Calcium

[Ssnakess :)]

Hi,
I'm new to Ssnakess and I have a quick question!

So, I just got my first garter snake and he's on a worm diet because he's not big enough to eat pinkies yet. I was wondering if it would be alright to crush up organic egg shell and feed a worm with a dusting of it? Would that be alright?

[StarFall]

edit- it I know people do this with leopard geckos and turtles and such, so it should be ok for a garter. Just be careful not to put too much on the worm, I've heard doing that could kill it.
edit- it could kill the worm not the snake. i should have specified lol

[Tiny Boidae]

I'd venture to say that you might not need to excessively dust the worms. Worms already have a decent calcium: phosphorus ratio and are very high in protein content while low in fat. I'd do a light calcium dusting once every two-three feedings, and maybe a vitamin dusting with Beta Carotene less often.

[Scubadiver59]

BTW...welcome to sSNAKESs!! :)

[chairman]

Something else to keep in mind, calcium powder changes stomach chemistry (think calcium-based antacids). You don't want to constantly dose your animal with substances that interfere with digestion. That's a reason why gut loading is generally advised. There are quite a few calcium rich vegetables that can be fed to worms.

[Ssnakess :)]

Sorry, I meant like would it be okay on feeding day to dip one of the worms in calcium powder right before i feed it to my garter? I wasn't meaning to dip the worm and then put it back in the worm farm container.
Thanks so much everyone for your replies!! This is my very first snake and I'm so glad there is a place with great people and info. :)

[Ssnakess :)]

BTW...welcome to sSNAKESs!! :)

Thanks!! :)

[Tiny Boidae]

Reptiles in general tend to do best with 1-2% calcium content at a 2:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio. According to this chart,
https://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml
you would probably be running the risk of overdosing your garter on calcium if you dust its food regularly. Like chairman mentioned, you should be fine by simply gut loading the worm prior to feeding. Collard greens, mustard greens, and dandelion greens are all great choices for this, but it's best to offer a variety of vegetables to your worms to make sure they're not only high in calcium, but also the proper nutrients. I've never fed earthworms off before, but for most of my insects I would feed them a salad of collard greens, orange, carrots, and sweet potato. You can always search around for what works best for you, but just stay away from lettuce as it has little to no nutritional value besides water.

[Ssnakess :)]

Reptiles in general tend to do best with 1-2% calcium content at a 2:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio. According to this chart,
https://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml
you would probably be running the risk of overdosing your garter on calcium if you dust its food regularly. Like chairman mentioned, you should be fine by simply gut loading the worm prior to feeding. Collard greens, mustard greens, and dandelion greens are all great choices for this, but it's best to offer a variety of vegetables to your worms to make sure they're not only high in calcium, but also the proper nutrients. I've never fed earthworms off before, but for most of my insects I would feed them a salad of collard greens, orange, carrots, and sweet potato. You can always search around for what works best for you, but just stay away from lettuce as it has little to no nutritional value besides water.

Okay, thanks for writing that out for me. Great info!! I'll make sure to be very careful when dosing the calcium. :)