Supplement question, which brand?

[happiness]

I am soon to be a Chameleon owner (I hope, if a deal doesn't fall through ), so I've been steadily learning about Chameleons and their needs. I want to be prepared .

I understand that crickets should be sprinkled with.. (correct me if I'm wrong)
calcium - 3 times a weekish
calcium d3 -1-2 times a month?
multivitamin .. ?


What brand should I be going for?

I was thinking of going with the Rep Cal brand. LLLrepile has a 2 in one package of "Rep Cal" Multivitamin & calcium D3 .

I also have a question about misting.. Can I just use a regular squirt bottle to "mist" with? Or do I have to have an actual mister?

What do you use?

I was also thinking of buying the "Bug Burger" to use as a gutload for crickets, and some fruit on the side..

 

[carol5208]

What kind of chameleon are you getting? If the most popular Veild or Panther, you should dust at every feeding with regular calcium without the d3.Most of us use the d3 one twice monthly and then the multivitamin twice monthly also. I like the Sticky Tongue Farms Calcium with no d3 because it is a finer powder and doesn't coat the insects too much like some of the other calciums. You don't want your crickets or other inects too heavily coated. Make sure if you get Sticky Tongue Farms, there are two, an indoor and outdoor formula. Indoor contains d3, outdoor does not. I use Herptivite for my multi. Yes, you can use a misting bottle. If you fill it with hot water, it will spray out warm. Just test the water temp on yourself first before spraying into the cage as some of it will get on your chameleon. He may run away or hang under the mist. Some will drink right from the spray bottle. Just don't ever spray it straight down their throat. Fresh fruits and vegetables are best to feed your insects with. I use Bug Burger also. I think it is good. I sprinkle it on the food dry. My crickets did not like it so much prepared wet.

 

[browncofan]

I also use the Sticky Tongue Farms Outdoor Formula on a daily basis. I use Reptivite with D3 which I use on the 1st and the 15th of each month. That is a multivitamin with D3 added.

I tried Bug Burger a lot of people use it, my insects didn't like it that much, I used it with Dubia Roaches. I have since switched to an insect chow made by MS2 enterprises. I use it as a dry food, and also as a wet gut load dust. It is made in Alaska with organic ingrediants and no animal protein. I also mix it with my out and bran for my superworms.

Forum member Sandrachameleon has great blogs on gutloading with receipes to make your own dry and wet gutloads. I use her wet receipes, mix everything in a blender and freeze it in small ice cube trays. That I thaw and use as needed.

Welcome to the Forum. Can't wait to see pictures of your new family member.

 

[ridgebax1]

I use repcal without D3 on feeders that need dusted every time I use them but also feed phoenix worms, horns, silks, butters that are all high in calcium. I am moving away from crickets in favor of dubia and turkistan roaches. Twice a month I substitute calcium with D3 and twice monthly use herptivite.

Don't waste your money on a Monsoon 400 if you decide to get an automated misting system. I have had two units and neither have worked reliably. Save your money for an Aquazamp or MistKing. They are only a little more and much more reliable. You will find many keepers on the forums use them and are pleased with them. I also use a dripper because my guy is not a fan of the mist, he runs from it so I just want him to have as much acess to water as possible. Horn and silk worms have a lot of moisture and can help with that too. Until you decide how you want to handle the misting you can get a small pressurized mister for probably less than $20. I have seen them at PETCO.

There are tons of online options to purchase different feeders and SandraChameleon's blogs are a great resource as are Pigglette79's. There are tons of helpful folks on these forums. Lots of info on the species specific care sheets too. Temp and water requirements vary with species and locales.

Welcome to the forums and good luck.