Calcium and Vitamins

[fuzzymom]

I use calcium powder for my gecko to dust her crickets with and I don't use a lot of it. I don't have anything to make egg shell powder out of right now (no grinders or mortar and pestle) but I want to make the kids some soupie. I'd like to add calcium and vitamins to the soupie, but all I have available to me right now is Rep-Cal Phosphorous-Free Calcium with Vit. D3 Ultrafine Powder. It says it is made from 100% natural oyster shell phosphorous free calcium carbonate with added vitamin d3. We used to use this for our sugar gliders in their BML. We also have a vitamin powder we used for the sugar gliders. It contains

Vitamin E - 5,500 IU
Choline - 4,400 mg
Niacin - 3,300 mg
Inositol - 2,530 mg
Ascorbic Acid (vit. c) - 2,200 mg
P-Amino Benzoic Acid - 1,100 mg
Thaimine (vit. B1) - 880 mg
Riboflavin (vit. B2) - 550 mg
Vitamin B6 - 550 mg
Beta Carotene - 440 mg
d-Pantothenic Acid - 330 mg
Folic Acid - 33 mg
Menadione - 22 mg
Vitamin B12 - 3.85mg
Biotin - 0.44 mg

It also contains amino acids, and minerals, including calcium, phosphorous, salt, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, and zinc.

Could either or both of these be used in their soupie?

[josiesmom]

see if you can discover how MUCH salt (sodium) is in the powder - ferrets do NOT need salt and If I remember correctly can succumb to salt poisoning rather quickly.

My local walmart sells mortar and pestle sets - I got a wooden one for 6 bucks! Cuttlefish "bone" is rather cheap and easy to find and has no additives to worry about.

Egg shells can be dried in the toaster oven then crushed with a spoon on a flat plate.

I'm not convinced that oyster shells no matter how finely ground will offer DIGESTIBLE calcium. Manily because I perceive the oyster shell as something designed to protect the inner animal from the rest of the world, therefore the shell is impermeable and the animal must OPEN it's shell in order to eat, breathe and otherwise survive;

while the cuttlefish bone comes from WITHIN the animal and the animal's flesh is attached to the bone and the bone helps support and nourish the animal.

Similarly while an egg shell is designed to prtect the inner animal the shell allows the animal to breathe through it and it is NOT as impermeable nor sturdy as an oyster shell.

Are they all made of similar substance? calcium? yup - but in MUCH different cellular make up and for me, it seems easy to perceive which would offer the most digestibility - and that would be the calcium from the item which originated WITHIN another animal!

IF your ferrets aren't yet up to devouring their own bones - then by all means supplement with a calcium product - but use something THEY too can make use of! Otherwise they'll just pass it through and continue to utilize the calcium within their own bones!

Calcium is one of the very MOST important nutrients, besides water! It is utilized for sooooo many different body functions besides JUST structure and strong teeth! Muscles depend upon calcium, nerves depend upon calcium and of course bones and teeth!

Cheeras!

[fuzzymom]

Well I just made some soupy so I have some egg shell drying. I might make a trip to Walmart tonight to get food for the ferrets (I only have chicken legs left) and look for a mortar and pestle. The salt amount is 0.14% or 1,385mg.

[sherrylynne]

When it comes down to it- they will be fine for 3-4 months with no calcium. You'll be able to tell when their levels are getting to low because their nails will start splitting first.

[zoologist]

cuttlebone is a great source of calcium, easy to make into powder too. just go to the pet store an it will be in the bird aisle. there are two sides, one you can sink your nail into and the other side you can't. the side you can't sink your nail into is the backing of the bone an you need to take it off. to make it into a powder just take a knife and shave off little pieces, it will break up really easily
(i feed chunks of it to my turtle )