# Dendrocare?



## AbeV (Jul 12, 2015)

I swear I read a post about Dendrocare on here being an all-in-one supplement.
I tried searching for it, but still haven't come across the post. Maybe I imagined it.

Anyways.....

Is Dendrocare the only supplement needed?

Or is it still a good idea to add vitamin A and calcium along with Dendrocare?

Thanks

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk


----------



## jdooley195 (Oct 19, 2009)

If Ed doesn't reply, just pm him...he'll know.


----------



## tongo (Jul 29, 2007)

The large majority use repashy calcium plus at every feeding and repashy vit A about twice a month.


Don't know much about dendrocare but the other supplementation regime works.


----------



## jdooley195 (Oct 19, 2009)

tongo said:


> The large majority use repashy calcium plus at every feeding and repashy vit A about twice a month.
> 
> 
> Don't know much about dendrocare but the other supplementation regime works.



...indubitably.


----------



## Tincman (Jan 18, 2013)

Dendrocare is an all in one supplement so feel free to use it as your main day to day vitamin.... It contains calcium, vitamin A and D3 & was designed to get frogs the coenzymes they require and help them metabolize them properly. The frogs require d3 to metabolize calcium being that they dont utilize uv..You do not have to use any other supplement, however if you ever have a frog that is deficient in calcium or experiencing (hypovitaminosis A) i have found it helpful to have some vitamin A and calcium D3 on hand to be able to dose them straight out with the concentrated form of what theyre lacking... Froglets in particular may benefit from a dose of a calcium D3 supplement once in a while and adult frogs producing eggs may benefit from a twice a month vitamin A dose. The frogs laying eggs are using and losing more nutrients so thats the thought process behind getting them more vitamin A...To answer your question though dendrocare is an all in one vitamin that has all of the essential coenzymes/vitmains that are needed for frogs to thrive. I like it more then other vitamins on the market as an all in one and use it regularly myself.


----------



## AbeV (Jul 12, 2015)

Thanks for the replies everyone. 

I do most of my browsing on here in the middle of the night. That being said, I can't remember if the original post I was talking about was real or if I dreamt it up!

Tongo, the tads are doing great! I've noticed legs sprouting on two of them already!

Tommy, thanks again for saving me the supplies. My other frogs are loving the bigger fruiflies.

It was nice to meet you guys this weekend and finally put some faces with the names.

Take care

Abran

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk


----------



## Alextravis (Jun 14, 2014)

I was told recently to rotate between dendro care and rapashy plus with some vitamin a twice a month


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

We consider it an all-in-one supplement. My personal 4 terribilis at home get their insects dusted with just Dendrocare.


----------



## ngeno626 (Nov 14, 2013)

I use it with every feeding along side Vit. A twice a month. 

Froglets get Cal. Plus as well as Dendrocare. With Dendrocare being my primary supplement


----------



## mppp (Feb 5, 2014)

Josh,
It doesn't appear you sell Dendrocare on your website, but use it?


----------



## JPP (Mar 25, 2015)

mppp said:


> Josh,
> It doesn't appear you sell Dendrocare on your website, but use it?


Huh? Its right there: DendroCare Dart Frog Supplements | Food and Nutrition | Josh's Frogs


----------



## Mavpa (Jan 5, 2015)

ngeno626 said:


> I use it with every feeding along side Vit. A twice a month.
> 
> Froglets get Cal. Plus as well as Dendrocare. With Dendrocare being my primary supplement


This is my exact regiment now as well.


----------



## mppp (Feb 5, 2014)

JPP said:


> Huh? Its right there: DendroCare Dart Frog Supplements | Food and Nutrition | Josh's Frogs


Perfect thank you I obviously didn't scroll down enough on food & nutrition links.


----------



## Reef_Haven (Jan 19, 2011)

How is the grind/particle size of Denrocare compared to Repashy Calcium plus?
I don't really care for having to take mortar and pestle to a supplement. I know Allen has had some thoughts of purchasing some better equipment to improve the grind of his products, but that hasn't happened yet.


----------



## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Reef_Haven said:


> How is the grind/particle size of Denrocare compared to Repashy Calcium plus?
> I don't really care for having to take mortar and pestle to a supplement. I know Allen has had some thoughts of purchasing some better equipment to improve the grind of his products, but that hasn't happened yet.


Its fine and sticks well but if your going to add a carotenoid assortment your going to end up grinding those to get them to stick. (I actually find that the Repashy calcium plus sticks just fine to flies and so forth but I grind it so I can up the carotenoid content). 

Have you considered trying a spice grinder? A mortar and pestle can get a finer grind but if you want convenience try a inexpensive spice grinder.

some comments 

Ed


----------



## carola1155 (Sep 10, 2007)

I add naturose to my dendrocare fairly regularly and it does clump a bit. Mortal and pestle would probably be helpful. 

Also, just a note of warning if you grab a spice grinder like Ed suggested, pulse it lightly for short periods of time. Don't give it a long grind as those things can heat up quickly and degrade the quality of the vitamins.


----------



## Reef_Haven (Jan 19, 2011)

Ed said:


> Its fine and sticks well but if your going to add a carotenoid assortment your going to end up grinding those to get them to stick. (I actually find that the Repashy calcium plus sticks just fine to flies and so forth but I grind it so I can up the carotenoid content).
> 
> Have you considered trying a spice grinder? A mortar and pestle can get a finer grind but if you want convenience try a inexpensive spice grinder.
> 
> ...


