Feeding and Nutrition :: RepCal Calcium Powder Dosage Question

Turtle diets and eating habits discussed here.

Post Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 1:03 am   RepCal Calcium Powder Dosage Question

Hello! So I have an RES that has been with me for 11 years so far (Shelldon Leo Kooper).

As of late, we have been changing up Shelldon's diet a tad: Her current schedule is

Overall Diet Plan: .5% BW
Shelldon's current weight is about 867 g (She is about 6.5 In SCL); She was taken to the vet this past June and was remarked as being in good body condition.

So she receives about 4 g of food per day; 3 g of veggies in the morning and 1 g of pellets in the afternoon.

I try to divide her meals into tiers;

her 3 g of veggies for example are divided into 75% highly recommended foods (Such as organic red leaf lettuce/green leaf lettuce) while 25% is for things like carrot sticks.
Same goes with pellet foods, with highly recommended brands like omega one and mazuri taking up 75% of the one gram of pellets, while other brands like zoomed and reptomin taking up the remaining 25% (to offer variety, which was recommended by the vet, while still making sure the higher 'tier' pellets take priority)

Wednesday is fast day as recommended by the vet.

And Sundays and Saturdays include a little treat into her veggie and pellet meals respectively (Such as .25 g of shrimp instead of the .25 g of slightly lower tier pellets)

So far her new diet has been working very well and her weight has been stable (while my old diet was not bad, I wanted to try and standardize things a bit better and offer more variety while retaining a high quality of food and nutrition, hence all the numbers and percentages and whathaveyou)

I used to offer her banquet blocks, a calcium block by zoomed. I used to offer her an entire block every two weeks, but I realized that it was a bit much and taking up a large amount of her biomass. So I tried offering her smaller pieces weekly, but Shelldon has not been going for those as much. I've tried cuttlebone in the past, but Shelldon does not take much to that either.

I have wanted to start using a calcium powder supplement (as Shelldon has not been picking at the banquet block as much as she used to). RepCal Calcium Powder (Without Vitamin D3 as Shelldon has a good basking area and basks frequently) and no phosphorus has come highly recommended.

My question involves dosage; I was planning on using it once a week but am unsure how much to use.

The directions involved using 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of powder/ pound of food. I am rather fond of following directions to the letter, but I don't plan on feeding Shelldon an entire pound of food in one sitting.

I don't want to douse an entire head of lettuce with the stuff as I only plan on using the powder once a week.

I was thinking of once a week, sprinkling the powder either on Shelldon's lettuce (which would be around 2.25 g of food) or her 'main' pellets (0.75 g). Would be planning on doing the 'put food and powder in bag and shake' method. I just don't want to overdo it on the powder, and am unsure how much would be 'too much', as the dosage was a tad vague. I could prepare one pound of a variety pack of pellets ahead of time using the dosage directions and gradually use that once a week but am unsure.

Does anyone have any advice? It is likely that I am overthinking this. I read an amazon product review and they stated that they 'dose' their turtle once a week with about a teaspoon of it. Does that sound like an appropriate amount for a weekly sprinkle on lettuce or pellets? Also would it be recommended to use it with lettuce or pellets?
Gerstein
 
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Post Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 6:10 am   Re: RepCal Calcium Powder Dosage Question

I've never been a fan of those calcium blocks but I would expect any extra calcium to be expelled in her waste. A blood test should show how her calcium levels are but I think you're doing fine.

Most of the powder will wash off in the water, it would be better to use in the "jell-o" treat if you were to make it.
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Post Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 2:02 pm   Re: RepCal Calcium Powder Dosage Question

That is a fair point. When doing the dimensional analysis for the recommended dosage, the amount of powder would have been miniscule, and as you say, a lot of it will wash off. It would not sit well with me to disobey dosage instructions either.

I think I will try to offer cuttlebone as the 'main' calcium supplement, with the banquet blocks as a backup, and try to aim it so that Shelldon gobbles around 0.75 g Tues and Thurs, replacing the carrots on those days, so about 1.5 g of supplement/week total. If she does not show interest, or only partially gobbles, I can fill the remainder of the meal with carrot slices. Shelldon always did go for the banquet blocks when I put the entire block in, so maybe its more the size of the calcium supplement that gets her attention. I can always take the bone/block out. I do also have to keep in mind that she is also getting some calcium in her lettuce and I do believe there is some in her pellets, as well as her reptisafe conditioner adding some to the water.

Thank you for your advice. I have a habit of overthinking, overorganizing and overworrying when it comes to Shelldon; I think its a good and bad thing XD.
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Post Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 2:41 pm   Re: RepCal Calcium Powder Dosage Question

Do those supplements still say they're medicated? And are you using large pieces of cuttlebone? If I recall correctly, people would soak them in tuna water for a bit to give it some odor/flavor.
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Post Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 10:18 pm   Re: RepCal Calcium Powder Dosage Question

According to the banquet block box, it says it is 'food and calcium supplement' all in one.

ATM I'm using the Zoomed brand of Cuttlebone for turtles, but have been told that I can just use the normal cuttlebone they make for birds as well.

Good to know about the tuna water for odor/flavor.

I think my current plan is to prioritize the cuttlebone, and use the banquet block only if she does not go for the cuttlebone.
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Post Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:44 pm   Re: RepCal Calcium Powder Dosage Question

With any type of Cuttlebone you might have a hard backing that you need to remove before using.
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