Thoughts on another source of D3...

[kinyonga]

One more thing to factor into the supplements required by chameleons...
I was just thinking about insects today and it came into my mind....could insects be w source of vitamin D3?? Of course, I had to look into it and this is what I found so far...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-29232-w
"This study indicates that: 1) migratory locusts, house crickets and yellow mealworms can synthesise vitamin D3 de novo after UVb exposure, but attain different concentrations, 2) higher vitamin D levels can be attained with exposure to higher UVb intensities, and 3) vitamin D3 levels in yellow mealworms increase until a maximum concentration is reached during prolonged UVb exposure."

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-29232-w.pdf?origin=ppub

One more thing to consider...
https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/jzbg/jzbg-02-00027/article_deploy/jzbg-02-00027-v3.pdf
"The loss of calcium content resulting from insects voiding gut contents once food is removed, as is the case when they are placed in an insectivore’s enclosure and are not immediately eaten, has not been reported before in the literature. This is important as many insectivores do not feed immediately and so the actual calcium content ingested may not equate to the calcium content of freshly gut loaded insects"

 

[DonKeesh]

Great discussion! I like to feed diurnal wild prey (grasshoppers) whenever possible. It makes sense that an insect that sits in high UV would have sufficient D3.

 

[kinyonga]

More food for thought..
https://zoologyweblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/ultraviolet-exposure-of-insects-and.html?m=1

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

One more thing to factor into the supplements required by chameleons...
I was just thinking about insects today and it came into my mind....could insects be w source of vitamin D3?? Of course, I had to look into it and this is what I found so far...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-29232-w
"This study indicates that: 1) migratory locusts, house crickets and yellow mealworms can synthesise vitamin D3 de novo after UVb exposure, but attain different concentrations, 2) higher vitamin D levels can be attained with exposure to higher UVb intensities, and 3) vitamin D3 levels in yellow mealworms increase until a maximum concentration is reached during prolonged UVb exposure."

More evidence that mealworms aren't the bane they're often made out to be!

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/the-evils-of-mealworms.180182/

THX.

 

[DocZ]

It’s unfortunate the second study looking at vitamin D production and insects along with calcium levels didn’t yield positive results
It’s definitely possible the melanin content in the insect chosen affected their ability to create vitamin D. Melanin directly competes 7-DHC in absorbing UVB and certainly could have led to the lack of vitamin D production.
I think they’re goal of creating “normal” care conditions for the insects may have affected the results too. It may require a change of normal care of our insects to take advantage of this ability to make D3

I wonder what happens with cholecalciferol in an insect. They don’t have the same hepatic and renal systems of vertebrates. Do they have the ability to create 25-hydroxy D3 for storage and 1,25 dihydroxy D3 for functional hormone? If they can, does it lead increased calcium absorption in the gut?

It would interesting to see in the insects that have been shown to produce D3 under UVB light if they have increased levels of 25-hydroxy D3. This is the measurable level D3 production in the body

Cool studies. Thanks @kinyonga