Geoemyda spengleri

[jsurk1018]

Hi I currently have a juvenile Geoemyda spengleri do they require calcium supplement with D3 I can't seem to find much info on this seeing UVB is questionable with this species.

 

[RandyTortoise]

Hi I currently have a juvenile Geoemyda spengleri do they require calcium supplement with D3 I can't seem to find much info on this seeing UVB is questionable with this species.

My view is that there hasn’t been much study on the species. So every piece of advice is a guess or based on having that species. My view (and I have never owned one) is that I would not assume anything about uvb and calcium with D3, unless you want to experiment with your turtles.

In the wild, the sun gives off uvb everywhere. So why would we avoid uvb with any turtle? Sure they hide, stay concealed and this may be for self preservation vs avoiding uvb. So for me, ignore that advice you have and use uvb bulbs with multiple hides for them. So don’t treat them different for another species.

Calcium, it can come from their food and Vitamin D3 from the sun. I would use “some” a very small amount to make sure their shells have enough calcium to grow properly and a tad bit of d3 to ensure they stay healthy (it can’t hurt)

To sum up, you have a great turtle species and asking others is great. Just don’t try to remove something from their environment that is not in their wild environment that it has evolved for millions of years to thrive in

 

[turtlesteve]

They still need vitamin D. But they’re never going to get high UV index in the wild as they inhabit dense forests. I believe occasionally supplementing D3 is reasonable. Live insect feeders also contain D3 so they probably get a lot of it from their diet in the wild.