Best brand of calcium supplement?

[ravenraskin]

I have a post in another thread about flea medicine and sneezing, but I have another question. What's the best brand of calcium supplement to give to my squirrel? How much should I give and how often? Currently I take the coating off of calcium pills, crush them up into a fine powder, and mix a very very small amount into her distilled water. But I want to stop doing that and have a more uniform way of giving her calcium. I feed her the blocks, lots of veggies but I still feel like she needs more calcium. Please help, thank you.

[HRT4SQRLS]

I have a post in another thread about flea medicine and sneezing, but I have another question. What's the best brand of calcium supplement to give to my squirrel? How much should I give and how often? Currently I take the coating off of calcium pills, crush them up into a fine powder, and mix a very very small amount into her distilled water. But I want to stop doing that and have a more uniform way of giving her calcium. I feed her the blocks, lots of veggies but I still feel like she needs more calcium. Please help, thank you.

:wave123 ravenraskin
:Welcome to The Squirrel Board

Be very careful supplementing with calcium. Does the calcium you're using have Vitamin D3? A lot of calcium supplements do. Of course, all mammals need Vitamin D3 but you have to be careful because VitD3 is used as a rodenticide (rat poison). When I supplement I give calcium carbonate. A little Vit D3 is OK and probably good, I just don't know how much, therefore I don't use it. They do get Vitamin D in the blocks. What brand are you using?

If your squirrel is on a healthy diet as it appears you don't need a lot of supplementing. I give an occasional sprinkle on their food. It is tasteless so they don't notice it. OR, I will dip one side of a favorite food, like avocado in the calcium carbonate powder.

I would not put the calcium in their water. Calcium carbonate is not especially dissolvable in water so it mostly falls to the bottom. I would not put anything in their water that might discourage them from drinking. I think that is risky IMO. Just curious, why do you use distilled water? It is mineral depleted and it tastes nasty. :grin2 I need to look this up but I bet our water in FL has a good amount of calcium in it due to the limestone foundation. :thinking Yeah, I'm gonna look that up. :tilt

There are many places to get calcium carbonate. You can get it on eBay. Here is a link to a brand called NOW. It is quite cheap. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Calcium-Carbonate-12-oz-by-NOW-Foods-/111434373339?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19f20198db
You can shop it and you might find it cheaper. That's just one link. You can also get calcium carbonate powder from Henrys Pets online. You can buy a smaller quantity there of you desire.

What area in FL are you from? North, Central, South. I live in central FL. We have a lot of FL members. Welcome! :)

[ravenraskin]

:wave123 ravenraskin
:Welcome to The Squirrel Board

Be very careful supplementing with calcium. Does the calcium you're using have Vitamin D3? A lot of calcium supplements do. Of course, all mammals need Vitamin D3 but you have to be careful because VitD3 is used as a rodenticide (rat poison). When I supplement I give calcium carbonate. A little Vit D3 is OK and probably good, I just don't know how much, therefore I don't use it. They do get Vitamin D in the blocks. What brand are you using?

If your squirrel is on a healthy diet as it appears you don't need a lot of supplementing. I give an occasional sprinkle on their food. It is tasteless so they don't notice it. OR, I will dip one side of a favorite food, like avocado in the calcium carbonate powder.

I would not put the calcium in their water. Calcium carbonate is not especially dissolvable in water so it mostly falls to the bottom. I would not put anything in their water that might discourage them from drinking. I think that is risky IMO. Just curious, why do you use distilled water? It is mineral depleted and it tastes nasty. :grin2 I need to look this up but I bet our water in FL has a good amount of calcium in it due to the limestone foundation. :thinking Yeah, I'm gonna look that up. :tilt

There are many places to get calcium carbonate. You can get it on eBay. Here is a link to a brand called NOW. It is quite cheap. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Calcium-Carbonate-12-oz-by-NOW-Foods-/111434373339?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19f20198db
You can shop it and you might find it cheaper. That's just one link. You can also get calcium carbonate powder from Henrys Pets online. You can buy a smaller quantity there of you desire.

What area in FL are you from? North, Central, South. I live in central FL. We have a lot of FL members. Welcome! :)

The calcium pills I have don't contain any D3, I made sure of that. It says they only have calcium carbonate in them. But I will order some of the powder so I don't have to crush anything up. So thank you for the link. (:
I'm always worried that she'll develop MBD for some reason even though I feed her well.
I use distilled water because I had a cat that I used to give tap water to and she developed bladder/urinary problems because of all the calcium and such in the water. I figured the same would happen to my squirrel if I gave tap water to her everyday. I live in Central FL. Thank you! (: