dusting-vitamin A questions

[Mueller23]

I have a 6 month old male veiled chameleon! he is doing very well except that he seems to shut on eye often (I have recieved some great advice and am working to fix it right now!)

I have heard some great stuff about the nutrition and dusting of my chameleon lately. I have recently learned that D3 is not needed except twice or so a month. So i will start not using it everyday tomorrow.

I have heard to buy some "Reasy's calcium plus"? What I am concerned with is the vitamin A mostly. I know too much and too little can hurt him and I don't want to do that.

Is there a calcium with this in low doses of vitamin A that my chameleon could handle? Is there something I could gut load my crickets with so that my chameleon could get sufficient Vitamin A?

Thanks for any advice or tips! I would really prefer to hear from some very experienced chameleon owners and enthusiasts. People who truly know what they are doing and know that it works very well. No offense to newbies like myself, but I just don't want to do the wrong thing.

 

[clarkrw3]

As far as Vit A it has more to do with the balance between Vit A and Vit D3. So the repashy calcium plus has both in the proper ratio so that they are balanced. If you are using the Cal plus you do not need additional D3 supplementation.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Hi
The advice to provide D3 only twice monthly may be good - but it does depend on the BRAND of product you are using. Some contain much more than others.

You also want to take into consideration the types of feeders you are offering as prey, and what you feed to those feeders.
If you are providing a wide variety of well gutloaded prey, you are likely providing most of the nutrients your cham needs. Supplements therefore need only be supplementary.

I personally didnt provide a supplement containing preformed Vitamin A for over ten years and still had long-lived healthy breeding animals. That said, a little pre-formed vitamin A now and then will do no harm and may be very beneficial. Recently I was given some of the Repashy calcium plus to try, and am now using that 2 or 3 times a month. I use other supplements as well, as needed. I see no need nor reason to use the Repashy product daily.

only you can decide what is right for your situation.

Check out these links for some additional info that may prove useful: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/174-whats-supplements-brand.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html

 

[Mueller23]

Thanks for your advice! I am going to by some just calcium powder for my dusting and do the occasional D3 i think. I like the advice about the vitamin A. right now, I am just doing crickets, but they are eating an assortment of vegetables, fruits, and flukers. I feel that they are very healthy and in turn keep my chameleon healthy. I am going to feed them some vegetables with Vitamin A soon just in case.

Thanks again man!

 

[sandrachameleon]

Thanks for your advice! I am going to by some just calcium powder for my dusting and do the occasional D3 i think. I like the advice about the vitamin A. right now, I am just doing crickets, but they are eating an assortment of vegetables, fruits, and flukers. I feel that they are very healthy and in turn keep my chameleon healthy. I am going to feed them some vegetables with Vitamin A soon just in case.

Thanks again man!

Vegetables dont contain Vitamin A. They contain carotene, which SOME animals convert into Vitamin A. It is believed by many that chameleons either dont convert at all, or not efficiently. And there is evidence that crickets are not great for this either.
So if you are only feeding crickets, you may find your chameleons will not get enough preformed vitamin A. You could gutload with some source of preformed vitamin A, use a wide variety of feeders, or supplement with a little preformed vitamin A (retinol). Treat it much like D3 - a little is good, too much is not (there is no definative answer to what "too much" is)

 

[Mueller23]

Thanks! my local store does not have the Repashy stuff, so Iam looking online for it. Thanks again!

 

[jannb]

You might be interested in what my vet, Dr. Ivan Alfonso has to say about vitamin A. http://www.ivanalfonso.com/2011/07/vitamin-a-supplement/

 

[Mueller23]

This IS very interesting! Iam buying some this weekend! I need to order some because my local store does not sell any :/

 

[leviw06]

Thanks for that link jannb was very helpful for myself as well!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Olimpia has a great summary of the roles of different vitamins: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/olimpia/573-chameleon-physiology-supplements.html

 

[Mueller23]

That really helped! Thanks! I am going to keep ALL of that in mind!