I hear different things on calcium supplements for momma corn snakes. Do you all supplement your breeders?
If so, do you purchase the kind with or without D3? Do you inject it so the snake doesn’t smell/taste it? Or just dust the mouse and call it good?
Not a corn breeder, but I do breed BPs.
Rodent prey is already pretty good on calcium as long as they are being purchased through reputable means. If your local reptile shop has shabby or skinny looking rodents I would definitely look into a different source.
It is possible to give too much calcium. If it’s only a once or twice thing, then it’s not as much of a concern, but over time you can cause unnecessary stress on bodily function.
I personally do not supplement my breeding females. They get started back on appropriate rodent meals quickly and that’s usually all they need for me.
However, if I had a female with calcification issues and extreme windowing on her eggs I would consider calcium supplements as a short term addition. I have both with and without for my geckos, so if I did need it for the snakes I would probably do one meal with and 2 weeks later one without. If that happens again the next time they’re bred I would probably retire them instead of risking anything health wise.
I use an approximately 5:5:1 ratio of Calcium/D3 powder, Vitamins, and Nutribac in my supplement mix. Every mouse gets a haunch squished into a little dish of the mix before serving. Very small amount per serving.
Supplementing corns, even breeding females, is probably not necessary. I do it for the same reason I take a few supplements myself: to make up for any POSSIBLE deficiencies.
Would you mind sharing your favorite brands of those supplements and where you buy them, @deanii?
I ge these from Amazon. Sometimes I use Rep-Cal Herptivite vitamins instead of Arcadia, and Miner-all Calcium/D3. I trust those brands.
This is just my personal preference but I never do any supplementation for my breeding females of any species unless its their first meal just after laying a clutch, especially if I see calcification issues in the eggs.
Otherwise I don’t think its really necessary as they already get the calcium they need from the bones of whole prey items.
I just do a very light calcium carbonate (no D3) dusting on the prey item’s back.
I agree that supplementing calcium for rodent eating herps is best done very judiciously and only PRN (“as needed”) according to evidence of need in specific cases, or perhaps extrapolated in situations of poor diets (in my case, hatchlings that are stuck on pinky mice for an extended time, and then only a couple dustings).
Adding too much calcium carbonate (or doing so regularly) into a rodent feeding herp’s diet is not warranted, since the amount of calcium is not the only facet of calcium metabolism; too much calcium in relation to the amount of phosphorus can be just as bad (and rodents have a balanced ratio of Ca/P already, so altering that isn’t a positive). The ‘possible deficiency’ thought isn’t nearly so backed by evidence as might be thought, since oversupplementation can be as bad as undersupplementation, and rodent eating snakes – very unlike virtually all humans – are already eating a balanced diet.
Some years I haven’t. Too much calcium is absolutely a possibility and properly fed snakes shouldn’t need a vitamin/mineral supplement. That said? I have also had a couple of random females with calcification issues. One year it was everybody, which indicated that their mice weren’t as healthy as they should have been.
Since then I do add a pinch of calcium/D3 powder to breeding females’ meals once monthly from January until after they’d have laid any second clutches. I just sprinkle it on the mouse. Never had a snake care. The D3 helps with Ca metabolism for snakes, just as with humans. I’ve used phosporus-free RepCal and also ZooMed. Upon veterinary advice, I had a couple specific females who got Ca+D3 twice per month in breeding season. They had perfect eggs that way after the awful year.
Separate note, I’m a big fan of NutriBac. That’s a probiotic. All of my animals get it monthly once they’re established feeders. They also get it when they move up in prey size or have a stressor like shipping.
Such great experience and advice. Thank you.
I usually don’t, but I’ve tried it a few times in the past and haven’t found it that it really made a difference (mine seem to do just fine without it). I do like to keep nutribac on hand for regurges though!
