Chameleon eating dirt?

[lumbasammler]

Currently i only have a about 11 months old parson, but the supplement is kind of the same as for other chams, just that parsons get more of it as they don´t like intense UVB.
I use Korvimin ZVT+Reptil for Vitamins and Herpetal Mineral for (guess for what? xD) minerals.
Could you tell me how much of each vitamins are in the products you use?
Korvimin has :
VitaminA: 500.000 IE
VitaminD3: 50.000 IE
VitaminE: 1.500 mg
VitaminC: 4000mg
VitaminB1: 160mg
B2: 500mg
B6: 300mg
B12: 1800 microgram
nicotinic acid: 3000mg
folic acid: 80mg
Calcium-D-Pantothenat: 1000mg
Biotin: 10.000 microgram
VitK1: 30mg
L-Carnitin: 15.000mg
Cholinchlorid: 5000mg
per kilo.
Puh that was a lot of writing
Btw: for Panthers and veileds those supplement are used as a 1:1 mix about twice per week.

 

[Olimpia]

I'm with Lumbasammler, I tend to feel like animals will eat dirt if they are missing something. It's nothing tasty, animals that do it do it to gain something they're not getting from their diet. Not every animal is the same, if yours does it and is getting the supplements you think are appropriate, it may be necessary to revise your gutload or see what else you could add in to provide more of what he needs.

I never cover up any of the organic soil in my cages and none of mine (except the females, who will taste it if they're approaching egg-laying time) eat soil. Mine get at least 3-4 species of insects a week and I add in wild caught insects often, from a wild area outside my city. Plus thorough gutloading and supplementing, they get a pretty decent array of things they need.

You can cover it up if you want but I agree that it may not address the root of the problem. My opinion, anyway.

 

[lumbasammler]

I'm with Lumbasammler, I tend to feel like animals will eat dirt if they are missing something. It's nothing tasty, animals that do it do it to gain something they're not getting from their diet. Not every animal is the same, if yours does it and is getting the supplements you think are appropriate, it may be necessary to revise your gutload or see what else you could add in to provide more of what he needs.

I never cover up any of the organic soil in my cages and none of mine (except the females, who will taste it if they're approaching egg-laying time) eat soil. Mine get at least 3-4 species of insects a week and I add in wild caught insects often, from a wild area outside my city. Plus thorough gutloading and supplementing, they get a pretty decent array of things they need.

You can cover it up if you want but I agree that it may not address the root of the problem. My opinion, anyway.

Absolutely agreed

 

[vladdimir26]

But I am gut loading my crickets... I am giving him calcium without d3 everyday. with d3 and multivitamins twice a month. So idk what he would be missing. Maybe i need to feed him more? I give him 7-8 adult size crickets and he's 4 months old.

 

[K9Luvn]

Maybe there is some type of vitamin deficiency... I'm not saying there is not. But lets start by covering up the dirt so that he doesn't try to eat it anymore. He has not had the cham long and has recently started in on a vitamin regimen... So lets find out what the regimen is and even which cham it is.

Is this the cham that MBD? Or is the one that was purchased and shipped though Chameleons NW? If this is the one that you are working with that had bad care from Petsmart it probably still does need to be worked out.

 

[Graanto]

IDK how big he is, but i have been told that the crickets should not be bigger than his mouth (common sense since if its bigger than mouth he wont be able to put it in his mouth lol). cant remember if its width or what, but if he is only four months old maybe try smaller crickets like 1/4 in or 1/2 in. and he could prolly eat like 15 to 20 of those suckers.

 

[JackP308]

Yes, adults are to big and noisy anyways. Thats not going to solve dirt eating but make sure you offer smaller feeders.

 

[vladdimir26]

Maybe there is some type of vitamin deficiency... I'm not saying there is not. But lets start by covering up the dirt so that he doesn't try to eat it anymore. He has not had the cham long and has recently started in on a vitamin regimen... So lets find out what the regimen is and even which cham it is.

Is this the cham that MBD? Or is the one that was purchased and shipped though Chameleons NW? If this is the one that you are working with that had bad care from Petsmart it probably still does need to be worked out.

Cham with MBD and Bad Petsmart care? What? The Petco near me takes really good care of them! Also yes it's the one bought from Petco I think you are confusing me with the lady that had to chose from the bad MBD chameleon or the Northwest cham.

