Hey all,
I recently took my 3 and a half month old panther to a very good exotic animal vet specializing in avian and reptile care. His eye was bothering him and I was concerned of respiratory issues. He had none and I was sent home with saline eye drops. Thank you again to those of you who responded so quickly to my ''Respiratory Issue ?'' thread.
My Vet is the past president of the Pacific Northwest association of avian and and exotic veterinarians, has contributed 2 chapters to the British small animal veterans association of exotic pets, fifth edition. She advises and has assisted many exotic rescue organizations including the Pacific North West Herpetological Society and has spoken at the international conference on exotics.
She owns 8 reptiles none of wich are Chameleons. Many of her staff own reptiles as well, one of them has 20 in her home. Again none of them Chameleons. She sees quite a phew of chameleons on a regular basis and of course many other types of reptiles.
my question is about gut loading and vitamin dusting. She very specifically told me and is advising all her clients I would assume to stop dusting all together, and to only use gut loading as a source of calcium. That reptiles can not properly proces the dust and it must come from inside the feeders gut. That she is seeing adult chameleons coming in with Tremors, Chameleons that have been provided with calcium dusting powder all there lives. Not only this but I was told that only one brand of gut load has been proven to provide appropriate levels of Calcium to feeders. This is T Rex Calcium Plus Food For Crickets. She told me a study was done by leading experts to test the effects of calcium fortified dry commercial products on the calcium content of both cricket nymphs and adults.
I asked if I could read the study and she copied it for me, I have read it twice. The study is very technical so I dont fully understand it. However I do understand that the recommendation was that hobbits and institutions should either make your own gut load diets or use T REx Calcium Plus for calcium intake for all reptiles to achieve proper calcium levels. Many of the products out there claim to have sufficient calcium for gut loading, but this study VERY MUCH says otherwise. The study was published in the Journal of herpetological medicine and surgery volume 15.
I am a tiny bit skeptical as it seems many people with Chameleons seem to use dusting powders and I don't want to just stop 100 percent without being sure I am making the rite decision. I Know this is a difficult subject with many options and what works for one doesn't alway work for another.
Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated!
Adam
I recently took my 3 and a half month old panther to a very good exotic animal vet specializing in avian and reptile care. His eye was bothering him and I was concerned of respiratory issues. He had none and I was sent home with saline eye drops. Thank you again to those of you who responded so quickly to my ''Respiratory Issue ?'' thread.
My Vet is the past president of the Pacific Northwest association of avian and and exotic veterinarians, has contributed 2 chapters to the British small animal veterans association of exotic pets, fifth edition. She advises and has assisted many exotic rescue organizations including the Pacific North West Herpetological Society and has spoken at the international conference on exotics.
She owns 8 reptiles none of wich are Chameleons. Many of her staff own reptiles as well, one of them has 20 in her home. Again none of them Chameleons. She sees quite a phew of chameleons on a regular basis and of course many other types of reptiles.
my question is about gut loading and vitamin dusting. She very specifically told me and is advising all her clients I would assume to stop dusting all together, and to only use gut loading as a source of calcium. That reptiles can not properly proces the dust and it must come from inside the feeders gut. That she is seeing adult chameleons coming in with Tremors, Chameleons that have been provided with calcium dusting powder all there lives. Not only this but I was told that only one brand of gut load has been proven to provide appropriate levels of Calcium to feeders. This is T Rex Calcium Plus Food For Crickets. She told me a study was done by leading experts to test the effects of calcium fortified dry commercial products on the calcium content of both cricket nymphs and adults.
I asked if I could read the study and she copied it for me, I have read it twice. The study is very technical so I dont fully understand it. However I do understand that the recommendation was that hobbits and institutions should either make your own gut load diets or use T REx Calcium Plus for calcium intake for all reptiles to achieve proper calcium levels. Many of the products out there claim to have sufficient calcium for gut loading, but this study VERY MUCH says otherwise. The study was published in the Journal of herpetological medicine and surgery volume 15.
I am a tiny bit skeptical as it seems many people with Chameleons seem to use dusting powders and I don't want to just stop 100 percent without being sure I am making the rite decision. I Know this is a difficult subject with many options and what works for one doesn't alway work for another.
Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated!
Adam