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Interesting Comment on this issue provided by an Amazon customer “JQ” regarding Calcium Carbonate/Limestone Powder being sold for poultry or reptiles.
- There are more pure forms available for pet reptiles if you search for "precipitated calcium carbonate". While raw ground limestone such as this is probably healthier than no supplementation, the long-term difference between the 97% (industrial/animal grade) vs 100% purity (precipitated, food/pharma grade) will probably add up in the organ health & overall vitality of your pet if you plan on it living more than just a few years, and being as healthy as possible in old age. Even if we assume the 3% of impurities are non-toxic (mostly silica/sand & heavy metals, e.g. lead), it is 3% extra stress on the reptile's digestive system to extract the same amount of necessary nutrition. Perhaps that extra stress could prove deadly if the reptile is sick or old, or could result in weight issues etc over the long term. So yes, buy this if you don't want your pet to die immediately, or you plan on culling it soon anyways (e.g. chickens), but if you want to maximize your pets long-term health & perhaps save on some vet bills later, precipitated calcium carbinate would be a smarter purchase.
- Also it should be noted that this non-precipitated ground grade is the type used in cheap human calcium supplements, which have been found to lead to dangerous lead accumulation in the elderly. I think the difference is, we should make extra efforts with our "exotic" pets & provide higher quality supplements than we would to ourselves, as unlike humans our pets cannot complain, or seek out medical help, or quit eating the supplement when they feel ill. Also if they get ill there is less chance of a reptile recovering compared to a human as there is less medical research & expertise for reptiles.
I found both are at 3.0 ppm lead, unless you get 'super low lead' which them has 0.3 ppm, 10x less. Pharma grade PCC still has lead in it. I'm not sure what 'cheap human calcium supplements' means exactly.
I got these numbers from this manufacture http://www.cbminerals.com/calcium-carbonate which offers many grades and the other % of stuff that is not calcium carbonate. There is no 100% pure from what I could find, unless you are going for a few grams at many 100's $ for some kind of research grade. I work in a research lab and this is about as good as it gets https://www.fishersci.com/shop/products/calcium-carbonate-powder-certified-acs-fisher-chemical-2/C64500?gclid=CjwKCAiAgrfhBRA3EiwAnfF4tgDpof6Jumr5r7tfecc5XkT3sGkEJcM59bkCoojHZ8YX3uSDN1tVMxoCDtwQAvD_BwE&campaign=GblChem-US_FC-Salts&adwordskeyword=calcium carbonate&adgroup=Calcium-carbonate&ef_id=CjwKCAiAgrfhBRA3EiwAnfF4tgDpof6Jumr5r7tfecc5XkT3sGkEJcM59bkCoojHZ8YX3uSDN1tVMxoCDtwQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3652!3!69923413278!p!!g!!calcium carbonate where a half kilo is $400. Which still has 0.001 ppm lead, indeed very near pure.
I'm good with 'acceptable for organic food' grade. "Pure" is a theoretical definition, not something you can buy.