Vitamin C!!!

[Ellron]

I know vitamin C is great for chams and people alike.
Now, my question is, can you use people Vit. C supplements instead of using citrus fruit?

I know it isn't natural, I just have some left over that the guniea pig I was watching didnt like.

I tried to feed the crickets some mashed up tablet and they ate it right away.

Do you guys think that the minute amount the crickets are getting actually makes a difference?

Good or bad?

 

[pbnstevo]

I'm no expert, but I think vitamin C is pretty generic no matter what species. I think it should be fine, but probably won't make a large difference in your cham's vit. c intake.

 

[Silkyslim]

Yeah it almost sounds like it would be like trying to get your vit C through nothing but orange soda

 

[Ellron]

Yeah it almost sounds like it would be like trying to get your vit C through nothing but orange soda

What?!
That doesn't make sense.

 

[pbnstevo]

Yes it does, he's articulating that since orange soda is made with oranges (vitamin c), it would be like only drinking that to fulfill your vitamin c needs. ex. your chameleon is eating vitamin c in small doses through crickets to meet his vitamin c needs.

 

[Silkyslim]

yeah thanks, I tend to get abstract at times, especially right when I get home and start my afterwork smoke routine.

Thank you for clarifying that for me.

 

[PedroANDAshley]

Your after work smoke routine D:

 

[Silkyslim]

Yeah, I have to be all responsible at work all the time since I am a kitchen manager BUT. I work hard and play harder Ironically enough, I work at a brewpub here in WI but I am not much of a beer drinker

 

[Ellron]

But orange soda is made with orange flavoring. It says it contains 100% natural flavors......
I doubt it has any Vit. C in it unless it is added.

These supplements would be used in addition to dusting and gutloading.
I just wanted to know if it would be safe or not.
This is PURE Vit. C.
Oranges contain 70 mg of Vitamin C for an average sized orange.
There are 500 mg of Vit. C per tablet.
I gave the crix one half tablet.
Thats 250 mgs.
They ingest half of it lets say, thats ingesting 125 mg.
The cham ingests half of that, at 62.5.
Half of that is destroyed in the digestive process, giving him 31.25 if he eats ALL the crickets that ate the vit. C tablet.
Now, if I gutloaded wit the orange, it would feed 1/4 of the orange giving him 17.5 mg of Vit. C.
Half of that is ingested gutloading the crix with 8.72.
He eats lets say ALL of the gutloaded crickets.
Half of the digestive process destroys half of the Vit C.
This ends up giving him 4.375 of Vit. C.
That is saying if he eats ALL of the crickets.
So he is getting lost more with the supplementation, is that good?

 

[Silkyslim]

I bet it would be safe. If my memory serves me correctly vit C. is water soluble and pretty hard to bring to toxic stages but that is my nutritional knowledge based on the human body from culinary school, not sure how it would carry over to such a smaller mass as a cham.

It just sounded to me that you were asking if the pills you have would be a viable alternative for vit C intake which brought on my analogy. The citric acid in all sodas DO give a small amount of vit C per portion.

Are those vit C. pills for animals only? If they aren't, I personally would eat them and feed oranges and other citrus to the feeders. nomnomnom

 

[Ellron]

I don't think it makes a difference if they are for animals or for humans.
The human stuff would be higher quality I presume.
I know for Guinea pigs its all the same.
But they are for human consumption.
Look at all the math I did up there!!

 

[Silkyslim]

Sweet math skills.

That is pretty cool to see it all laid out, there really is a big difference between the two. I never would have guessed.

Maybe it's the hippy in me but all the other phytochemicals and molecular bonds (all the fiber (soluble and insoluble, water and other forms of vits.) that make up the citrus fruit seem way more beneficial than pill with some synthesized vit. C plus filler.

But I would most definitely give them to the feeders if you are looking to get rid of the bottle. Sounds like it would do way more good than harm.

 

[Ellron]

Thats the answer I was looking for Silkieslim!!

Thanks for the math compliment

I want a senior member to get on here and tell me if its too much Vitamin C.

 

[Silkyslim]

What if you ground up the pills and "dusted" the feeder food supply till they were gone? I bet that would prevent any possible megadose, but like I mentioned earlier water soluble vitamins are hard to OD on because any extra gets excreted in the urine (again based on my nutritional knowledge for us bi-peds)

 

[Ellron]

Yes, if you did dust, their would be a whole different equation, and HERE IT IS!!!


5 mg thats one-hundreth of the pill, just a little crumb.
Dusted on the cricket. There is 2/3 dusted. That is 3.3333333........ mg on the cricket.

Thats 1.65 ingested for the chameleon, half is destroyed in the digestive process, giving the cham .825 mgs of Vit C in total.


That seems much less than the gutloading. Is more better?

 

[Silkyslim]

Here you go man. I found this for you:

Chance of overdose

Vitamin C is water soluble, with dietary excesses not absorbed, and excesses in the blood rapidly excreted in the urine. It exhibits remarkably low toxicity. The LD50 (the dose that will kill 50% of a population) in rats is generally accepted to be 11.9 grams per kilogram of body weight when given by forced gavage (orally). The mechanism of death from such doses (1.2% of body weight, or 1.8 lbs for a 150 lb human) is unknown, but may be more mechanical than chemical.[59] The LD50 in humans remains unknown, given lack of any accidental or intentional poisoning death data. However, as with all substances tested in this way, the rat LD50 is taken as a guide to its toxicity in humans.

That should help figure out how far you actually have to go to really start doing damage

 

[Todnedo]

I give my chams a glass of tang every morning

 

[Silkyslim]

Heya....how about alittle help getting out of this Junior Status. Will perform odd jobs for rep.

 

[greenguy420]

Haha I understand the after work smoke session, just gotta its how i end my day

 

[pbnstevo]

Same, I just grabbed a 13/7 toro, if there's any professionals in here that would appreciate it . It looks great among the roors, illadelph, zob, and US tubes.