I've looked at a lot of spent dust at 40x, it is mostly carotenoids and microencapsulated vitamins. I feel if we don't regrind we are missing out on what we are paying for to start with. I'll try a spice grinder, any got any recommendations?


----------



## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Reef_Haven said:


> I've looked at a lot of spent dust at 40x, it is mostly carotenoids and microencapsulated vitamins. I feel if we don't regrind we are missing out on what we are paying for to start with. I'll try a spice grinder, any got any recommendations?


I'm going to make a cautionary statement here. Even though that is what you are seeing it doesn't mean that sufficient nutrients to meet the overt needs haven't stuck to the insect. 

Are you looking for maximal retention? If that is the case you could see the same thing with the Dendrocare. A friend of mine looked at even supplements that were "ultrafine" and saw significant left over microencapsulated materials. 

I make up a new batch of dusting supplements every couple of weeks and to be honest it doesn't take a lot of time with the mortar and pestle, maybe five or six minutes tops. How often do you expect to have to make it? or is the quantity the problem? 

I don't have any suggestions for a spice grinder as I've always gone with the mortar and pestle as with a little effort it can achieve a finer grind. 

Some comments 

Ed


----------



## jdawud (Mar 18, 2015)

I'm actually about to buy new supplements. I've been using only dendrocare since I got my first frogs earlier last year. 

From what I can tell most folks use Repashy Cal plus every feeding with Repashy vit A twice a month. Others use just dendrocare (or dendrocare plus twice a month superpig). Is that correct? I had been thinking of switching to the Repashy products because that's what 'everyone' seems to use, but after reading this thread and some others that talk about dendrocare, now I'm conflicted.


----------



## r.mickaels (May 17, 2015)

Have also had great luck with Dendrocare and like that its specifically formulated for dart frogs. Contains a good amount of Vitamin A and I have found that I don't need to supplement separately when using it. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## viper69 (Dec 28, 2013)

After reading this thread I'm still not sure what one should use for supplements.

Are Dendrocare and Repashy equally as good, but different. I guess Rep-Cal is not recommended for some reason/s?


----------



## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

viper69 said:


> After reading this thread I'm still not sure what one should use for supplements.
> 
> Are Dendrocare and Repashy equally as good, but different. I guess Rep-Cal is not recommended for some reason/s?


Rep-cal in and of itself is only calcium and vitamin D3 so in and of itself it is an unbalanced supplement. If you are referring to the combination of Rep-Cal and Herptivite, Herptivite only has beta carotene as its source of vitamin A and there is good evidence that anurans after metamorphosis have issues converting beta carotene to the active form of vitamin A (retinyl or retinol) leading to vitamin insufficiencies. 

Repashy products and Dendrocare both utilize a active form of vitamin A (retinyl acetate or retinyl palmitate) which the frogs can easily utilize for their needs however Repashy products also contain carotenoids that are lacking in the Dendrocare products which are important to the frogs for immune system function, pigmentation, and so forth. 

The only other main difference is that both products should be replaced every six months due to the degredation of the vitamins in it (not just the fat soluble ones) and whenever you purchase more vitamins attempt to get what ever was most recently manufactured. 

some comments 

Ed


----------



## viper69 (Dec 28, 2013)

Ed said:


> Rep-cal in and of itself is only calcium and vitamin D3 so in and of itself it is an unbalanced supplement. If you are referring to the combination of Rep-Cal and Herptivite, Herptivite only has beta carotene as its source of vitamin A and there is good evidence that anurans after metamorphosis have issues converting beta carotene to the active form of vitamin A (retinyl or retinol) leading to vitamin insufficiencies.
> 
> Repashy products and Dendrocare both utilize a active form of vitamin A (retinyl acetate or retinyl palmitate) which the frogs can easily utilize for their needs however Repashy products also contain carotenoids that are lacking in the Dendrocare products which are important to the frogs for immune system function, pigmentation, and so forth.
> 
> ...


Thanks Ed, I really appreciate this helpful and MANY other threads I have seen you post.


----------



## Trojan (Oct 15, 2014)

Ed, what kind of amounts of vitamin A are toxic? I am worried if the products contain vitamin A should we be giving them only periodically?


----------



## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Are you concerned about overdosing on D3? How about calcium? Both of those are also a problem if overdosed and can cause death in the frogs. In fact calcium on a dry matter basis has one of the narrowest safe tolerances for a required macronutrient. 

The concern about toxicity from vitamin A in the supplements is a legacy of some BS that was published on the internet in the early 1990s and has been passed around ever since. 

Toxicity of vitamin A is difficult to achieve in a balanced supplement where the ratio of A (In the form of retinyl palminate/acetate) to D3 to E is 10 to 1 to 0.1 as the vitamins compete for uptake in the GI tract. Also absorption in the GI tract is dependent on the presence of fats as these fat soluble vitamins are poorly absorbed in the absence of fats (as they are mixed into the micells and taken up in that fashion). 

I have the actual values somewhere around here but basically if you supplement daily with a product like Repashy Calcium plus and/or Dendrocare you will not reach toxic levels unless you make a paste of it, hold down the frog and squirt it into its body until it is bloated with it (and in that case the calcium is much more likely to be the proximate cause of death). Even adding the Repashy vitamin A plus one to four times a month to those vitamins above is very unlikely to achieve toxic levels of vitamin A unless once again you make a paste hold down the frog .... 

some comments 

Ed


----------

