Vitamins???????
- Thread starter nhoj6465
- Start date
Do you really mean vitamins or do you mean supplements?
Since most insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus its important to dust the insects before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings to help make up for it.
I dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder lightly to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. I leave it to produce the rest of the D3 it needs through exposure to the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0.
Appropriate temperatures are also important since the affect digestion.
I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Beta carotene (prOformed vitamin A) will not build up in the system like prEformed vitamin A (from animal sources, acetate, palmitate, etc.) but there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert it...so some people give a little prEformed once in a while. Excess prEformed vitamin A may interfere with the D3 and push the chameleon towards MBD...so be careful with it.
Gutloading/feeding the insects a nutritious diet is important too. Crickets, roaches, superworms can be given a wide variety of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, zucchini, celery leaves, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc.).
Calcium, D3, vitamin A and phos. are all important players in bone health and need to be in balance. You need to look at the supplements, what you feed the chameleons and what you feed the insects when trying to attain a balance.
Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=102
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...als.com/vet/index.php?show=8.Gout.Basics.html
http://adcham.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
Since most insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus its important to dust the insects before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings to help make up for it.
I dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder lightly to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. I leave it to produce the rest of the D3 it needs through exposure to the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0.
Appropriate temperatures are also important since the affect digestion.
I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Beta carotene (prOformed vitamin A) will not build up in the system like prEformed vitamin A (from animal sources, acetate, palmitate, etc.) but there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert it...so some people give a little prEformed once in a while. Excess prEformed vitamin A may interfere with the D3 and push the chameleon towards MBD...so be careful with it.
Gutloading/feeding the insects a nutritious diet is important too. Crickets, roaches, superworms can be given a wide variety of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, zucchini, celery leaves, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc.).
Calcium, D3, vitamin A and phos. are all important players in bone health and need to be in balance. You need to look at the supplements, what you feed the chameleons and what you feed the insects when trying to attain a balance.
Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=102
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...als.com/vet/index.php?show=8.Gout.Basics.html
http://adcham.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
ditto all of the above
I personally dont change my routine much between young and old chams, in terms of supplements or gutload routine. but they eat more in general, so they injest more supplement in general.
what I do is more or less covered in these blog entries:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html
I personally dont change my routine much between young and old chams, in terms of supplements or gutload routine. but they eat more in general, so they injest more supplement in general.
what I do is more or less covered in these blog entries:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html
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