Controversy

[DirtyDubbz]

Ok so I know there is a lot of controversy about supplements so the rule of thumb that a lot of you guys/girls go by is calcium w/o d3 every feeding I do it every other feeding and then calcium W/ d3 2x a month and a multivitamin 2x a month.... So is there any other schedules people are using ? What are the supplements of your choice

 

[Olimpia]

There are lots of schedules, it depends on what species you keep (that schedule wouldn't work for a Jackson's, for example), the type of supplements/brand, how well you gutload, and how much natural sunshine your chameleon gets, for example.

So while that schedule works for veileds/panthers, it wouldn't for my Meller's for example. They get daily sunshine so I skip D3 completely from their diet. They get calcium sparingly and a multivitamin about once a month.

So it isn't so much about controversy, it's just that a lot of factors go into supplementing. That's an easy schedule for a newbie to follow, but when you understand what your chameleon needs and what each vitamin/mineral does in the body and in what quantity you have a lot of room to play with a schedule that meets your needs.

 

[DirtyDubbz]

So enlighten us for a panther chameleon what would you recomend for no outdoor sunlight because of cold weather

 

[Deevo]

supplement for what you're not gutloading with

 

[ir0k]

There are lots of schedules, it depends on what species you keep (that schedule wouldn't work for a Jackson's, for example), the type of supplements/brand, how well you gutload, and how much natural sunshine your chameleon gets, for example.

So while that schedule works for veileds/panthers, it wouldn't for my Meller's for example. They get daily sunshine so I skip D3 completely from their diet. They get calcium sparingly and a multivitamin about once a month.

So it isn't so much about controversy, it's just that a lot of factors go into supplementing. That's an easy schedule for a newbie to follow, but when you understand what your chameleon needs and what each vitamin/mineral does in the body and in what quantity you have a lot of room to play with a schedule that meets your needs.

im glad you brought that up. So are your chams outdoor chams only or is there a certaint amount of time they get outside. Im in a position where my cham can get at least 1-2 hours outdoor daily. Should I skip the d3 completely?
Thanks in advance.
Also by no means am I trying to hijack the OP's thread, the topic just got brought up.

To the OP, that's my current schedule for my panther.
I gutload my crickets with mustard greens, turnip greens and carrots. So I am also wondering about that supplementation schedule. I don't dust my silk worms or mealworms. Silkworms get mulberry leaves, mealworms get apple wedges.

 

[Olimpia]

So enlighten us for a panther chameleon what would you recomend for no outdoor sunlight because of cold weather

That's a fine schedule for a panther, the tried and true fool-proof method for them really, but like I said, it depends on things like the brands you use. For example, most brands of calcium with D3 have a moderate to high amount of D3, so more than lightly 2-3 times monthly would be unnecessary. But if you happen to have a brand where the levels of D3 are much lower, you could for example use it maybe a couple times a week if you really wanted to without ill effect.

If you want to learn more about what the different minerals and vitamins do and why we supplement with them maybe you'll find this interesting: http://muchadoaboutchameleons.blogspot.com/2012/03/chameleon-physiology-supplements.html

It can be tricky at first when you start learning about supplements but once you read a little and get the gist of what is happening when we use this or that in our supplements it becomes a lot more obvious. I believe that Sandrachameleon has a blog where she compares the different kinds of D3 supplement with the concentrations and everything. Perhaps that might be useful as well.

im glad you brought that up. So are your chams outdoor chams only or is there a certaint amount of time they get outside. Im in a position where my cham can get at least 1-2 hours outdoor daily. Should I skip the d3 completely?
Thanks in advance.
Also by no means am I trying to hijack the OP's thread, the topic just got brought up.

To the OP, that's my current schedule for my panther.
I gutload my crickets with mustard greens, turnip greens and carrots. So I am also wondering about that supplementation schedule. I don't dust my silk worms or mealworms. Silkworms get mulberry leaves, mealworms get apple wedges.

One is living outdoors full time and the others are in a Florida room with windows that I leave completely open (with screen), so they get indirect and direct sunshine throughout the day. There was a reptile and UVB study (that I would quote if I could find it again) that exposed lizards to 20 minutes of direct sunshine one time and that natural D3 levels in the blood were still strong 2 weeks later, even after no other UVB exposure. So the sun packs quite a punch! So I think that if they are getting about a couple hours of daylight a day plus their UVB bulb when indoors then you can skip the D3 as well. They're probably producing way more than enough naturally in the skin for you to need to fill in any gaps.

Under the "feeding" tab in the Chameleon Resources there is a list of great gutloading ingredients that you can throw into the mix and get a stronger gutload recipe together. Or consider looking into high-quality commercial foods to add to your own food, stuff like Cricket Crack, Dinofuel, Repashy Superload, Repashy Bugburger, etc.

 

[DirtyDubbz]

A+ and no one is jacking the tread it is here to help and be discussed , like myself any help is greatly appreciated it's to the bennifit of the chameleon thanks for the posts

 

[Olimpia]

Hopefully this has helped! We recommend a certain schedule to beginners just because it's easy and it works for panthers and veileds but it's not a one-size-fits-all approach that works on all species across the board under all circumstances. You'll see that if you ever branch out into a different species, like any of the montanes (like Jackson's, Meller's, etc.) that you'd be looking at a very different supplement schedule! Some species are much more sensitive to certain artificial vitamins than others.