Bearded dragons are native to Australia, and they are increasingly becoming a popular choice among pet owners. These reptiles get most of the nutrients their bodies need from the diet.

However, there are occasions when beardies don’t get enough vitamins and minerals from the food and face a deficiency.

Vitamin and mineral deficiency in bearded dragons can affect those in captivity and those in the wild. Majorly lizards require high amounts of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin D3, calcium, and Vitamin A. Sadly, a deficiency of these elements may expose a beardie to a risk of developing severe illnesses.

The best reptile multivitamin and supplements can help bridge such a gap in your pet’s diet.

Below, we get to explore the best bearded dragon multivitamin and supplements, the importance of these, and how to choose the best. We will also answer your questions on the dosage and frequency.

Best Bearded Dragon Vitamins and Supplements

Now that we know how to choose the best-bearded dragon vitamins and supplements and why you need to provide the same for the reptile, let’s look at some of the best products you can find today.

1. Zoo Med Reptivite With Vitamin D3

We start with this bearded dragon multivitamin by Zoo Med, which is a leading brand in making products for reptiles such as bearded dragons. Their Reptivite with Vitamin D3 does not disappoint either.

It comes in handy and makes your work easier in ensuring that your pet gets enough vitamins and calcium to meet its growth and development needs.

Zoo Med Reptivite with Vitamin D3 is an all-natural product and does not feature any fillers and additives. It comes in 5 sizes; 2 ounces, 8 ounces, 16 ounces, 2.5 pounds, and 5 pounds, allowing you to get the quantity that suits your needs and budget.

The product has about a quarter, 25%, calcium in terms of contents. The high amount is vital in meeting the required calcium to phosphorus ratio of at least 2:1 for a bearded dragon’s diet. In addition, it has Vitamin D3 that aids calcium absorption.

Vitamin D3 is a vital component, especially in cases where the bearded dragon does not get sufficient UVB light in the enclosure. However, you need to give your pet minimal quantities of the product to prevent Vitamin D3 over intake.

Another reason why Zoo Med Reptivite with Vitamin D3 is one of the best-bearded dragon multivitamins is that it is rich in amino acids, with 16 of them. It also has Vitamin C and Vitamin K, which are vital in protein digestion, boost the immune system, prevent bleeding, and promote liver health.

Pros

• Contains Calcium
• Has ideal calcium to phosphorus ratio
• It comes with a wide variety of minerals and vitamins
• It has Vitamin D3, which helps with Calcium absorption

Cons

• Excess intake can lead to fatal calcium overdose

2. Zilla Reptile Vitamin Supplement Food Spray

Zilla Reptile vitamin supplement food spray is an excellent alternative to other common bearded dragon multivitamins and supplements such as powder.

It is an all-natural spray that provides a great and effective alternative to insects in the beardie’s diet. The food spray makes it a lot easier to mix with various foods, irrespective of their color. Also, it saves on time and adds convenience.

The supplement contains amino acids and vital nutrients that help maintain your bearded dragon’s health, immunity, and energy levels at optimal.

Some other essential ingredients in this product include folic acid, CoQ10, and omega 3 fatty acids. Your bearded dragon gets additional nutritional benefits without consuming fillers and toxic additives.

Zilla Reptile Vitamin Supplement food spray also contains Beta Carotene, which converts to Vitamin A upon absorption.

Unlike Vitamin A, Beta Carotene is converted into Vitamin A in a controlled manner to ensure that the beardie only gets what it needs. Other vitamins in this bearded dragon supplement include B1, B2, C, D3, B12, folic acid, and niacin.

Pros

• It has a wide variety of vitamins and additional nutrients
• It comes with Beta Carotene
• Easy and convenient to administer
• It is all-natural with no fillers and additives

Cons

• The taste might not be appealing to some bearded dragons

3. REP-CAL HERPTIVITE Multivitamin for Reptiles and Amphibians

Rep-Cal provides this multivitamin for a bearded dragon that also comes with Beta Carotene. The product contains amino acids, minerals, and vitamins, making it effective in giving your pet additional vital nutrients it might not get enough of from the diet.

Its formulation features all-natural ingredients, and it has a sea vegetation base. The sea vegetation base is nutritional to the bearded dragon having plenty of essential minerals and trace elements.

Therefore, Rep-Cal Herptivite gives more nutritional value to the reptiles and amphibians than other supplements that use non-nutritional bases.

Even more? The formulation of Rep-Cal Herptivite multivitamin for bearded dragons features well-measured amounts of minerals and vitamins to ensure that it delivers a perfect combination and balance of essential vitamins and minerals.

An ideal balance further ensures optimal utilization of the proteins and other nutrients for adequate growth and development of various body organs and organ systems.

