Hi, so I have looked through all the herptile shops in Hong Kong today (that are listed in the phone directory) and they only stock Rep-cal WITH D3. I prefer not to buy stuff online so I am going to try to replace it with a human version tablet crushed up and dusted. For vitamins and other minerals I will use centrum which I take myself daily so I don't need to go looking. So I went to the local drugstore and most of the HUMAN calcium tablets have D3 in them too! They must be trying to make me mad...

Anyway, the two brands I found that were only calcium were:

1) Caltrate - made by Wyeth, and come in various forms, one is only calcium carbonate with no other funky stuff, at least doesn't say on the label. It is WAY overpriced and also the tablets look hard to crush.
2) Calcium Sandoz Forte - It doesn't list Vitamin D in its ingredients, but it says that it is contra-indicated in cases of vitamin D overdosage...
It does have other stuff in it though, it lists:

Calcium-Sandoz Forte: Each whitish, effervescent tablet contains: calcium lactate-gluconate 2 940 mg, calcium carbonate 300 mg and provides 500 mg (12.5 mmol) elemental calcium. Nonmedicinal ingredients: calcium cyclamate, citric acid, flavor, polyethylene glycol, sodium hydrogen carbonate and sucrose. Energy: 74.5 kJ (18 kcal). Sodium: 12 mmol (274 mg).

The latter is much cheaper and the tablets are meant to be disolved in water and drank, so they can easily be crushed.

Does anyone know if either of these are OK to use on my Iguana and which one may be better?

I personally never used powdered suppliments for my ig. If you have a good diet and good lighting the lizard won't need one. Powders make it really easy to over do the dosage. Before you suppliment read this thread again -- OK so I reread the thread and it is one of the ones about rep-cal and D3, but as Dominick said "read up on hypervitamintosis".

That said I remember an older page I had read suggesting Tums antacid (made by Glaxo Smith Klein) for calcium suppliments. Calcium Carbonate is both a common source of calcium and antacid. Tums is an antacid because you grind it so fine in your mouth that the calcium carbonate has a lot of surface area and reacts with acid fast. You will be grinding any of these into a powder anyway.

I just pulled up the website and here are the FDA listed ingredients.

Active Ingredients: per tablet: Calcium Carbonate USP (500mg)

Inactive Ingredients: Sucrose, Calcium Carbonate, Corn Starch, Talc, Mineral Oil, Natural Flavors, Sodium Polyphosphate

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~ Mark

Pure calcium carbonate is what you want. It is not going to be as hard to crush as you think.
The effervescent tablets should not be used be used. When they hit the iguana's stomach fluids or even its mouth the fluid is going to make the tablets boil and froth up. the gasses being released could pose not only a danger of suffocation but may even rupture the gut of your lizard.

As Mark said you could also use the tums.

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I found if you cut the tablet with a knife (or other sharp object) first that it is easier to crush. I bought a pill crusher. I just use a pinch and save the rest for later use. I leave it in the pill crusher.

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Jan. 25, 1963 - Sept. 10, 2006 (R.I.P)

If you get a cheap coffee grinder from Wal-Mart you can also get a fine dust, put the calcium in a salt shaker...and very lightly dust the food. Male igs do not need as much calcium as female igs depending on the season, so keep this in mind...especially depending upon the diet and foods you use. I use a high calcium diet with the Iguana Den Diet (IDD). It's a 2.7:1 Ca: P ratio. Males generally don't need calcium if fed this unless they are calcium deficient to begin with. Females need the added calcium during the egging season.

Thanks guys, I'll look into calcium carbonate powder. Do keep in mind I am in Hong Kong. This makes things a little difficult for me because the products are all different names than in the west. For example, we don't have TUMs available here. I know what they are because I went to college in the USA but they don't sell them here as I was looking for them for my mom before. They have similar products of different names I hope I can locate them.