Calcium bites

i just went to the pet shop and asked about calcium stones. my axie has a calcium defecency (spl) and i was told that you can get calcium stones, the only things i found were 'Turtle Vegie Bites' and 'Turtle Bites'. The vegie bites contains 100% spiralina (spl) and reptile vitamins and they are high in calcium. And I also looked at something called 'Repti-Cal' it is Phosphorus free contains calcium and vitamins and D3 supplement for Reptiles and Amphibians. It is manafactured from ground Natural Oyster Shell and has added vitamin D3. Would these be ok to put in my axies tank or not??

Those turtle products are not what you want. Repti-cal is intended as a food supplement. You might be able to dust some of it onto axolotl pellets, for example. But it would not be good to put it directly into the water, as it would probably turn out cloudy.

I gather that what you want to do is supplement the calcium in the tank water. But first, have you tested the water hardness? If your water is already moderately hard, there is no point in trying to add calcium to the water. If it is soft, then you want to add any of the following: limestone rocks (which you can probably find outdoors somewhere), Calci-sand (which is pure calcium carbonate sold for reptiles), or oyster shell (a kind of sand sold for salt water setups).

Adding calcium to the water will make the water harder and make the pH higher and more stable. But one additional issue is... I'm entirely sure whether adding calcium to the water will have any effect at all on how much calcium the animal actually ingests. In other words, supplementing the food and supplementing the water may be two separate issues.

(Message edited by jennewt on August 19, 2005)

Jennifer ~ I think i worded that wrong. There is a picture of my axie in The Beginners and Newbies site under 'Help, Does my axie look normal'?? He has a bowed back and has been like that for sometime. I looked on the web site www.indiana.edu/~axolotl/axolotls/faq2.html. It says that my axies have a calcium deficiency but i'm not sure wether i need to feed my axies calcium bites or put calcium in the water. Can anyone help please.

Deanna, contact IUAC directly and ask them. I'm sure they would be glad to help you. Especially if you're using their site as a diagnostic tool.

Ah, I see. You mentioned several foods in your old post, what kind(s) of food are you using now? There are ways to supplement the food, it depends on what it is. The Repti-cal could be dusted on the food, but a lot of it would wash off.

You don't want to use any food that says "veggie" or is mostly spirulina (algae). You might want to consider feeding good-quality trout or salmon pellets, as they should have appropriate amounts of calcium.

I would still suggest testing your water hardness (or calling your local waterworks and asking if you have soft water). It might be worth ALSO supplementing the water, although I don't know if that helps get calcium into their bodies or not.

I agree that it is worth trying to contact IUAC for advice on how to supplement. If they tell you anything informative, please report back.

thanks Jennifer sorry its taken me so long to reply, i have been very busy. I feed them worms and salmon pellets as well as axolotl food that i bought from my local pet store. I will try and contact them (IUCA) to find out if there is something else that i can do, and then i will send another post.