Another key advantage of this Herptivite multivitamin for bearded dragons is that it contains Beta carotene, a powerful anti-oxidant. It is the first of its kind to replace Beta Carotene with Vitamin A among Rep-Cal products.

The bearded dragon converts the anti-oxidant into Vitamin A but in a more controlled manner. As such, this prevents Vitamin A toxicity in your pet beardie.

Rep-Cal Herptivite comes in powder form, allowing easy mixing or coating with foods and insects. The storage is also airtight to make it long-lasting and easy to store.

Pros

• It has a sea vegetation base
• Contains Beta Carotene
• Features Precise formulation
• It comes in an airtight storage

Cons

• It has fewer ingredients

4. Fluker’s Buffet Blend Formula

Fluker’s is yet another leading brand in the amphibians and reptiles products industry. Their buffet blend formula specially formulated for juvenile bearded dragons is another top product to consider when choosing the best supplementation for your pet lizard.

The supplement comes with a mixture of freeze-dried mealworms and crickets. These ensure that your baby beardie gets enough proteins, fats, and minerals to meet its dietary needs.

Another vital component of this formulation is Vitamin fortified pellets that incorporate essential vitamins that aid in the growth and repair of the bearded dragon’s body cells. The vitamins also help the beardie absorb some of the other nutrients.

Pros

• Features a perfect blend of mealworms and crickets
• It has pellets that are fortified with vitamins
• Suitable choice for meeting the bearded dragon’s proteins, vitamins, and protein requirements

Cons

• It lacks calcium

5. Repashy Calcium Plus

It is an all-in-one calcium supplement with carotenoids, vitamins, and trace minerals. Repashy Calcium plus comes in powder form, and you can directly apply it as a light coating to insects before feeding them to your bearded dragon. It is one of the best-bearded dragon vitamin D3 enriched supplements.

Besides calcium and vitamin D3, Repashy calcium plus has other nutrients to aid overall growth and development in your pet reptile.

Due to the presence of Vitamin A, you should limit giving your beardie this supplement to once a week. The feeding schedule will help prevent chances of Vitamin A toxicity.

Pros

• It has Vitamin D3
• It comes in powder form
• Features Vitamin A

Cons

• Not suitable for frequent use
• Not ideal for bearded dragons with sufficient UVB lighting

6. Exo Terra Multi-Vitamin Powder with Beta Carotene

The powder supplement by Exo Terra has a special formulation to deliver optimal results to amphibians and reptiles such as bearded dragons. It features a blend of high-quality ingredients with a perfect mix to meet your beardie’s growth and development needs.

Exo Terra multivitamin supplement has amino acids vital for the lizard. In addition, it has beta-carotene as an ingredient instead of Vitamin A.

Other ingredients in this multivitamin supplement that comes in powder form include trace elements, minerals, and Vitamins such as Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, and Vitamin E. A mix of these and more ingredients present a perfectly balanced supplement for your bearded dragon’s needs.

It comes in fine powder form, which makes its use easy. For fruits and vegetables, mix them with half a tablespoon of Exo Terra multivitamin. On the other hand, a tablespoon of food is sufficient for every 500 grams of food you feed the beardie.

Pros

• It contains beta carotene
• Enriched with trace elements and a variety of vitamins
• It has all vital amino acids
• Affordable

Cons

• It doesn’t contain high amounts of calcium

4 Factors To Consider When Choosing Bearded Dragon Vitamins and Supplements

Above are some of the best reptile multivitamin and calcium products we highly recommend. They deliver quality results, and you have a variety of choices, whether you need one for juveniles or adults.

Let us now look at the factors that make these products the best vitamins and supplements for your beardie. It is also vital that you keep these factors in mind when shopping.

1. Ingredients Of The Product

Multivitamins and supplements come with catchy labels. These are meant to get your attention to buy the product. However, you need to look further at the ingredients of the product and see if they fit your bearded dragon’s needs.

Avoid bearded dragon supplements with a product whose names you can’t read. In addition, do not buy products whose ingredients percentage content does not match what the label claims. In most cases, such products do not deliver the results they claim to.

You will find the list of ingredients and content in the multivitamin or supplement on the facts chart and ingredients list. The chart and list will also guide you on how much you should give beardie to avoid overdose.

Additives and preservatives are other ingredients you should look for in the best-bearded dragon multivitamin and supplements.

They include hydrogenated oils and artificial colors. Such additives add no nutritional value to the lizard, and some of them can even be toxic.

The best-bearded dragon vitamins and supplements should have all-natural ingredients.

2. Type Of Fillers

Fillers help bind the supplement’s ingredients. In addition, they make them look attractive to both buyers and the bearded dragon. Some of them also make the reptile multivitamins taste better.

