Supplementation for five month old CH

[Kat77]

I just got one of Mike's CH babies today, and I'm getting ready to feed him/her. Now, I have a schedule all set up for my panthers, but I wondered, are you all supplementing your Melleri differently than you are supplementing the rest of your chameleons? What is the schedule you use? Bear in mind he/she is five months old.

I have Minerall 0, Herptivite, and Rep-Cal with D3. Any ideas? I'm just going to skip the supplements today, until I have an idea of what I'm doing. Thanks!

 

[beeze]

Are you not using repcal calcium with out D also?

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

Are you not using repcal calcium with out D also?

Minerall 0 has cal no D3



Congrats on your new guy/gal Katt. I wish I could help, but I am going ot learn something off of this thread.

 

[Julirs]

I supplement a little less on the Mellers than my Panthers and Veileds. One reason for that is that he is SUCH A PICKY EATER and still loves fruit flies over crickets, so I end up dusting the crickets every other day that I put in with him. Post some pics of your new guy and let us know how he is on the eating!

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Kat- here is a link from the Melleri Discovery web site. The paragraph AT THE BOTTOM of this page describes supplement use.

Correction: actually that link doesn't work. Go to that link, though, and click on husbandry, then click on feeding (on the left- under "concise care sheet"). It's at the bottom of that feeding page.

http://www.melleridiscovery.com/index.html

I use kristina's gut load recipe (with a couple minor modifications) and it works very well.

 

[Kat77]

Kat- here is a link from the Melleri Discovery web site. The paragraph AT THE BOTTOM of this page describes supplement use.

Correction: actually that link doesn't work. Go to that link, though, and click on husbandry, then click on feeding (on the left- under "concise care sheet"). It's at the bottom of that feeding page.

http://www.melleridiscovery.com/index.html

I use kristina's gut load recipe (with a couple minor midifications) and it works very well.

Wow, thanks for the info! I'll be running right out and getting ingredients for that gut load. I had planned on using it anyhow, but I guess I just didn't read in depth enough to catch the fact that supplementation is actually not so good.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

I fed my melleri exactly like I feed my young and growing veileds, only not quite as much - he just wouldn't eat as much as they will.

Ardi was partial to flies for the first several months (I got him at 3 months). Get some house flies - yeah, they're not too easy to culture , but they're cheap at spiderpharm.com. Ardi ate about 50% crickets, 50% houseflies, mealworm beetles and silkworms for the first few months. He loved the beetles as much as the flies.

As he grew, I started to feed him more crickets and superworms. now, his diet is pretty much 50% roaches, with crickets, superworms and treats making up the rest.

Supplementation wise, I use the exact thigns you have - Minerall 0, Re-Cap with D3, and herptivite. I also used reptivite (now I use fluker's) multivitamin as a source for vitamin A. I do not have a set plan - I kind of change things as I go - but roughly, I gave him a tiny amount of supplementation daily.

Most days, he'd get some feeders dusted with a mix of minerall 0 and repcal (2:1, approx), and then a couple times a week an insect dusted with herptivite. Once every week or so, I'd give him a cricket dusted in reptivite.

I went easy on the D3, as Ardi was under a 10.0 bulb. He never had any growth issues or vitamin A issues - actually, zero health problems at all, except a cut on his toe which healed up fast.

Gutload was simple - scrap vegetables fed regularly to insects, nothing intentionally gutloaded, really.

I would reccomend reading ecerything on Kristina's site - you really can't go wrong with the info on it.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Thank you, Eric. That's a terrific, very detailed account. I am printing that to keep in our cham room.

 

[Sepioteuthis]

Hey Eric,
I'm curious - any particular reason you stopped using reptivite?
My bottle of reptivite is running low, hence the question

- Suzanne

 

[Kat77]

Thanks Eric! I actually have religiously read Kristina's site. It is just hard to absorb ALL of the information. I think I'm going to go with the gut load, just to be safe, but thanks for the information!

 

[Eric Adrignola]

Hey Eric,
I'm curious - any particular reason you stopped using reptivite?
My bottle of reptivite is running low, hence the question

- Suzanne

Yes, I stopped using reptivite for a very good reason - I ran out. And the store only had flukers. My adorable little girl was helping me feed my animals, when she dumped the contents of my reptivite. I kinda forgot about that for a few months, and my gravid female veiled developed a swollen eye and a tad of gular edema. Then I remembered about the reptivite...

