Until recently, my Russians have had a diminished appetite. At first I thought it was because their basking spot wasn't hot enough, and changing the bulbs did help. But they still didn't seem to be as hungry as I remembered. I thought it could just be that they were well fed, but then I looked into vitamin D3 overdose.
In humans, vitamin D3 overdose (or toxicity) can lead to excessively high levels of calcium in the blood. This condition is known as hypercalcemia, and its symptoms include:
- Feeling sick
- Low appetite
- Extreme thirst
- Frequent urination
- Constipation or diarrhea
- Abdominal pain
- Muscle weakness or pain
- Confusion
- Fatigue
See: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/am-i-getting-too-much-vitamin-d/
My Russians live indoors, so I supplement their diet with a calcium + vitamin D3 powder. I had been using it about 3x per week, which supposed to be a good frequency. But what if this was causing their low appetite (along with constipation and possible fatigue, all bolded above). Now that it's summer, and my torts are outside a lot, I felt it was safe to stop providing the supplement, since they have cuttlebones in their pens for calcium, and sunshine for vitamin D3. Lo and behold, their appetites seem to have recently returned! Could this be because they were suffering from vitamin D3 toxicity? Hard to say, since just being outside does wonders anyway. But it's possible. So, for those of you whose tortoises seem to exhibit some of the above symptoms, perhaps cutting back on the vitamin D3 supplementation would help.
In humans, vitamin D3 overdose (or toxicity) can lead to excessively high levels of calcium in the blood. This condition is known as hypercalcemia, and its symptoms include:
- Feeling sick
- Low appetite
- Extreme thirst
- Frequent urination
- Constipation or diarrhea
- Abdominal pain
- Muscle weakness or pain
- Confusion
- Fatigue
See: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/am-i-getting-too-much-vitamin-d/
My Russians live indoors, so I supplement their diet with a calcium + vitamin D3 powder. I had been using it about 3x per week, which supposed to be a good frequency. But what if this was causing their low appetite (along with constipation and possible fatigue, all bolded above). Now that it's summer, and my torts are outside a lot, I felt it was safe to stop providing the supplement, since they have cuttlebones in their pens for calcium, and sunshine for vitamin D3. Lo and behold, their appetites seem to have recently returned! Could this be because they were suffering from vitamin D3 toxicity? Hard to say, since just being outside does wonders anyway. But it's possible. So, for those of you whose tortoises seem to exhibit some of the above symptoms, perhaps cutting back on the vitamin D3 supplementation would help.