Vitamin A

Can someone please explain the science behind vitamin A? When I was speaking with someone at the reptile store, they recommended flukers reptile vitamin with beta carotene, but now I’m learning that chameleons can’t convert beta carotene to Vitamin A (or at least well??) I just bought reptivite anyways, but I feel bad for my poor chameleon if I have been supplementing him wrong!!
 
It is said that some or maybe all chameleons don't convert beta carotene well. I'm not sure how true it is yet.

There are two forms of vitamin A ...prOformed and prEformed.

PrOformed sources are from carotenoids such as beta carotene and have to be converted to prEformed before they can be used. They can not lead to an overdose because the body only converts what is needed.

The prEformed sources are from retinoids and they are prEformed or ready to go and are stored in the body until needed. They can cause an overdose because they are ready to go and stored and don't pass out of the body.

There's one more thing involved (at least) and that's vitamin D3. Vitamin A and D3 can be antagonistic to each other if not in balance....and cause health issues. This is why we have to be careful with the preformed vitamin A and the D3 from supplements. (D3 from UVB shouldn't be a problem as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it at will.)

Hope this helps. More in a few minutes...
 

interesting..... a few questions after reading that. Is it unlikely that my chameleon is vitamin A deficient then? Or is it really likely that he is deficient especially if I use D3 once a week? (I also gutload with collard greens, sweet potato, and carrot if that makes a difference) Also, a random question that came to my mind: if we didn’t have a UVB, would supplementing calcium + D3 daily not be enough?? I’m new to the Chameleon world, so I’m not sure if this answer is super obvious.... but I’m pretty interested to know what the difference is.
 
I'm not a vet or a doctor or even a real scientist. What I say comes from experience and what ice learned from reading, communicating with others including vets and zoo people, etc. somtwke it for what it's worth.

You can add sweet red peppers, squash, zucchini , kale, dandelion greens, etc to what you feed the crickets, superworms, locusts, etc.

Regarding supplements...for many years I have used a phos free calcium powder (Repcal) at all feedings but one a week (dusted lightly on the insects) and on that one day I alternate between a vitamin powder (Herptivite) with a beta carotene source of vitamin A and a phos free calcium/D3 powder (Repcal) (dusted lightly) for veiled chameleons. Using a vitamin powder with a beta carotene prOformed source of vitamin A means you may have/want to use a powder once in a while with a prEformed source of vitamin A ...just to ensure the chameleon gets some vitamin A without overdoing it. The same threory applies to the D3... We want to give some but leave the chameleon to produce the rest from its exposure to the UVB. We don't know the exact amount of anything that chameleons should absolutely have so we're trying to hedge our bets by giving trying to come close in as safe a way as possible.

The supplements done this way, along with feeding the chameleon an assortment of insects that have been fed well to make them as healthy as possible, appropriate temperatures, etc seem to keep the chameleon as healthy as possible. Doing it this way...my females almost always live to be 7 years old and the males longer.

BTW...there are many supplements out there and likely other ways of doing things that may be as successful. We're all still learning.

Hope this helps?
 
Can someone please explain the science behind vitamin A? When I was speaking with someone at the reptile store, they recommended flukers reptile vitamin with beta carotene, but now I’m learning that chameleons can’t convert beta carotene to Vitamin A (or at least well??) I just bought reptivite anyways, but I feel bad for my poor chameleon if I have been supplementing him wrong!!
Somebody wrote a blog about this once upon a time:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/the-current-state.2432/
 
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