' Your snake should accept
food that has been dusted with supplement powders
containing calcium. Alternatively, liquid drops may be
added to the water.'
The RSPCA isnt necessarily the best choice for information
This info was common in a lot of older books, not really going to do much harm, if your feeder animals have had a good diet it shouldnt be necessary.
maybe for gravid females or just after laying, i suppose if you have a snake with calcium deficiency aswell. They used to make all kinds of vitamin sprays and powders (probably still do)
I calcium dust when my females are gravid as they use a lot of calcium from their own bodies to create eggs, it can be a strain on some females s the extra calcium can be less demanding on the females.
I do, about twice a year, with a calcium/ vitamin reptile supplement suitable for snakes, rubbed into mouse's fur ( and mouth ).I read about supplementing couple of times, when doing my research before buying my first snake - I think Kathy Love does for their corn snakes before/during breeding season...
I think as long as it's not done too often, and you don't overdose, it can only be helpful, especially calcium during breeding season.
In nature, the snakes would eat much larger variety of animals ( that in turn would have eaten much more varied food than lab mice ), so it's quite possible they aren't getting all that they would in wild.
I occasionally supplement, but primarily it's for breeders and fast growing babies. Those are the ones that are likely to need it most.
IMO, extra calcium is unnecessary for rodent eating snakes. At best, extra calcium is eliminated in the droppings. At worst, it gets deposited in the tissues and produces problems like gout.
My preference is a good bird liquid multivitamin injected into a dead food animal's belly. A bird vitamin because both reptiles and birds metabolize vitamin D3 than D2, which is the type in human multiple vitamins. And in a dead food animal because dosage is easier to control than when placed in the water.
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