 

[vladdimir26]

IDK how big he is, but i have been told that the crickets should not be bigger than his mouth (common sense since if its bigger than mouth he wont be able to put it in his mouth lol). cant remember if its width or what, but if he is only four months old maybe try smaller crickets like 1/4 in or 1/2 in. and he could prolly eat like 15 to 20 of those suckers.

He's a BIG boy. They fit perfectly on his mouth! He is about 4 inches without counting the tail

 

[K9Luvn]

Cham with MBD and Bad Petsmart care? What? The Petco near me takes really good care of them! Also yes it's the one bought from Petco I think you are confusing me with the lady that had to chose from the bad MBD chameleon or the Northwest cham.

Your right I have you confused with that member. Please excuse me for that.

 

[Graanto]

Yes, adults are to big and noisy anyways. Thats not going to solve dirt eating but make sure you offer smaller feeders.

I was thinking that if the chameleon is haveing a hard time eating the big adults, maybe he was not getting the benefits of the dusting and gutloading of the crickets. But than again vlad would have probably posted a new thread like "HE WONT EAT HELP"...lol jk... i would have done this as well

 

[JackP308]

He's a BIG boy. They fit perfectly on his mouth! He is about 4 inches without counting the tail

You don't want to feed a 4 month old adult crickets. I mean you can but Id save them for when he is bigger so he can eat bigger crickets.

 

[lumbasammler]

On the other hand it´s much more fun for him if you offer small crickets as you can then give him more to hunt
What about my question from before about how much of the specific vits is in your supplement?

 

[Olimpia]

You said you feed him properly supplemented crickets... This might be your problem! Crickets only offer some nutrients, plus whatever you're supplementing and gutloading with, but adding more types of feeders will make his diet better rounded and give his life more interest.

Many people keep their lizards on a fairly consistent diet of crickets and say they do fine, but I think you have a better chance of keeping them healthier if you add more variety to their food. I always have a stock of crickets, superworms, 3 species of roach, and then buy in hornworms, butterworms, silkworms, and then add in wild-caught grasshoppers (or something else if it's also edible). If you can have at least 2-3 species of feeders available then you already bring something new to the table nutritionally.

This is just what I think. Crickets are a really poor feeder, their phosphorous:calcium ratio is awful (3:1) but they're easy to find and handle. So gutloaded properly they're better, but there are plenty of other feeders that are worth much more as food.

 

[vladdimir26]

You don't want to feed a 4 month old adult crickets. I mean you can but Id save them for when he is bigger so he can eat bigger crickets.

Why? They fit on his mouth perfectly. He doesn't show any sign of struggling when eating them either

 

[JonRich]

Why? They fit on his mouth perfectly. He doesn't show any sign of struggling when eating them either

It all depends on the Cham. I have seen some Chams at 4 months old and one may be 1/2 the size of the other.

 

[JackP308]

yea well I doubt he is full size at 4 months. Full size chameleons is going to want something bigger like adult crickets. So by the time he is an adult those crickets are nothing to him he has been eating them his whole life. Do what ever you want its your chameleon.

 

[JackP308]

It all depends on the Cham. I have seen some Chams at 4 months old and one may be 1/2 the size of the other.

Thats totally not the point. So its doesn't depend on the cham. It depends on the keeper.

 

[Olimpia]

I don't think the size of the cricket matters much. I've fed off adult crickets to 4-5-6 month olds when they were large enough to handle them easily. But size shouldn't be the novelty or variety in a chameleon's diet - Mine get adult crickets now, little under 2 years later and love them just the same, because I offer lots of other feeder options. Silks, butters, horns, supers, crickets, 3 types of roaches, and any safe WC insects I find (such as large grasshoppers, mantids, ect.) so size of the feeder is a tiny fraction of the variety they get in their diet.

It's up to personal choice. Some people are afraid to risk choking, which is fine, so they don't feed adult crickets until much later.

 

[vladdimir26]

yea well I doubt he is full size at 4 months. Full size chameleons is going to want something bigger like adult crickets. So by the time he is an adult those crickets are nothing to him he has been eating them his whole life. Do what ever you want its your chameleon.

I really don't understand the problem here.... I thought you were supposed to feed your cham something thats the same or smaller to the width of his mouth. He is only eating 7 right now.