Hello, I am feeding my 3.5 month old leopard gecko with crickets dusted with calcium with a d3 supplement in it (nutrobal). If I was to put in a 2% uvb light then should i switch to a calcium powder without the d3?

No stay with the supplements for sure

I read that too much d3 can be dangerous for reptiles. If I supply a uvb light and also the d3 supplement then it could cause too much d3? does anyone have any further information on this?

I recently had a post mortem done on my frilly by a very good research vet and author from US, while he was at oxford uni.
My frilly was misdiagnosed my my vet here in ireland. She said he didn't have MBD, that maybe it was a resp infection. I paid upwards of 300 quid for her to basically do nothing.
Luckily i have a contact at oxford, who knew of some MBD research going on, and arranged the pm on my frilly.
He had very advanced MBD.
This was caused by us giving him TOO MUCH supplementation.
This is what we were told:
-Reptiles which feed mostly on feeder insects are prone to MBD because
the calcium-phosphorus ratio is out of balance - around 1:16.
Phosphorus blocks the uptake of Ca.
-Blood tests (which my vet never did) revealed the high ph levels. And
also led to renal failure. (we drew blood just before the frilly was put
to sleep)
-This vet is doing a major international study on this topic, and has
found so far that some 70% of the cases of MBD he's studiied are a
direct result of this imbalance, inadequate UV and odd cases are
responsible for the rest.
- The best way to avoid this happening to your animal, is to gutload
insects first of all. This evens out the Ca-Ph balance. Also, suppement
with a PURE Ca powder every day/every other day - and only use multi
vit powders like nutriball once a week. also, make an effort to look for
low Ph products.
And use adequate UV of course!

After doing everything absolutely by the book, I was gutted to lose my frilly, and to find out he died from MBD was a kick in the teeth.
I'm thrilled i've had some advice from these researchers now though, and it's only now that i feel able to take on another frilly.
No multivit supplements for him every day!!!

Hope this is useful to someone,
Lisa

Over supplementation can indeed cause problems such as hypervitaminosis D. This (when combined with a high calcium intake) can lead to hypercalcaemia which is where the blood plasma level of calcium is above normal.
The body tries to reduce the levels of calcium in the serum by laying calcium down in soft tissues. Muscle (including cardiac muscle) and vascualr tissue are often affected, as are the kidneys. When soft tissue becomes mineralised it severely impairs its function.
Basically, over-supplementation can be just as dangerous as under-supplementation.

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1.1.0 Strophurus williamsi
1.1.0 Eurydactylodes agricolae
1.2.0 Underwoodisarus milii
1.0.0 Nephrurus amyae
0.2.0 Lepidodactylus lugubris
0.1.0 Rhacodactylus auriculatus

Are you only using nutrobal as a supplement?
You should be using a pure calcium carbonate powder most of the time and only use nutrobal once or twice a week maximum.

You are right in thinking that too much D3 is harmful (see my above post).
As there has been very little study on the calcium status of captive reptiles (measuring calcediol levels in the blood), it is impossible to answer your question. The animals have a natural mechanism to prevent themselves producing too much D3....it's photodegraded by a wavelength of light very close to the wavelength that's required for its synthesis. By dusting the food in a D3 supplement, we are bypassing that natural mechanism.

If you are to provide your leo with UVB, I would advise you to closely monitor it's supplementation. If you begin to get signs of hyper/hypocalcaemia then adjust your supplementation accordingly.
Personally, I would use nutrobal once a week maximum, if providing low level UVB.

__________________
1.1.0 Strophurus williamsi
1.1.0 Eurydactylodes agricolae
1.2.0 Underwoodisarus milii
1.0.0 Nephrurus amyae
0.2.0 Lepidodactylus lugubris
0.1.0 Rhacodactylus auriculatus

yesterday we had to have our 5month old yemen chameleon euthanised at the vets because of MBD, maybe if we had known more about this disease before then we could have put a stop to it before it got worse, I knew what MBD was but i was unsure of the signs and things to look for and also all the ways that it can be prevented, if this info prevents at least one reptile owners having to go through what I had to go through yesterday then its a good thing , my poor little miss must have been in agony, its a horrible disease and very very rapid in the way that it takes over their entire body.thanks for posting this!

I feel your pain hun. We too had to have a chameleon put to sleep on valenties day this year due to sereve MBD. We rescued him from a well know pet store but he only lasted 2 months. The problem with chamelons is they tend to hide illness very well. Now we know he had MBD due to his bent casque etc but we didnt realise how bad till all of a sudden he got really sick one day. Even the vets were shocked by how fast he went down hill in a matter of days. He had a fall and it trigered off seizures which looked very painfull somanaged to get an emergency app same day.
R.I.P Joey. x

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http://specialgeckos.webs.com/

This is terrible, it sounds very similar to what happened with our little one, we noticed her leg was bent on monday and by wednesday daytime after already being to the vets once and waiting for the d3 supplements to be ordered she suffered another fall which also fractured her front leg.by the time we got her to the vets wednesday she couldnt lift her own weight and was very lethargic.Its hard when you have to make that decision to end their suffering but I do think its the best thing you can do for them and the kindest..........even though it doesnt feel like that right now

really helpful thread i didn tknow what mbd was for quite a while till i started reading up on it.. is this a sticky yet??

reptimus