Supplements for my female veiled

[daley]

hey i just recently bought a 5month old female veiled chameleon

because im new to chameleon care (only having cared for Scorpions in the past ) im a little confused with supplements for my Cham

In the enclosure i am using Repti Glo 5.0 Compact (13w) UVB lamp combined with a 75w heat glo bulb for basking. Is it correct that the UVB provides D3 to deal with calcium intake?

at the pet shop (this is why im triple checking now) they recommended that i use Exo Terra Multi Vitamin Powder Supplement with the Exo Terra Calcium + D3 Powder Supplement.

Do i need to use the calcium D3 if the bulb gives it? and should i swap to just Calcium?

Also, for a female, how many times a week should i use these supplements to achieve optimal health for my cham.

So far i have dusted the containers for crickets and locust with the mix of supplements. the pet shop says 2-3times a week because females need more calcium + vitamin to develop the eggs.

So do i dust the full box of insects with this mix 2-3times a week on top of gutloading the insects? currently i am feeding 4 insects a day, varying between locust & Crickets with the odd waxworm.

theres a lot of uncertainty on the internet and confirmation from you guys would help me a great deal

 

[Miss Lily]

Hi and welcome! You've certainly come to the right place!

I have a pair of veileds (housed separately!) and I dut their insect with plain calcium at most feedings - the most they eat is two insects per day. Locusts and crix are not that calcium rich, so it's best to dust these on most days to balance things out a bit! So, on top of the plain calcium I use Nutrabol (a vitamin powder which contains calcium and D3) on Sundays.

Most owners use a linear UV source (like a tube/strip light) as some of the compact ones have been known to cause eye problems for chameleons. Her temps should be in the low 80's - higher temps and a lot of food can cause them to cycle large clutches of infertile eggs, which in turn take it's toll on them and shortens their lives.

Check out this link - it offers further advice and was written by a couple of members on here (Brad Ramsey & Kinyonga). http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

Also, make sure that you mist her cage twice a day and provide her with some sort of water dripper that she can drink from. Humidity levels can be helped by providing her with live (safe) plants in her cage.

 

[ghettomike]

Hello and welcome to female veiled ownership. I have a female veiled myself and don't know everything but have learned alot on this site, some good and some bad so you still really have to pick through feedback from people.
My dusting schedule is as follows, calcium without d3 at every feeding, calcium with d3 twice a month and dusting with a multi vitamin twice a month (on alternate weeks of the d3 calcium.) That seems to be the most used schedule that I found. If your cham spends alot of time in natural sunlight then the calcium with d3 can be cutback because they will produce more naturally, the bulb helps but it is not enough.
As for your bulb I will just give you the heads up that most people will tell you to get a repti sun 5.0 tube bulb as opposed to the compact (coil) type bulb as they have been known in the past to cause eye problems, I used to have compact bulbs but after reading everything people wrote about them switched over just to be safe.
You do not need to dust the whole box of insects, just the gutloaded ones that you are going to be feeding off, just dust right before you feed or the feeders will clean most of it off.
also there are some methods with feeding and temperatures that you can implement to reduce the chances of your female laying large or possibly any clutches of infertile eggs which is ideal as it is hard on them if they do. check out this blog as I learned some good stuff from it.http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html Around 5 to 6 months is when I started reducing my Carmies feeding to every other day so you may want to look into doing that as well. Hope all this helps ya a bit.

 

[daley]

thanks

i short of money at the moment to splash out on a linear lighting set up
but i will invest at some point.

i buy my insects from a local store and i just keep them in the container until they are going to be eaten so i dust them down and gut load the box. is there a simpler way to manage insects that is cheaper then spending £5 a week on insects?

i mist 2-3 times a day and have a ft tall waterfall that provides running water to drink from

 

[sandrachameleon]

You'll want a plain calcium powder, calicum with D3 powder, and a vitamin supplment. All three.

waterfall is a bad idea (misting and drippers are what you want)

Some compact lights have been known to cause blindness

I suggest you read these blog entries, in addition to the raising kitty site:

Supplements:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/174-whats-supplements-brand.html

lighting:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/68-lighting-links.html

water:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/92-hydration-importance-water.html

feeders & gutloading:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html