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| PET GAZETTE | REPTILE
MBD, MINERALS, VITAMINS
AND OVERALL BALANCE
In part one of his mineral defi ciency series, John Courteney-Smith MRSB
looks at the mineral and vitamins that reptiles need for optimum health
M
BD or metabolic bone
disease/disorder is now
rather a holding term used
to describe a defi ciency of
freely available calcium within
an animal’s body and the visible symptoms
which will eventually appear. In truth, this is
rather crass terminology, used as a descriptive
which alludes to, and describes a whole host
of conditions that have a negative impact on
the life of a captive animal. In truth, MBD as
a collective term should rather describe all
levels of lack within the body as each will in
some way have an impact upon skeletal mass
and eventually, health. As with all aspects of
avoidable disease, it is better to have to deal
with ‘an ounce of prevention than a pound of
cure’!
As forward-thinking keepers, it is vital that
we start to leave behind the historic fi xation
upon calcium and vitamin D3 alone. The
issues to which I seek to refer to are far more
complex and have a far further reach within
the functionality of all living animals. There is
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another point that I wish to make before we
dive into the nitty gritty of the host of diseases
that are rather crudely lumped into the term
MBD and the level of natural balance that is
required in order to keep an animal healthy.
That is that it is not only the groups of animals
termed as being reptiles that suffer from MBD.
In all truth, every species on earth is able to
experience a level of nutritional imbalance
and subsequently see that imbalance have
a negative effect over the biological function
of that animal. These imbalances will always
have an impact upon the mass and/or health
of the skeleton of the miss-provided animal in
some way.
There are certain laws within nature that
simply apply - no matter how long or how
deeply a human seeks to interfere with a
species in terms of genetic alteration or
domestication. The fi rst law that has to be
adhered to is that every species on earth has
experienced a deep and slowly adapting
level of development over a vast period of
time in order for it to be able to take all that
it needs to thrive from the environment in
which it is found. By thrive I mean an animals
inbuilt need to live, to have a low risk of
avoidable disease, to be predator-aware and
to project its genes into as many generations
as possible and without detriment to its own
body.
As such, it is the parameters of supply
commonly found within the ecosystems
of wild environments that dictate the need
and level of nutritional interaction within
the species that live within it and their own
developmental pathway. This is an intricate
and fascinating world of provision that is quite
wonderfully ‘hidden in plain sight’ - waiting to
be discovered and implemented.
This is the foundation of all of the cycles of
supply and subsequent use within nature. A
habitat is far more than simply being a place
to live or an area where a species is most
commonly found. A habitat represents a
source of symbiotic supply between the earth
and its inhabitants of every kind, at every level
and within the forces of energy that surround
May 2018