The best fillers should feature all-natural ingredients. In addition, they should have nutritional benefits to the bearded dragon.

Some manufacturers use soya and sugar as fillers in bearded dragon supplements, and these two products are not beneficial to the reptile.

Some other fillers you should avoid include starch, silicon dioxide, magnesium stearate, titanium dioxide, vegetable gum, and stearic acid.

3. Cost

We often get the value of what we pay for. In most cases, the cheapest products, including reptile multivitamins and calcium, are not always the best.

However, you don’t need to pay an arm and a leg for you to get a good multivitamin. Take time to research the average cost of the supplements to guide you on what to expect.

4. Safety For Consumption

What you feed your bearded dragon ends in its bloodstream. It ultimately affects the beardie’s health besides its growth and development. Are the ingredients safe for consumption?

One of the best ways to verify whether the ingredients are safe is to ask yourself; can I consume these ingredients? If not, then you might want to avoid giving it to your bearded dragon.

Preservatives, color additives, and artificial sugars are some of the ingredients you should avoid in the best-bearded dragon multivitamin.

Bearded Dragon Supplement Schedule

Knowing the vitamins and supplements to feed a bearded dragon is great, but it is not enough. You also need to know the right quantum to prevent over or under supplementation. Both can occur and can make the beardie sick.

Here is a detailed bearded dragon supplement schedule to guide you on how frequently you should give your pet calcium and vitamins.

Age	Vitamins Without Calcium and Vitamin D3	Calcium With or Without D3
Hatchlings ( 0 – 4 months)	2 days per week	Daily
Juveniles (4 months – 1 year)	2 days weekly	5 days weekly
Adults aged over 1 year	Once weekly	4 days weekly
Adults aged over 2 years	Once weekly	3 days weekly
Gravid female during and a month after laying eggs	2 days weekly	6 days weekly
Sick bearded dragon	Maximum of 4 days weekly	6 days weekly

Importance of Giving Bearded Dragons Vitamins and Supplements

One of the questions most bearded dragon owners grapple with is, is it necessary to give my beardie vitamins and supplements? Are multivitamins and supplements beneficial to my bearded dragon?

If you are not sure whether your bearded dragon needs vitamins and supplements, here are the main benefits of providing them to your pet lizard.

1. Ensures Adequate Intake of Nutrients

Nutrients play a significant part in the growth and development of animals, including bearded dragons. When the beardie does not consume sufficient amounts, its health is in jeopardy.

Although nothing should replace a proper diet rich in vitamins and minerals, there are times when you might not be able to provide your beardie with an optimally rich diet consistently.

It could be because of a tight working schedule or being away for a significant amount of time. Multivitamins and supplements ensure that the reptile gets enough nutrients to facilitate a quality life.

In addition, even when you provide the right amounts and types of foods, your beardie might still not get sufficient nutrients from the foods.

Modern-day farming sometimes involves pesticides, herbicides, and processing activities that strip off vital minerals and vitamins from the food you buy for your bearded dragon. The result is that these foods are not as nutritionally rich as they are expected to be.

2. Preventing Illnesses

Vitamins and supplements can help prevent illnesses in bearded dragons. One of the most common illnesses in bearded dragons is metabolic bone disease. It is challenging to treat in advanced cases and can cause death if not attended to urgently.

The metabolic bone disease often arises due to calcium deficiency in the beardie’s blood. You can ensure that your bearded dragon is not at risk of this life-threatening disease by providing calcium supplements.

It also applies to other illnesses that arise due to nutrient deficiency. Multivitamins and supplements also help boost immunity. Therefore, your bearded dragon is not at risk of sicknesses that affect these lizards because of immunosuppression.

Bearded dragon illnesses can be costly and time-consuming to diagnose and treat. In most cases, the pet owners realize that there is an underlying problem when the beardies health has already deteriorated.

Prevention is way better than watching out for signs of illnesses that might only manifest at advanced stages of the disease.

Supplementation can help prevent various illnesses and aid in your pet beardie’s quick recovery.

Main Vitamins and Supplements for Bearded Dragons

Bearded dragons need tons of vitamins and minerals to thrive. However, they do not need all of them in large quantities.

There are some, which these reptiles require in large amounts. It is these nutrients that the bearded dragons often have a deficit of and require supplementation for.

Here are the major vitamins and supplements for a bearded dragon.

1. Calcium

Bearded dragons need calcium for various reasons, including proper bone growth and development, contraction of the muscles, suitable reproductive health, and proper egg development in females.

It is such a vital mineral for the lizard that in its deficit, the beardie suffers metabolic bone disease because it starts utilizing the calcium in its bones.

