CasqueAbove
Chameleon Enthusiast
This is something I have been looking into more and more. How is it with such well prescribed and documented care, why are there so many D3 issues? I think there might be a couple factors that play into this. One is technology, we now have better UV lights and if set up correct we may not even need D3 as it is documented that with a basking of 3 UVB Chameleons can produce enough D3 on their own. Yet we are still following the standard supplementation. This is done because in a cage the UV is not an even spread like out doors so we need to supplement even with a proper UV range. This is a bit of a gray area because one cham may really like his basking branch while another spends more time hiding or out of prime UV. This alone could create slightly different needs, though probably minor if using a correct set up.
The bigger problem can come from our supplements. They are not always clear on how they are expected to be used. As an example I was using Sticky Tongue Farms Indoor for my D3 every other week and Flukers Multi on opposing weeks, just as prescribed. Well as I started looking closer the Sticky Tongue suggests 3 times a week and has 4400 i.u. and as it turns out the Flukers has no suggested amount, but has 10,000 i.u. So wait a minute here are we giving way too much, I think so especially with proper UV lighting.
So what is the proper amount? Do we assume the Flukers is a once a week ? And thus 10,000 to 12,000 ui (3 times a week with Sticky Tongue) ? With these gray areas it would be interesting if we could come up with a more accurate dosage. I believe it was @Sonny13 that did the Database on plant eating. I was thinking of a similar idea for supplements. If we could collect the info on what brands are used , the lighting setup, how often and how many feeders. This with the age of the animal how long it has been on it or was on it and what if any issues were seen.
Would we be interested it trying to gather this information? If so give likes and I will put something together to collect the information. The information is out there between all of us I thing we may be able to come up with something.
The bigger problem can come from our supplements. They are not always clear on how they are expected to be used. As an example I was using Sticky Tongue Farms Indoor for my D3 every other week and Flukers Multi on opposing weeks, just as prescribed. Well as I started looking closer the Sticky Tongue suggests 3 times a week and has 4400 i.u. and as it turns out the Flukers has no suggested amount, but has 10,000 i.u. So wait a minute here are we giving way too much, I think so especially with proper UV lighting.
So what is the proper amount? Do we assume the Flukers is a once a week ? And thus 10,000 to 12,000 ui (3 times a week with Sticky Tongue) ? With these gray areas it would be interesting if we could come up with a more accurate dosage. I believe it was @Sonny13 that did the Database on plant eating. I was thinking of a similar idea for supplements. If we could collect the info on what brands are used , the lighting setup, how often and how many feeders. This with the age of the animal how long it has been on it or was on it and what if any issues were seen.
Would we be interested it trying to gather this information? If so give likes and I will put something together to collect the information. The information is out there between all of us I thing we may be able to come up with something.