# Vitamin Supplements



## Faceless (Sep 11, 2008)

I have been wondering for some time 
now why i havent seen much talk about the 
other brands of Vitamin Supplements..
I myself am curious of Dendrocare..

Is Anyone using anything other than good 
ol Rep-Cal ? Has anyone done a study or
Just played with Nekton-Rep or Dendrocare ?

Ive done searches but found only dead links
so my apologies if im asking a old question 

Thanks,
Justin


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

i dont know of any study, but i know dendrocare is pretty high in vitamin A which is essential to amphibians.


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## Faceless (Sep 11, 2008)

Yeah i read that,
it said it has Vitamin A with Retinol ? 
something like that... Have you ever tried it ?

Maybe we need some feedback from our
European friends that maybe have some
better insights


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## kristy55303 (Apr 27, 2008)

i had a few frogs with toes sticking together. I added dendrocare recently per the advice of a DVM and they slowly started getting better. I believe julio is right on.I tried to get some more in, but the only supplier in the U.S. listed on their site was out at the time, havnt checked bk recently but I'll need it as I use it twice per week. I was also told that human grade vitamin A that i could crush up would be suitable. Not sure if I would do this without getting the advice of a medical professional.( cant remeber if i read something somewhere on vitamin A toxicity or not). It was suspected that they had low Vitamin A. It is my understanding that a lot of captive amphibians have very little to nearly undetectable levels of the vitamin. 

Maybe someone with a lot more knowlege to say yay or nay can chime in on this issue as well. I have no idea if it is beneficial , but i have started adding spirulina to my ff media.

Kristy


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Faceless said:


> Yeah i read that,
> it said it has Vitamin A with Retinol ?
> something like that... Have you ever tried it ?
> 
> ...


i use it in my collection all the time it is a staple in their diet.
You can try the sponsors they carry it most of the time.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

There have been some good topics on this over the years and one of better suggestions was from Ed to alternate your supplements. Also make sure your supplements are not past their expiration date and replace them every couple of months.

I have used a few different things and have not noticed any great change from one to the next.

Repcal\Herptivite is almost a standard in the US, and many have used it for years.

I have alternated the above combo with Dendrocare, and my most recent trial is Herpetal Amphibian Complete which seems very fine and sticks to the frogs well. Problem is its a little pricey to have shipped overseas. I do need to pick up some more Dendrocare as well. I have also tried a couple others I am forgetting right now.

Try 2 or 3 and change at every feeding. Like I said this was Eds suggestion in a past thread but I think it is a sound one.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Check out this thread http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/fo...o-you-dust-your-frogs-food-supplements-4.html 


One of the important items is looks like people are mistaking above is that when a supplement says it contains vitamin A you have to see if it is betacarotene or retinol/retinoic acid. If it is betacarotene then it is possible (given what we see in bufonids) that the animal may not be converting sufficient betacarotene to retinol due to metabolic demands (stress, reproduction etc). If it contains vitamin A as retinol then you need to pay attention to the ratio of vitamin A: D3: E in the diet as well to prevent a form if MBD. 

Ed


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## Faceless (Sep 11, 2008)

I Appreciate your guys response
and it has definitely made me
want to cycle in a little dendrocare
with my feedings.... and taking a
little more serious what i supplement

I am however still left wondering
about the other brands like Nekton-Rep
which has a pair of supplements
one with a color additive with cartenoids..
what are your thoughts on these supplements ?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

There has been a lot of discussion on carotenoids on this forum. The usefulness of the carotenoids depends on the ones in the supplement. Most supplements contain beta carotene which is useful for yellows but not good for reds... Blue can't be supplemented as it is due to color reflectance... 


If you are really interested in analysis of the supplements then you need to track down a copy of 
Nutrient Content Of Nutritional Supplements Available For Use In Captive Lizard Feeding Programs S.D. Crissey, A.M. Ward, and M.T. Maslanka, 2001 

This has a nutritional breakdown of a number of the routinely available supplements (at least in the USA). If I remember correctly only one supplement (no longer made) that was analyzed for that study had the actual levels claimed on the label.


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## Faceless (Sep 11, 2008)

Thanks Ed for your knowledge in the subject..
I will look up the book to see if its something
i will be interested in... and if its cheap 

thanks !
Justin


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

If you do a search for carotenoids, you should get a lot of good information on here. 

Ed


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