Optimizing Your Reptile's Diet | Dr. Chapman DVM

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

*Thank you for watching the episode! QUESTION: Would you like to see Dr. Chapman as a semi-regular podcast guest? It seems to me that reptile vet. med is an evergreen topic! Let me know*

[@thejasminedragonmerchant6843]

A regular reptile vet guest would be awesome!

[@yadanie6194]

I particularly enjoyed her explanation of proper diet and hydration for arid reptiles. It has inherently bothered me, seeing people feed their desert tortoises and bearded dragons a buffet blend of diced cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, etc. It shows many keepers are disconnected from nature and the natural world even though they may love and appreciate it. So I see her perspective as a much needed breath of fresh air, and I definitely welcome more from her.

[@thejasminedragonmerchant6843]

@@yadanie6194 I imagine that those items would still be welcome, but more as a form of enrichment to go along with properly formulated pellets and (if necessary) supplement powders like Repashy. It's always nice to provide your pet with real veggies or other such foods if they enjoy them, but managing their diet so it's balanced and doesn't involve serving things that could make them sick or vitamin-deficient is definitely priority #1 (as much as it would be nice to be able to just feed them salads and be done with it, that's not really how reptiles work, even herbivorous ones. You need balanced nutrition or else it's like giving them plates of vitamin pills on top of crackers, long-term it won't end well).

[@yadanie6194]

@@thejasminedragonmerchant6843 I agree. Vegetables every once in a while isn't a big deal. We're dealing with captive animals, and these animals do have food preferences, so it's nice to treat them on occasion. I'm specifically talking about keepers/enthusiasts who feed these animals like they're vegetarians (as in people), instead of herbivores, and give them a bowl of salad 2-3 times a week.

[@thejasminedragonmerchant6843]

@@yadanie6194 It might have to do with unintentional anthropomorphising of one's pets, as well as a lot of misinformation from people trying to get pet info online and just grabbing the first website link they come across. A lot of people look at a cute reptile or other pet and think of it as akin to a cuter, smaller "person" to take care of, and don't always remember that you still need to give said pet specific care to help them thrive rather than just things you think work better for you to do (ex: bearded dragon keepers that don't provide enough insects because insect feeders each week can be expensive if you don't have a colony on hand, or giving a blue tongued skink banana every day because they love it and hearing "it's like cake to them!" means you think it'll be like having a slice of cake every day, even though eating that much sugar daily is a lot harder on a smaller reptile body compared to a human one). I keep a uro, and while by default he needs plenty of "salad" (and by that I mean leafy greens, cactus pads, seeds, safe grasses like Timothy hay, safe flowers, etc.) in his diet to give him vitamins and minerals and help keep him hydrated, that doesn't mean he can't get safe pellet food as a staple (especially since it keeps longer than fresh produce and can be easily stored for emergencies), or that I don't need to offer supplements to combat the lack of outdoor sunbathing when the weather isn't good.

[@alexanderbrown5425]

Dr. Chapman knows what she is talking about, I learned a lot!

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thanks for listening, Dr. Brown! It would be a fun episode to have you and Dr. Chapman on at the same time. Maybe that’s something we can look at doing in the future 🙂

[@alexanderbrown5425]

@@AnimalsatHomePodcast that sounds very cool!

[@danielmckenney1039]

I love these kind of episodes!!! I find my self listening to them several times to take in all the information!!

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Awesome, thank you for listening Daniel !

[@rickcroney1286]

Very informative episode. There is so many things with respect to veterinarian care that I would love to see this become more of a series. The consultation comment was something that we came across with our Leo and it made us feel more confident in our vet for reaching out for further information to treat our pet. Thanks Dr Chapman!

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thanks, Rick! Yes, I think it would make for a really informative series!

[@whiskeyneat97]

Amazing. As a leopard gecko keeper, the vitamin A thing I've studied for at least a dozen hours. Awesome to hear someone talk about the intricacies of insectivore diets. Mealworms, dubias, and crickets are my base. Supplementation has been good, but one can always improve. I feel good on diversifying more prey items. Great podcast.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for listening!

[@TikisGeckos]

Very informative! Thank you for posting.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@MsMeI]

Dr. Chapman is a gem. I look forward to learning more from her.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thanks, Melissa! 😁

[@brittanysarty1990]

This was excellent, please bring her back on. It confirmed many things my own research has led me to do and also advanced and improved on others.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thank you for watching the episode! Dr. Chapman will absolutely be on again!

