cost was actually less (plus so much better for the tort)--shop online, not in pet stores, for the bulbs. They are the closest to real sun you can get. A 10.0 barely does anything, and most people forget to replace them every 6 months, so then they do basically nothing. I would not let my tort or any animal out on apartment grass as its full of chemicals, but placing the animal in a tub (mine isn't even that big--its more for getting sun and air than exercise, as he has tons of indoor space) and having supervised outside time is great (I do this with my tort on our patio, although its a rare day when its day time, above 75 F, and not rainy!).


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## jobeanator (Oct 2, 2010)

it all depends on how you keep your tortoise, like everyone says. if your feeding him a diet and he's in the sun all the time, then calcium powder is not needed. as for me, my hatchlings such as my star get calcium with d3 get it everyday lightly on their food. i think its essiential for shell growth and to help and aid the prevention of metabolic bone diesease.


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## DeanS (Oct 2, 2010)

jobeanator said:


> it all depends on how you keep your tortoise, like everyone says. if your feeding him a diet and he's in the sun all the time, then calcium powder is not needed. as for me, my hatchlings such as my star get calcium with d3 get it everyday lightly on their food. i think its essiential for shell growth and to help and aid the prevention of metabolic bone diesease.



EVERYDAY?!?!? Ouch! I wouldn't use it more than twice a week (at the most). I am not the only one that knows how toxic that stuff can be...


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## tortoisenerd (Oct 2, 2010)

I think even with regular sun or a UVB bulb you need pure calcium (I don't think you should rely on the diet 100%, not matter how good, and because calcium is water soluble and it is very hard to overdose the tort on it), but not D3. I also would be very wary about using that much D3. For a hatchling with UVB I'd do daily calcium (cut back a little as they grow) but no D3. Do some research on it and see how is fat soluble and the dosing is unknown. The calcium plus the UVB for the tort to make their own D3 is what is important in my opinion.


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## Tom (Oct 2, 2010)

Remember folks that an abundance of calcium interferes with the absorption of lots of other important stuff. While the calcium carbonate itself may not be toxic, the lack of other minerals and certain fatty acids, caused by too much calcium used everyday can very negatively affect the health of your tortoise. I really think everyday is too much. Especially for the smaller species of torts.


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