So, I went to the pet store and got some vitamins with a good amount of preformed A. Within two weeks, her eye was normal. Only time I've ever had an animal develop edema/eye swellings.

I can attest that reptivite works, as does the fluker stuff. Herptivite by itself does not provide enough vitamin A (in any form) to prevent problems. I find it much easier to provide a tad of vitamin A supplementation than it is to ensure the insects' food is providing jut enough - but not too much - of the stuff.

I've used reptivite for over 10 years in conjunction with Herptivite (since herptivite first came out). I've never had any problem with vitamin imbalances. The key is to never give them a lot of any supplementation, and you should never OD them.

 

[Kat77]

Should I replace the herptivite with some reptivite or use them in conjunction with one another?

 

[Eric Adrignola]

use them together - herptivite as a multivitamin, reptivite more for the preformed vitamin A content, which herptivite lacks. Don't mix them, but use the herptivite more often, the reptivite once or twice a month - check the different supplementation schedules of different breeders. I can't post much now, as my wife is in labor and I'm waiting to hear from the doctor.

 

[Kat77]

use them together - herptivite as a multivitamin, reptivite more for the preformed vitamin A content, which herptivite lacks. Don't mix them, but use the herptivite more often, the reptivite once or twice a month - check the different supplementation schedules of different breeders. I can't post much now, as my wife is in labor and I'm waiting to hear from the doctor.

Oh my god! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Well GO GO! Be with her! How exciting!

P.S. Thanks for the advice, I will do just that!

 

[Eric Adrignola]

Thanks. Everything went well - home birth in water. Our Doctor is the only OBGYN in the state of NC that does home births. Our baby girl was born 4:50 yesterday morning (10-18-08). Precious little thing. Our 3.5 year old daughter was in the pool wiht her when she ws born - how cool is that?

If anyone saw the last episode of "the office", Jan had a water birth as well - and yes, the "Tide at Omaha Beach" comment is pretty accurate.

 

[jannb]

Thanks. Everything went well - home birth in water. Our Doctor is the only OBGYN in the state of NC that does home births. Our baby girl was born 4:50 yesterday morning (10-18-08). Precious little thing. Our 3.5 year old daughter was in the pool wiht her when she ws born - how cool is that?

If anyone saw the last episode of "the office", Jan had a water birth as well - and yes, the "Tide at Omaha Beach" comment is pretty accurate.

Congratulation on the new baby girl!!!!!! The at home water birth thing sounds pretty neat. When I had my girls NOTHING like that was offered. I'm originally from N.C. Kannapolis......north of Charlotte. How far are you from there? Jann

 

[Kat77]

Thanks. Everything went well - home birth in water. Our Doctor is the only OBGYN in the state of NC that does home births. Our baby girl was born 4:50 yesterday morning (10-18-08). Precious little thing. Our 3.5 year old daughter was in the pool wiht her when she ws born - how cool is that?

If anyone saw the last episode of "the office", Jan had a water birth as well - and yes, the "Tide at Omaha Beach" comment is pretty accurate.

Wow, congratulations! What is her name? How cool! I wish I had done something like that when my daughter was born.

Hah, we just went from Melleri to babies! I'm actually a little proud that her birth announcement to the forum was on my thread.

 

[bosco]

Congratulations Eric!
I'm waiting for a little girl too (next month)

 

[Eric Adrignola]

Her name is Madeline Lily Adrignola. I reccomend anyone having a baby go to a thorough birth class. Learn about everything avalible to you, and abou everything that will happen, and everything that may be done to you.

I am NOT anti hospital nor anti doctor. However, so much of what is done in regards to birthign at hospitals is done for reasons NOT for the mother and the baby. IF a childbirth goes normally - as the vast majority of them go - there is no reason for a doctor. We took a real good class last time, and we were fully prepared. Educate yourself about the process, and about all the interventions - nothing is without side effects - and side-effects can cause complications.

I would have preferred the clinical saftey that a hospital provides - but regulations in a hospital may not enable the mother to labor and deliver how she would like - it's always different. Water seems to be the most relaxing, and it worked well. Seriously - we went to church Sunday morning - baby was only about 30 hous old, and my wife is bored and stir crazy now!

We're in Henderson county, near Asheville, not too far from Charlotte It's beautiful this time of year here... glad I moved. Picture will come today, as soon as I re-do the webpage.