Supplementation

Clubber122

New Member
I was wondering what products people use and how often? But also how much calcium, vitamin a, vitamin d3 etc are in the products you use, I'm unsure if mine has enough as I can't find any info on the net giving how many ui are need of vitamins
 
it depends

what type of chameleon?
age?
male or female?
Do you keep it inside under UVB lamps or outside in sunshine?
what feeder prey do you offer your chameleon?
how do you gutload?

You may find the info in these blog entries useful:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/174-whats-supplements-brand.html

With my panthers and Veiled, I like Mineral-O made by Sticky Tongue Farms for my vitamin and phosphorous free calcium supplement. I am currently using Repashy Calcium Plus for my vitamin supplement.
 
Sorry a male panther baby, must be about 6 weeks old now, kept under ubv, currently feeding on 2nd crickets I feed them a prepared cricket feed
 
what is in the "prepared cricket feed"? many of the commercially available cricket foods are not very good. And you want to know what vitamins (especially fat soluble ones) are in the cricket food.

what feeder prey do you offer besides / in addition to crickets?
 
what is in the "prepared cricket feed"? many of the commercially available cricket foods are not very good. And you want to know what vitamins (especially fat soluble ones) are in the cricket food.

what feeder prey do you offer besides / in addition to crickets?

It's got all the same as the dusting powder but lower values, I only give him 2nd crickets at the moment but I'm not sure they are the correct size for him?
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Ahh he is tiny. What are you dusting feeders with at the moment. You can try to get fruit flys, curly winged flys, micro locusts.
 
There are a few chameleon specific ones out there. I would keep a close eye on him and if in doubt change to three different supplements as there have been quite a few posts on here where the Cham has been getting too much d3. I used to use one of these products but felt uneasy with it so now use Komodo cricket dust without d3 daily. Reptivite without d3 twice a month and repti calcium with d3 twice a month. Hope that helps.:)
 
I know the Komodo one and it is very similar to repashy calcium plus I believe. I would switch to the three powder method mentioned above. It will be much better for a growing chameleon
 
The thing that confuses me is how much of each they need as in how much calcium, vit a and vit E because one product contains a different amount of each to another
 
Maybe this will help....
Not only is supplementing important but temperature and lighting and feeding and gutloading are all important.

Appropriate temperatures allow for proper digestion so they play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB allows the chameleon to produce the D3 needed to use the calcium in its system for bone health and muscle use, etc. I supplement twice a month with a phos - free calcium / D3 powder (report-cal) to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues but D3 produced from exposure to the UVB light shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it.

I dust at most feedings with a phos - free calcium powder (report-cal) to help make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phos found in most feeder insects.

I also dust twice a month with herptivite...and vitamin powder with a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources won't build up in the system and lead to health issues like prEformed sources will. This leaves it to you to decide how often to give a prEformed dose to it.

Feeding/gutloading ensures that the chameleon gets a good diet. Crickets, suoerworms, roaches, locusts, etc can be fed/gutloaded with a wide assortment of greens such as dandelions, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, etc.

Calcium, D3, phos, and vitamin A are all players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon and need to be in balance.

I realize this still doesn't tell you exactly how much of which you need to give them...but there are so many supplements out there to chose from that you will have to figure it out from here.

Doing what I have described, my female veileds for instance usually live for over six years, often seven and the males even longer.
 
Okay update, he slowed down with eating one bug every now and then

semureme.jpg


That's him this week, he's about 6-7weeks now, I've bought these supplements now and will do calcium without d3 all Feeds, calcium with d3 1 Feed a week and multi vits once a month? Does this seem Okay

7y8e5a9a.jpg
 
Hi, Great looking panther you have there. Your multivitamin has D3 in it. I would personally use it twice a month. You truly have no need for the calcium with d3.

A few suggestions. Try placing UVB strip light as close as you can to the basking light. You want the coverage to over lap so he is getting the benefits of both.

As for gut loading, A great gut load made by Repashy called BUG BURGER would be a good addition to your little guys diet. This gut load has more ingredients compared to other pre mixed gut loads that are available. Another great option would be to make your gut load. Sandrachameleons blog has some great ideas on this.
 
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