# Calcium Citrate



## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

I've recently changed my supplement to mostly human supplements. In the process, I decided to get calcium citrate pills instead of calcium carbonate, because it is my understanding that it absorbs better. 

I bought a bottle of Twinlabs brand Cacium citrate capsules. You can open the capsules up and dust directly without grinding them up. What I've noticed, though, is that the flies stay permanently dusted. I've used it twice so far, and I noticed it again today. I dusted yesterday morning, and tonight, about 36 hours later, many flies still have white abdomens and wings. This works out well for me, because my frogs frequently don't get to the flies before the dust falls off.

Just felt like sharing.
-Mark


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

markbudde said:


> I've recently changed my supplement to mostly human supplements. In the process, I decided to get calcium citrate pills instead of calcium carbonate, because it is my understanding that it absorbs better.
> 
> I bought a bottle of Twinlabs brand Cacium citrate capsules. You can open the capsules up and dust directly without grinding them up. What I've noticed, though, is that the flies stay permanently dusted. I've used it twice so far, and I noticed it again today. I dusted yesterday morning, and tonight, about 36 hours later, many flies still have white abdomens and wings. This works out well for me, because my frogs frequently don't get to the flies before the dust falls off.
> 
> ...


Thanks for sharing. That's a very interesting effect. I tend to feed more flies less often so having the suppliments stick longer is a plus. Is there a big cost difference? 

____________
EricG.NH


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

I bought a big bottle of pills for about $15, which is much more expensive than rep-cal. It also doesn't have any D3 in it. Fortunately, it does not expire!


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## nish07 (Mar 16, 2008)

Hey Mark,

I've been looking for a Ca Citrate + D3 human supplement for a while.

I had purchased one but it contains watercress which is known to inhibit the absorption of Ca (go figure). Can you please link to me (here or in PMs) the specific supplement you're using?

Also, I'm concerned about the amount of D3 that should be supplemented (ratio-wise). I haven't crunched the numbers (infact my balance just got in so I can do this now).

I'll let people know what the average amount of D3 per capsule should be when I do some measurements.

-Nish

P.S. I just ran the numbers really fast. A pill from my bottle had 1.087g of supplement in it. This was an average sized capsule. The amount of D3 minimum in Rep-Cal is 400IU/g. The capsules did contain 400IU of D3 (lucky guess on my part). So this worked out about right. I would feel safer in the future using something closer to Rep-Cal as it's tried and tested as working for our frogs.

Now, all I need is a Ca Citrate pill that contains approximately 400IU D3 per pill while not containing watercress.

If anyone finds something like this from a company that looks reputable, let me know.


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

Nish, I've been using this...
Amazon.com: Twinlab Calcium Citrate 250 Caps: Sports & Outdoors
Keep in mind that without the D3 in it, it does not expire.


For D3, Ive been mixing A: D3:E in 100:10:1 IU ratios and dusting with that.
The A and E that I've been using come in capsules, which I can just open and dust with. I couldn't find D3 in that form, so I got some hard pills and grind them in a mortar and pestle. 

I also dust with herptivite for the water soluble vitamins, although I think the microfauna in my tank should be relatively high in those anyway.


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## nish07 (Mar 16, 2008)

Twinlab makes a D3 allergy cap at 400IU (not sure about gram weight but I'd need to work that out to hopefully a round number of capsules per addition of capsule of Ca Citrate).

I like the idea of mixing an A:E dust, though. Can you tell me which capsules you've been using there?

I've bought some liquid retinyl palmitate that I planned on diluting in polypropylene glycol to the concentration of 0.5 IU retinol/gram of frog (this means approximately 2 drops per thumb and a drop per thumb froglet). If I were able to add Vitamin E to this then I could drop calcium gluconate and retinol : D3 onto a pumilio froglet and possibly get better results. This is something that I would try sparingly initially, though, as the results of something like this aren't known too well. Polypropylene glycol should not have a bad effect on the frog as medicines are diluted in it and have been used without issue.

I'd use this once a month or so as a supplemental way of getting retinol to the frogs.

-Nish





markbudde said:


> Nish, I've been using this...
> Amazon.com: Twinlab Calcium Citrate 250 Caps: Sports & Outdoors
> Keep in mind that without the D3 in it, it does not expire.
> 
> ...


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

Nish, pm sent


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## Phyllobates (Dec 12, 2008)

Interesting thread. 

Nish, how do you deliver the retinol/glycol solution?

Chris


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## nish07 (Mar 16, 2008)

Phyllobater said:


> Interesting thread.
> 
> Nish, how do you deliver the retinol/glycol solution?
> 
> Chris


I still haven't made the solution. I'd have to measure the size of a drop from one of my amber dropper bottles. 

It's a good point you bring that up. I made that silly mistake before in my calculations. I'd like to get it to where it's 0.5IU in one drop.

-Nish


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

For really small animals we use lo-dose 0.5 cc syringes 

I would also be interested in the name of the produce for the pills that contain retinol and D3. 

Ed


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