Dubai's breeding and dirt eating..??

[Kristen99]

I found some baby Dubai's in my colony I have started that I am very excited about!! I have around 30 right now and just curious from others to sustain a steady colony about how many should I keep and should o feed off the babies first?

Also.. Reptar showed an interest in coming out of his home today so I opened his cage door and he headed straight for his free ranging plants. I was excited about this as well because he is normally a "hermit" and very taritorial of his home. When he got to his free range plant he headed straight for the bottom of the plant and shot his tounge out for the dirt (there are no feeders in the dirt) I was puzzled by this because he has plenty of food in his home.. the dirt in his free range is organic and free of pesticides but was still curious of this behavior. He has no problems eating his coordination is great and aim is impeccable he is growing at a rate I can't even believe. Just wondering if this is normal?

 

[Curlytails]

I suggest you cover the dirt with large rocks as impaction can occur. Eating dirt is usually associated with lack of minerals in some animals diets but im a newbie to chameleons so im not sure. Beware of impaction as it can kill your animal.

 

[Kristen99]

I suggest you cover the dirt with large rocks as impaction can occur. Eating dirt is usually associated with lack of minerals in some animals diets but im a newbie to chameleons so im not sure. Beware of impaction as it can kill your animal.

Yes thank you I'm aware of impacting as far as that I am not totally concerned all his plants in his enclosure have rocks placed in them when he free ranges I stay in the room although his free range plants do not have rocks all the plants I have in his enclosure and in his free range area are potted with organic non pesticide soil. I was more curious of the behavior of dirt eating. I have read that some chameleons eat dirt in search for minerals I know their is a debate on dirt eating and was just curious of keepers and their thoughts on why some chameleons eat dirt. Thank you.

 

[Kristen99]

I was thinking of gutloading with potatoes to make up for the deficiency.

 

[Syreptyon]

I was thinking of gutloading with potatoes to make up for the deficiency.

Do potatoes have a particularly high content of minerals? I almost never hear of anyone using potatoes in even their regular gutloads. They offer next to no nutritional value to humans, so it would surprise me if they offer much to chameleons (but I could be totally wrong)

 

[Curlytails]

Thats a good way to introduce minerals into its diet. You can also use kale. seaweed is good too but only use it in moderation. Im only a newbie to chameleons so im not 100% certain about everything so you may want to wait for other replies too.☺

 

[kinyonga]

What do you gutload with now @Kristen99 ?

Nutritional value of potatoes...
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2770/2

 

[Kristen99]

Kale oranges carrots mainly and sometimes rhapsody.
I was looking into mulberry as a potential.
I also like to give Reptar some salads as a choice in his enclosure but he doesn't pay it any attention. With kale raspberry.

 

[CJ's Exotics]

By rhapsody so you mean radicchio?

 

[Kristen99]

Haha that was my auto correct apparently I'm not paying much attention it is the repashy not often but I do use this occasionally maybe once a week

 

[CJ's Exotics]

What is his supplementing schedule, and if you do, how often do you take him into natural sunlight?

 

[Kristen99]

Calcium withought d3 every other feeding
Calcium with d3 twice a month
And herptivite twice a month
And every week I take him outside on his dracena we are in sunny California and it's been in the 80's

 

[Curlytails]

I think you just need to increase your mineral levels and it should be fine.im not sure if you have access to it but arcadias new gut loads seem pretty good. I havent personally used them though.

 

[Kristen99]

I think you just need to increase your mineral levels and it should be fine.im not sure if you have access to it but arcadias new gut loads seem pretty good. I havent personally used them though.

I'll check it out

 

[CJ's Exotics]

I think you just need to increase your mineral levels and it should be fine.im not sure if you have access to it but arcadias new gut loads seem pretty good. I havent personally used them though.

Increasing mineral levels isn't the only solution. Try to vary his diet a bit more, and give him calcium w/o d3 at every feeding, he is still very young, and can use it.

 

[kinyonga]

To feed/gutload crickets, superworms, roaches, etc I use dandelion greens, collards, kale, endive, escarole, squash, zucchini, carrot, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc, and a bit of fruit such as apples, pears, melon, berries.

 

[Kristen99]

To feed/gutload crickets, superworms, roaches, etc I use dandelion greens, collards, kale, endive, escarole, squash, zucchini, carrot, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc, and a bit of fruit such as apples, pears, melon, berries.

I will most definitely be expanding what I use. Thank you

 

[Kristen99]

Increasing mineral levels isn't the only solution. Try to vary his diet a bit more, and give him calcium w/o d3 at every feeding, he is still very young, and can use it.

When I was using the calcium without d3 every feeding he was having a lot of excess expelled from nostrils so I changed it up to every other day. Here are some pics of Reptar the two on the umbrella plant outside we're before the change up in supplement cal withought d3. The rest were taken today

 

[Kristen99]

As far as his diet he eats crickets butter worms dubai hornworms silk worms and he loves Phoenix worms (fly)

 

[Curlytails]

It may also just be him trying to figure out what it was.