Providing optimal nutrition and meeting husbandry requirements are important to reptile health. Besides focusing on keeping animals, herpkeepers often hope to reproduce them. Breeding efficiency has become the measure of success, and because of this, reptiles are kept at optimal breeding conditions for extended periods of time. Ultimately the unnatural stress of continuous breeding taxes their growth and reproductive systems. This stress depletes nutrient reserves, particularly calcium, and leads to “calcium crashing,” when an animal’s body pulls calcium from its bones to shell its eggs. This often means death or disfigurement for the adult. The following are the essential components of reptile nutrition and husbandry that contribute to effective digestion and nutrient utilization.
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