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Posted by EdK on February 27, 2003 at 21:12:48:
In Reply to: Re: They can but it's not good for them posted by Colchicine on February 26, 2003 at 21:06:59:
:You are also not feeding it enough variety. Earthworms are over 90 percent water, although they have a positive calcium to phosphate ratio they do not provide much in the way of nutrients. The crickets have been proven to be the most nutritious foods you could feed amphibians.
Actually this is not true, earthworms have an excellant nutritional value and as long as the worms are kept in soil or a calicum enriched substrate have a positive calcium to phosphorus ratio. While the worm may be high in moisture there is more digestible material available to the animal as opposed to more traditional invertebrate offerings such as crickets and meal worms. Also the worm is more easily digested allowing for less stress on the animal. Unless you are willing to house your crickets with a good food and water soure for at least 48 hours and preferably 72 hours the crickets will be deficent in fats, protiens as well as vitamins and minerals. While a supplement will help to overcome this problem it really doesn't suffice in the long run (for a good summary of this information chack out Reptile Medicine by Mader specifically the chapter on Nutrition).
:You should be using a combination of a calcium supplement, and vitamins on a weekly basis. Supplements and vitamins are quite ubiquitous at pet stores and you can find them online. Any brand is just as good as another, but I suggest using multiple brands since you can not count on any one manufacturer to provide all the necessary ingredients and nutrients.
This is also not a sufficent way to deal with the possibility of deficiencies as not all supplements are created equal. The first thing with any supplement is to look for the expiration date. If the supplement does not have a expiration date keep on looking, the reason for this is that the vitamin-mineral mixes will catalyze the oxidation of the various ingredients rendering them useless to the animals. The second thing to look for is D3 as this is the only isomer of vitamin D that can be used by amphibians and reptiles for calcium metabolism. The third item to look for is a 10 to 1 to 0.1 ratio of vitamin A to vitamin D3 to vitamin E. The fourth item is to look for a 2 to 1 ratio of calcium to phophorus.
Other items that can help make a supplement a better choice would be the use of betacarotene instead of retinol (vitamin A) as it is far less toxic and does not affect calcium metabolism. Also another point to keep in mind that over supplementation is just as bad as undersupplementation.
Hope this helps,
Ed
