Vitamins and dusting

teamtata

New Member
Hi everyone :)
I have 1 or 2 questions regarding the vitamins required for my female Oustalet.

I have it covered for the calcium without D3 every feedings. I also dust her crickets twice a month with Reptivite with D3 from ZooMed. It is labelled as "reptile vitamins" and was wondering if it acts the same as multivitamins. Here's the link to the complete description of the product and the list of vitamins & minerals that it contains:

http://zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php?EntryID=3&DatabaseID=2&SearchID=5

Also, I have been reading stuff about vitamin A deficiency, proformed vitamin A and preformed vitamin A and I am a little bit confused. Does the Reptivite from ZooMed contains enough vitamin A and is it the right type? or should I dust with something else?
I don't want her to be missing any vitamins/minerals that she needs.

I am of course also gutloading the feeders with fresh fruits and veggies.

thank you for your help
A&D
 
Here's the short course on vitamin A...vitamin A comes in two forms...prOformed and prEformed. PrOformed sources (beta carotene, etc) have to be converted by the body into a useable form so they can not lead to an overdose. PrEformed sources (retinol, etc) are ready to go and can build up in the system and lead to an overdose and thus to health issues. However, its controversial as to whether any/all chameleons can convert the prOformed sources or not. As a result, its recommended that you provide vitamins with a prOformed source on a regular basis (twice a month) and use the one with the prEformed when needed or once in a while just to ensure that the chameleon gets some without overdosing it. It seems to be more of an issue with panther chameleons than veiled from what I see.

Another thing to be aware of is that vitamin and vitamin D3 are somewhat antagonistic to each other and its important that they are in balance.

As for reptivite...I've never used it so I can't say if its good or not.

Regarding gutloading/feeding the crickets, superworms, roaches and locusts... a wide assortment of greens such as dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red peppers, sweet potatoes, squash are all good choices.

Hope this helps!
 
thanks for the info!

Here's the short course on vitamin A...vitamin A comes in two forms...prOformed and prEformed. PrOformed sources (beta carotene, etc) have to be converted by the body into a useable form so they can not lead to an overdose. PrEformed sources (retinol, etc) are ready to go and can build up in the system and lead to an overdose and thus to health issues. However, its controversial as to whether any/all chameleons can convert the prOformed sources or not. As a result, its recommended that you provide vitamins with a prOformed source on a regular basis (twice a month) and use the one with the prEformed when needed or once in a while just to ensure that the chameleon gets some without overdosing it. It seems to be more of an issue with panther chameleons than veiled from what I see.

Another thing to be aware of is that vitamin and vitamin D3 are somewhat antagonistic to each other and its important that they are in balance.

As for reptivite...I've never used it so I can't say if its good or not.

Regarding gutloading/feeding the crickets, superworms, roaches and locusts... a wide assortment of greens such as dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red peppers, sweet potatoes, squash are all good choices.

Hope this helps!
 
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