Right amount of calcium?

[Haze1981]

I have a quick query. My little (well not so little) Gizmo turned 6 months old yesterday and his appetite has naturally slowed down so I am going to feed him every other day. My question is will he still be getting enough calcium? I don't want to accidentally harm him.

 

[Kate]

What kind of Cham do you have? What are you using now?

 

[Haze1981]

I have a veiled chameleon and I use calci-dust which is plain calcium and nutrobal (twice a month) which is calcuim with D3 and vitamins.

 

[Solid Snake]

The thing is, is that you need a proper calcium phosphorous ratio for the animal to properly absorb the calcium.

You need a Calhos ratio of 2:1 in any feeder the animal eats.

That is the reason for the dusting of feeders with calcium. Most are the opposite, 1:2.

If you are doing that, and the chameleon needs more calcium, he will eat more. If he needs less, he will eat less.

So, adding in more calcium is not going to necessarily give the animal more usable calcium.

Does that answer the question?

 

[sandrachameleon]

I have a quick query. My little (well not so little) Gizmo turned 6 months old yesterday and his appetite has naturally slowed down so I am going to feed him every other day. My question is will he still be getting enough calcium? I don't want to accidentally harm him.

the reason you are adding calcium is to correct the ratio provided by the insects. So he only needs extra calcium when he is being given feeder prey that has the wrong ratio. therefore, on the days he is not eating bugs with a poor ratio (or not eating at all), he doesnt need calcium.

Id be a bit concerned that his appetite is so low that he wouldnt still be eating daily at only 6 months old. That's still quite young. Are you providing a wide range of feeder prey types? are the temps warm enough?