[@HectorGarcia-pi5mu]

I truly truly love this video thank you for the great great information

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Glad you enjoyed it, Hector! Thank you for listening

[@CJoefarhat]

Great episode, and yes it would be great to have Dr. Chapman as often as possible.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Awesome! Thanks for watching, Joe!

[@nataliaprado5]

No worries getting on a schedule, your time isn't your own anymore! Hope the baby and mom are doing well and staying healthy. Loved the episode! such great information.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thank you, Natalia! 😁 Mom and baby are doing fantastic. Glad you enjoyed the episode!

[@jennifermier2625]

That was awesome, please keep her around!

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thanks for watching, Jennifer!

[@tinabratland4027]

This is a great informational video!

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Glad you think so! Thanks for watching!

[@jacalynhill7132]

Awesome episode! Please have her on again.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Glad you enjoyed it! Definitely plan on having Kelsey back on 🙂

[@santosleeli]

Awesome episode. Yes it would be great to have Dr. Chapman as a semi-regular guest. I have questions around parasites in reptiles. It seems a lot more prevalent than is discussed in the hobby. I've purchased my pet reptiles from a reptile store, a reptile expo and on Kijiji - all have come back with parasites or protozoa (not trace amounts). This makes me wary to have my pets in boarding at a reptile store, as their enclosures are likely riddled with parasites. It would be great to get a vet's perspective on this.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thank you for listening, glad you enjoyed it! Parasites would be an excellent topic to discuss with her next time

[@mikeyben6144]

Awesome video. Love the things I learn from your guests. Especially the part about vitamin A and Betacarotene.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@ggps8161]

Thank you for explaining this. I have 2 sulcata in Georgia (USA). They're outside majority of the year in a large enclosure just munching on the grasses. They get vegetables from our garden once in a while and during the winter get salads. But for the most part, I try to give them about 1/4 acre to forage on their own and move it every few months.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Sounds like they have an awesome set up! Thanks for watching the episode

[@HectorGarcia-pi5mu]

I hope you could do more videos when the time is right with veterinarians

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

That’s the plan!

[@snakemannn1744]

Great Show ,,,,,, well done cast ' ,,,,,, well enjoyed ,,,

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thank you kindly!

[@KylesMonitors]

This was fantastic and I hope she's back frequently. My vet is afraid to see any of my monitors and the closest reptile vet is many hours away. I'm going to ask if she would do a consult with Dr. Chapman.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Awesome, I hope it works out! Thanks for watching episode

[@MrPeter924]

Great lnterview great show. Pets animals reptiles. 👍

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thanks!

[@KaiahAurora]

I'm curious about how vitamin supplementation differs for nocturnal species. Should we still be offering UVA/UVB during the day? Or should we supplement with D3 more?

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

I offer both to my nocturnal gecko. He gets 10 hours of UVB per day (and once in a while I will see him basking under it). And then I supplement with oral D3 usually about 1 to 2 times per month

[@greenfairyarchive]

I’d love for her to discuss green iguana care.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

great idea!

[@imaflamingo4469]

Excellent timing! I’m planning on getting a Hermann’s tortoise very soon. Very helpful ❤️

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Oh, awesome! 😁

[@RelentlessStarlight]

This was fantastic! I took pages of notes and listened to sections of it multiple times. I did have a question about the vitamin A supplementation though. The discussion focused on mainly supplementing an insectivore diet with Vitamin A and ensuring that we select a multi vitamin that specifically lists "Vitamin A" versus beta carotene or its other forms. However I was wondering how/if that differed from supplementing an herbivore diet. My multi vitamin for my arid tortoises is called "herptivite" and it specifically lists Beta Carotene and says on the label it does this to avoid the possibility of hypervitaminosis A. Do tortoises have the enzyme needed to convert beta carotene into a form of vitamin A? If they're designed to eat plants, then it makes sense that they should be able to convert the raw form of beta carotene into Vitamin A (or can plants make this conversion?) but even after pages and pages of research I still see conflicting information about what to offer them. It also doesn't help that sources seem to use Vitamin A and Beta Carotene interchangeably.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thanks for watching, Christine! Glad you found it helpful. Yes, tortoises have the enzyme needed to convert beta carotene into vitamin A, so supplementing with Beta Carotene is appropriate!

[@patrick87100]

Thank you AAH

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thanks for watching! 😁

[@pow....rightinthekisser4581]

Dang, this is a really important episode

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Thanks for watching!

[@johnny-james]

This was really interesting! If I can suggest something for the reptile first aid at home kit, unpasteurised honey! for honey soaks or you can apply directly on any kind of bump or sore .

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

Glad you enjoyed it, thank you for listening! Awesome, thanks for the tip!

