Vitamins

[skillz]

Today i was looking for some vit dust when the person there told me to get vit spray..that would just soak into them. He said that its bad to get the dust because they hate the taste of it. So..just wonderin what you guys thought

[Edwin]

No, sprays typically contain much less vitamins than powder. I use herptivite on my leo with no problems.

Hope this helps.

[Neo]

digesting rather than absorbing it will do much better cause then u know for sure it circulates through the entire bloodsystem. as for taste.. my leos dont mind it a bit in fact it lets them know it's edible cause when they see a food item they dont know they lick it and mine have only ate things they dont recognize where they licked dust on it. (that also applies to calci sand.. so dont use calci sand)

[maiden_canada]

dawson, you know not to listen to the guys at petstores....lol

[skillz]

true haha..at least my little guy didn't have mites..but it was worth asking clarke

[eyespy]

Sprays are mostly water, just a waste of money. Plus cell membranes prevent most substances besides plain water from passing through the skin so very few vitamins are absorbed that way. Not even salt dissolved in water can pass through the skin and most vitamins are much bigger particles than that.

[Siretsap]

but don't cell use a "bus" system where your proteins (broken down)and other vitamins and such will get on a water molecule to get through the membrane of the cell?
I doubt the spray is any good, but just wondering if there is still some that go through like that?

[eyespy]

Those liquid vitamins are marketed more for soaking than ingestion. The skin doesn't let much through besides just plain water and air. The digestive system can absorb some water-based nutrition, but most that is dissolved in water passes right through and is filtered out by the kidneys. The small intestines have these finger-like projections called villi that absorb enzyme-saturated food particles and process most nutrients. Water is primarily absorbed through the large intestine which does extract some of the B vitamins and the electrolytes but not most other nutrients. Even the electrolytes are better utilized by the body when processed by the small intestine.

Vitamins are generally recommended to be taken with food so they will combine with food particles and maximize the ability of the small intestine to absorb them. That's one reason why liquid calcium is usually sold in a heavy corn syrup base, that way it requires digestion and doesn't just slide right through to the large intestine.

Young mammals and some birds can extract vitamins effectively from water but reptiles never go through a liquid diet phase in the development of their digestive system.