vitamin A vs beta carotene

[Hugh Wahl]

Hi all, was wondering what everyone thought on true vitamin A vs beta carotene. I've heard that chameleons dont process beta carotene and that vitamin A is needed. then i've heard that supplements with beta carotene and no vitamin A will work fine. this has confused me. Can they process beta carotene or do they need vitamin a supplement?

 

[brandychams]

im glad someone brought this up i wonder as welll the herptivite i use only has beta carotene but i heard there is a reptivite that uses preformed vitamin a so i thought maybe id get this and use it once every other month or should i use a small drop from a vit a capsule on 1 dfeeder every month ? hopefully someone can give us thier ideas

 

[kinyonga]

I don't have time to look for the links right now...but there are a lot of threads on this topic on this forum....try to use "search" to find them.

 

[brandychams]

thanks kinyonga i have searched this topic frquently here and on other sites and every one seems to vary everyone has thier opinion and what they like to do i was just hoping to get some more dfinative answers but thanks

 

[kinyonga]

I don't think there are any definite answers yet...there was one study done with panther chameleons that said they need prEformed vitamin A...and I know that there are several forum members who have given it to theirs and it helps...but I still don't know if they really need it or not. My veileds have not been given it for many years, reproduce well, hatchlings grow well, etc. and they live long healthy lives. I've said many times before though that I don't know what most of the insects have been fed before I get them...so they could have had some in their diet...but I feed/gutload them here before they go to my chameleons so I don't know how much that means.

I say to use a vitamin powder with a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A because we know it can not build up in the system and that leaves the chameleon's owner in charge of the prEformed vitamin A....so they can give it when and if they think its needed.

I still think we need to look closer at the relationship between the vitamin A and D3. I'm still not sure that people who's chameleons seem to need prEformed vit. A aren't getting extra (more than I use) D3 somehow.

And there is still that study that haunts me that says that panther chameleon eggs have beta carotene in them....why...if they can't convert it would it be there?

One more thing....some of the people who feel that their chameleons do need some prEformed seem to use fish oil as a way of giving it to them....and it has D3 in it.

I hope some day there will be an answer.

 

[Hugh Wahl]

thanks kinyonga, i appreciate you opinion. im new so the more info the better

 

[sandrachameleon]

I've collected some of (what i think are) the better (though not conclusive) threads on the topic in this blog entry:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html