Kinyongia Tavetana dusting
- Thread starter mhfan305
- Start date
mhfan305
New Member
Mine is 7 inches, would this place him as full grown? Can I estimate him being around a year old with that length? He is WC so I dont know how much longer he has to live, I was told they can live anywhere from 4 to 7 years. In that case I would want to get him a female soon to breed. Though I was also told there is no shortages of Tavetana's so I would always have access to them. I would love to keep at least a male from a captive born hatched by me to breed later on when the parents pass.
spadefish
Member
There aren't shortages when Tanzania is open. It has been intermittently open. Your male is probably an adult. They tend to lose some of their color as they age. I had a male that lived 5 years. I have a female who is nearly four. In my experience, not all males are hot and bothered to breed just because you put him in with a female. Sometimes they need a bit of male competition (in a separate cage within view). If you have no experience breeding chameleons, this is not the best species to start with. They have some fairly stringent temperature and humidity requirements and if you do manage to breed them, the eggs take at least a year to incubate.
The tavs that have been coming in lately are rough, looking like they have been in transit a long time. I would give your male at least 3-4 months of quiet time with proper nutrition and hydration before even thinking of introducing him to a female. Same goes for the future female.
The tavs that have been coming in lately are rough, looking like they have been in transit a long time. I would give your male at least 3-4 months of quiet time with proper nutrition and hydration before even thinking of introducing him to a female. Same goes for the future female.
Mike Fisher
Established Member
I use calcium every feeding due to the poor calcium/phosphorus ratio of feeder insects. They don't tolerate overdoses of D3 like many species so you must be cautious of that. Straight calcium is fine every feeding because calcium carbonate is water soluble and excess is excreted in the urate.
mhfan305
New Member
So d3 and multivitamin once a month each is ok to give? Now I feel like giving them calcium every feeding! But I would feel safer if I limit it to 2-3 times a week of calcium because of me giving d3 and multivitamin once a month...correct?
Mike Fisher
Established Member
The problem with your question is we do not know what feeders you are using. Every feeder has a different calcium to phosphorus ratio. Usually they have a much higher phosphorus than calcium, so you must add extra calcium to them either by dusting, gut loading or both to bring it closer to optimum. If you use crickets as an example, before gut loading they only have a 1 to 12 calcium to phosphorus ratio, so they are very low in calcium. Published recommendation is 2 to 1 calcium to phosphorus. So even with the best gut loading diet, you should probably dust calcium on them every feeding. If you are using black soldier fly larvae, they have almost a 2 to 1 ratio, so you would not need to dust them at all.
Get it?
Feel free to google the calcium phosphorus ratio of common feeder insects and decide for yourself. Here's one I found real quick, but there are probably better ones: http://www.everythingreptile.org/feeder-pics-and-information.html
mhfan305
New Member
I bought my crickets 2 weeks ago. I have been feeding them fresh carrots everyday for gut loading. I plan on dusting the crickets every feeding now with calcium, d3 and multivitamins once a month also now that you showed me the data. I think I'm going to skip dusting on his first feeding.
Mike Fisher
Established Member
Fresh carrots as the sole source of gut loading is pretty poor. You can use those as part of your gut load for a source of vitamin A and water to hydrate your feeders, but a gut load should have a multitude of high calcium/low oxalate greens as well as other ingredients for vitamins. Check sandrachameleon's blog.
Again, research is in order on your part. Too much ground to cover in this reply.
Again, research is in order on your part. Too much ground to cover in this reply.
Here is a link to the blog mentioned, https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/
Lots of other info out there on the web.
Lots of other info out there on the web.
Mike Fisher
Established Member
Good husbandry practice should not be upsetting, it should be interesting if you want your chameleons to thrive. WC Kinyongia are not a good genus to learn the ropes, IMO. The parasite load can sometimes be high. If you find that providing a proper gut load to feeders upsetting, getting Kinyongia to open their mouths for parasite treatment is a real treat. They are the most stubborn chameleons that I have worked with in this regard.
Good luck to you.
mhfan305
New Member
Thank you, I would just like to know where this blog is that can tell me the exact vegetables and fruits I should feed low calcium crickets to properly gut load them. Or you can state them here, that would be better actually. Of course I find this all interesting...thats why I am doing it!
spadefish
Member
I've kept tavetanas for several years now. When they come in wild caught, they can have a high parasite load, but in my experience when you try to acclimate and deal with parasites at the same time, they do poorly. I dust every feeder with calcium (no d3) every single feeding. They seem to be very sensitive to low levels of calcium. I add D3 and multi vitamins 2-3 times per month depending on what I am feeding them. When they are fresh off the boat, I generally add a vitamin and mineral supplement dust once a week for the first month. They come in soooo depleted that this seems to help them adjust quicker.
These are probably the pissiest of the genus. They are temperamental and sometimes nasty and do not like to be messed with. They will learn to tolerate you or maybe not. If you want your new cham to not only survive but also to do well, then you need to take the time to learn about gutloading, temperature ranges and what to look for. YOu can find all of this information in these forums with a relatively simple search (es). Even with optimal conditions, the WC's often just drop dead. Raise the odds of success by reading about the experience of others with this species. It will take a bit of time, but it is well worth the effort.
These are probably the pissiest of the genus. They are temperamental and sometimes nasty and do not like to be messed with. They will learn to tolerate you or maybe not. If you want your new cham to not only survive but also to do well, then you need to take the time to learn about gutloading, temperature ranges and what to look for. YOu can find all of this information in these forums with a relatively simple search (es). Even with optimal conditions, the WC's often just drop dead. Raise the odds of success by reading about the experience of others with this species. It will take a bit of time, but it is well worth the effort.
mhfan305
New Member
Thats the worst! So I should probably get him tested and treated for all parasites he might have since he is WC soon right? Or he might die soon? He has been in the USA for a month. He seems to be drinking a lot, I have some crickets in a cup, I dont know if he will go for them, maybe tomorrow if he gets hungry and starts searching for food. I was just going to buy flukers cricket quencer w/ calcium...but if its best to buy fresh vegetables then I will. Help?
Mike Fisher
Established Member
It sounds like you are in over your head. You picked a hard species to start out with and it being WC is two strikes against you. There is too much information to spoon feed it to you in one thread, so you are going to have do do a lot of research. This forum is a good resource to start with. The questions you are asking are just basic chameleon keeping 101 and they've been answered a million times.
Yes, fresh veggies are better for a gut load than some product designed to keep crickets hydrated.
Yes, fresh veggies are better for a gut load than some product designed to keep crickets hydrated.
Mike Fisher
Established Member
That's a good start.
Think small batches. You don't want it to mold inside your bin. If you can swing it, kale is really good, one of the best! Dandelion greens are good too, just make sure no pesticides have been used on them.
mhfan305
New Member
That's a good start.
I figured I would do a large mixed batch and store it in the fridge, and then replace small portions everyday to the crickets. Where can I get all of these ingredients like dandelion greens and kale? Does walmart or a local grocery store carry it all?