[@sjsmith9637]

I would love for yall to talk about box turtles more. They break a lot of the rules with turtles and tortoises but for being a very common pet the advice about them is buck wild. I think for their longevity and wide range in the US their care guides are very out of date. I wish there was more work being done because they really are a lovely pet species. Because they're native to so many parts of the US they are a large, long-lived reptile that can live outside in our climate, by all accounts a great option--but people seem to have no idea what to feed them.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

That's a great topic! We discuss box turtles briefly with Chris from Garden State Tortoise a few month ago, but I would love to go into this topic in more depth with Dr. Chapman next time!

[@Dovietail]

Help with fostered Sonoran Desert tortoise diet. We have like zero available wild forage for her. Sheesh!

[@bethreifsneider4327]

I have a box turtle who is very picky will not eat any worms bugs etc only will eat his greens blueberries strawberries I keep trying to sneak other foods in but usually he will just move those out of his way

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

It can be so frustrating caring for a picky animal! I’m sure with persistence you can start sneaking in other foods 🙂

[@UpperAquatics]

I had no idea about the vitamin A thing. I immediately ordered some reptivite without D3 to replace the exoterra multivitamin i've been using for my Cuban false chameleon. I feel bad for him :/

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

I hear you, I did the exact same thing with my geckos… I’m sure he will be totally fine! But glad to hear you’ve made the switch

[@savannahbrewer6161]

How do you politely but firmly insist a vet NOT take your animal out of your sight? Ive had mammal vets perform procedures without my permission or knowledge before and its really affected my relationship with the veterinarian profession. We wouldn't let a pediatrician take our kid somewhere without us.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

That’s a really good question. I think if you lay that out clearly, and explain to them that you prefer to always remain with your animal that should be sufficient? I think if a vet has a problem with that, I would find a new vet!

[@thejasminedragonmerchant6843]

For those of us with desert-dwelling reptiles like uromastyx, chuckwallas, desert iguanas, etc., do you have any advice on when to do fasting days? I know that food isn't always readily available in the desert, and I don't want my pet to get fat, but I don't want him to panic and go on a hunger strike if I skip a day or two either.

[@yadanie6194]

Arid-dwelling reptiles are grazers, and their diet in the wild mainly consist of high fiber, low-nutritional foods, like grasses, weeds, etc. If they're kept and fed properly, there shouldn't be concern for your reptiles becoming fat or obese.

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

The only other thing I’ll add is, check out the episode I did with Phillip Lietz. It’s an extensive episode on Uro’s, and we discuss Feeding at one point

[@thejasminedragonmerchant6843]

@@AnimalsatHomePodcast Sounds good. I got him as a skinny little dude, so I bulked him back up with leafy greens and lentils and now he's got a fairly normal eating schedule (although he's very picky about only munching the lentils out of his weekly spoonful of seed mix). He's got plenty of energy and climbs his branches and rocks a lot, I just don't want him to become so mesmerised by his access to real sunshine that he just sits in one place all day and gets fat 😅 And I love that episode! I actually use it as a sort of basic guide on how to keep my uro (although he has considerably more frequent access to timothy hay and wildflowers).

[@sonyalaughton5057]

Unfortunately, hay can only be fed to a small range of tortoises and the pellets can cause to rapid growth

[@FreshwaterIchthyology]

What was brought up about vets knowing or being trained about a wide diversity of animals particularly exotics has always worried me. Like there is no way you can learn about all animal even major taxa in the 5 years training (UK course time)....... It's when it comes to fishes that drives me mad. I am studying fishes for postgraduate particularly their morphology, evolutionary biology. I've seen very dodgy vet advise, often massively out of date and even many misconceptions spread by vets. Literally fish morphology is so diverse you'd have to know the taxa to know what is abnormal. It's to the point I'd mostly go to vets for access to certain tech such as an ultrasound or access to a pathology lab. Other animals I'm not too different to be honest. To be honest when it even comes to guinea pigs and rabbits people are now cautious where they go to. Most UK vets who do what we call small animals largely do dogs and cats. There is also a massive misconception about where their knowledge stops and other fields start such as scientific research, care etc. Particularly care vets knowledge only goes so far as they aren't trained for all of it.

[@Dovietail]

At what freaking clinic?! The vast majority of Americans at least live more than 200 miles from a reptile specialist and probably a 100 miles from anyone who will even deign to treat reptiles at all!

[@AnimalsatHomePodcast]

It’s the nature of living in North America. Trust me, in Canada it’s far worse since we are more sparsely populated. However, as Dr. Chapman said, there’s always an option to have your local vet consult with a reptile specialist for non-surgical issues.