In a proper diet, ideal calcium to phosphorous ratio, and sufficient UVB light help ensure that the beardie gets enough calcium. In addition, calcium supplementation is highly recommended. Adding it to the vegetables, fruits and insects ensures that your pet lizard gets enough of this vital mineral.

2. Vitamin D3

Wild bearded dragons get Vitamin D3 from sunlight, while those in captivity get it by basking under UVB light. Bearded dragons vitamin D3 helps in calcium absorption.

Therefore, its supplementation is vital to ensuring that the reptile absorbs enough calcium into the bloodstream.

3. Vitamin A

Hatchlings and baby bearded dragons have sufficient Vitamin A from the yolk. Together with the right diet, they do not need Vitamin A supplementation. The adult ones will get it from their diet, which has a larger percentage of vegetables.

Vitamin A promotes vision and reproductive health while ensuring that the reptile’s breathing system, bones, and muscles are healthy. Beta carotene is a safe way of supplementing your beardie with this Vitamin.

It breaks down to the vitamin when the beardie requires it, thus preventing bearded dragon vitamin A toxicity symptoms such as dry, scaly skin, lethargy, weight loss, dehydration, depression, etc.

What Should I Look For In The Best Vitamins and Supplements for My Bearded Dragon?

It is evident that supplementation is vital for ensuring that your bearded dragon remains healthy and is not at risk of minerals and vitamin deficiency-related diseases.

However, it can be hard selecting the best-bearded dragon multivitamin and supplements. The market is full of products that promise to deliver the best, making the decision a challenge.

Here are the four main things you should look for in the best-bearded dragon supplements and multivitamins:

• Ingredients of the product
• Presence of fillers
• Cost
• Safety for consumption

The first things you need to consider are the ingredients and the ease of knowing the quantity of these ingredients in the product. Do not be fooled by the label; some claim to be Calcium-rich but only have minimal calcium content.

Another item to be on the lookout for is fillers in the product. Avoid non-nutritional fillers such as sugar.

A third factor you need to consider is the cost. Although not the first thing to look for, it is equally important. Choosing a product that is both quality and affordable is also a priority.

Is it safe for human consumption? If you can’t use the product, then it is probably not the best reptile multivitamin and calcium supplement for your beardie.

How To Give Multivitamins and Supplements to Bearded Dragons

Multivitamins and supplements come in the form of powder, liquid spray, vita-sand, drops, and blocks. The choice is ultimately yours as some are easier to use than others. Depending on the choice of supplements, there are two main ways of feeding your bearded dragon with the supplements.

The first is mixing it with their food, such as vegetables and fruits. Dusting the food ensures that the lizard eats the supplements as it ingests the food.

You can also add them to the beardie’s favorite treats, such as worms. Dusting insects is more effective than dusting vegetables. The latter are often wet, leading to clumping up of the supplements.

Another option is to add multivitamins and supplements to the bearded dragon’s drinking water. The disadvantage with that bearded dragons do not drink plenty of water which might lead to wastage.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Often Should I Give My Bearded Dragon Multivitamin?

The number of times you should give your bearded dragon a multivitamin depends on various factors. For instance, a sick bearded dragon with vitamin and minerals deficiency will need a higher dosage than a perfectly healthy bearded dragon of the same age.

Other factors to consider are the age of the beardie, living conditions, and if the lizard is female, whether it is gravid or has recently laid eggs or not.

The above-bearded dragons’ feeding schedule provides an in-depth guide on how often you should give your bearded dragons vitamins and calcium while paying attention to these factors.

What Vitamins Should I Give My Bearded Dragon?

Vitamin D3 and Vitamin A are some of the most vital vitamins you should give your bearded dragon.

Vitamin A promotes the health of the eyes, skin, bones, lungs, muscles, oral and reproductive organs. However, it would help if you were careful not to overdose your pet with Vitamin A, leading to toxicity.

A safe way to avoid Vitamin A toxicity is to give the bearded dragon foods and supplements with beta carotene instead of Vitamin A.

A bearded dragon uses Vitamin D3 to utilize calcium and phosphorus minerals. If you provide the pet with proper and sufficient UVB light, then you don’t need to give it this supplement.

An overdose of Vitamin D3 leads to calcium overdose, which causes hypercalcemia. The latter is a medical condition that can be fatal to the beardie.

Is Calcium With D3 Bad for Bearded Dragons?

D3 plays a great role in facilitating calcium absorption into the reptile. A bearded dragon D deficiency can lead to calcium deficiency, a condition known as hypocalcemia. Inversely, its overdose causes hypercalcemia.

Therefore, Calcium with D3 is vital for the reptile but only when given in the right amounts.