Long time lurker, new member!

[Crashbandit05]

Talk to Briana about the Calcium plus. They tested it for 3 years before recommending it out to people. With the calcium plus you need no other supplements. Weirded me out at first but I trust Krammers and they did the 3 year trial with great success. I'm assuming it "oversupplimented" because people thought they had to add a calcium with D3 and a multi 2x a month still. She said that they feed 6x a week lightly dusting with the calcium plus each feeding.

I was told the same thing by her. Supplementing worries me the most..

 

[Crashbandit05]

On my screen cage il just let the water from the dripper collect on the cage and it will start dripping from there eventually. Dont damage the enclosure for it yet since odds are the cham doesnt use the dripper.

In the Netherlands the latest 'hype' is to not use D3 suplements at all ever.
According to some researchers it would probably do more harm than good since it could cause an overdose while proper UV lighting should provide sufficient D3 ...

Dust calcium daily and replace it for vitamins once a week.
Personally I like to gutload the food aswell if possible and also add in a day where I don't dust the food at all.
I like to think the cham apreciates the food without the powders more... Dno if it's true, but what's the harm, right?
I think it's not that strict, atleast not so much once the cham is fullgrown... Just do it regulary and feed a broad variety of insects and you should be fine.
I'm not an expert in chams but I'm keeping reptiles for about 15 years now and never really had health issues with them and their growth. (Luck too I guess)

I wonder about the LED UV lights... Here we don't have em alot and mostly use tube lights, spiral lights or Vapor/HQI flood/spot lights (HID) ... I use a 26W spiral light myself for my Jacksonii.

LED light ofc should last long as a lamp but the UV does decrease over time I guess...?
For tube and spiral lights they should be swapped every 6 months to a year, for vapor and hqi this should be done every year to 1.5 year... How is this with LED UV lights?

Well the LEDs are for plant growth and overall lighting. My schefflera seems to be dropping it's lower leaves and growing nicely up top (I assume that's normal). I have a normal 5.0 UVB linear bulb built into the LED hood and a basking lamp on the back side with temps from 86-90 under basking spot.

 

[Crashbandit05]

I would still dose with D3 at least once a month with a panther unless he's getting some outside time regularly for prolonged periods. A UVB light is not a sufficient source of D3 unless your gutload is really good and you use very few oxalic acid binding elements.

As far as gutloading goes, we (my family) eats very healthy paleo diet. We buy 95% organic fruits/veggies and occasional chicken. I plan on having little guy outside on my days off (literally have no life other than work and home lol) til about September when weather starts getting bad. I was told upgrading to a 10.0 UVB would help as well. I have no problem ordering another supplement as I have invested close to 1k in this hobby and I don't want to lose a cham over something that could have been avoided.

 

[Andee]

10.0 UVB is fine as long as you have a fine mesh cage, otherwise it can hurt their eyes. 5.0 does just as well, just remember to replace your uvb lights on a regular basis.

 

[Crashbandit05]

10.0 UVB is fine as long as you have a fine mesh cage, otherwise it can hurt their eyes. 5.0 does just as well, just remember to replace your uvb lights on a regular basis.

I currently have a reptibreeze 18x18x36 but will upgrade to bigger (hopefully maybe DS cage?) later. Are you saying that 10.0 will be too much unless filtered somewhat by the screen top?

 

[Andee]

Yes, 10.0 uvb shouldn't be used unless filtered by the screen top, if you put it ontop of the reptibreeze it should be fine. It'll put out more uvb than the 5.0 but not enough to hurt the eyes.

 

[Crashbandit05]

Yes, 10.0 uvb shouldn't be used unless filtered by the screen top, if you put it ontop of the reptibreeze it should be fine. It'll put out more uvb than the 5.0 but not enough to hurt the eyes.

Thank you for the quick response!

 

[Peachypink]

I was told the same thing by her. Supplementing worries me the most..

You'll do great. I have the utmost respect for Krammers and I have no doubt they are staring me in the right direction. I've been keeping bearded dragons and chams for years now with the old regimen of D3 and multi vitamin 2x a month with regular calcium daily so I am thrilled to have an all in one option. You could also look up the calcium plus in the search option here on the forums. There have been many discussions on it.

 

[Crashbandit05]

Finally got my little KK baby! Love all his colors. Fed him a wild caught house fly (don't worry, I live in the rural mountains and there are no pesticides or anything around) and he turned a super light shade of green! I'm so excited and nervous I could throw up. Guess it's part of being a new cham owner.

 

[KapitalJ]

Great looking cham you have there!! I want a Panther so badly...

 

[jtimen]

Congratulations!

 

[Crashbandit05]

Thank you so much. Apparently the shipping process caused him to start shedding (I'm 95% sure) so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing his new skin.

I'm thinking these are his basking colors? This is after he ate 5 crickets, 3 house flies, a moth, and a small waxworm. I'm trying to keep my distance which is why the pic is kind of far away.