calcium and D3

[unknown91]

so i know that you need to give your cham calcium every day, and i did, for the last 5 months, and never had this problem, but now, that she is an adult (6-7 months old) i'm trying to cut her food down, i'm trying to feed her every other day ... 1. cuz she's a bit fat and 2. i wanna cut the food and temp as i don't want unexpected 'infertile babies'

so my question is : if i don't feed my cham every day, how can i give her calcium every day ? is it ok if i only give her calcium when i feed her, when i dust her food ?
and the A and D3 ... is it ok 2 times/month if i'm not taking her outside anymore (is getting really cold here, and not so much sun) ?

 

[kinyonga]

You don't have to give the chameleon calcium every day....just every feeding. The idea is to dust the insects to make up for the poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous.

 

[unknown91]

i dust them every feeding, yes, but i thought i should give her every day.
anyway, the whole calcium/D3 thread is kinda vague, i've read lots of forums and nobody knows exactly how much they need.

another really important question would be ... can they grow nicely without natural light ? if i have UVB + UVA and give her multivitamines (including A and D3) twice a month ?

 

[camimom]

i dust them every feeding, yes, but i thought i should give her every day.
anyway, the whole calcium/D3 thread is kinda vague, i've read lots of forums and nobody knows exactly how much they need.

another really important question would be ... can they grow nicely without natural light ? if i have UVB + UVA and give her multivitamines (including A and D3) twice a month ?

As long as she is dusted correctly every feeding it will be fine.


and yes she can grow just fine without natural light.

my chams don't get a whole lot of natural light either, but it is good to get them outside at least a couple times during the summer, and youl be amazed by the color change when you do.

 

[unknown91]

i've taken her outside almost twice a week this summer, sometimes i let her stay outside (i built her an outside cage as well) almost 3-4 days in a row when it was sunny, but now it's getting pretty cold. i'll try again with her next summer

 

[kinyonga]

What I was saying to you is that you don't have to give her calcium every day.....just at every feeding....so if you feed her dusted insects every second day dust them just before you feed them to her every second day.

You are right....we don't know exactly how much D3 to give them...so we dust twice a month and leave them to produce the rest of the D3 from their exposure to the UVB. His way we are not overdosing them with supplements that build up in their system. D3 produced from exposure to UVB won't likely build up in the system and lead to overdoses as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB when it wants to.

You asked..."can they grow nicely without natural light? If I have UVB + UVA and give her multivitamins (including A and D3) twice a month?"...they can grow nicely without natural sunlight and with UVB + UVA but you need calcium to keep the bones and other systems in the chameleon healthy since most of the feeder insects we use have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous. Calcium is a mineral not a vitamin. You also need to feed /gutload the insects properly to keep the chameleon healthy.

 

[unknown91]

understood, thank you for your response

 

[kinyonga]

You're welcome!