whats your dusting schedule?

[deano08]

ive just got a 3 month old veiled chameleon and was wondering what is everyone elses vitamin/mineral and calcium dusting schedule as i have been told many different ones.

i have bone aid calcium powder which has nothing but calcium in.
then theres nutrobal powder which contains calcium D3 plus vitamins and minerals

ps:i have a quite high output UVA/UVB light too

Thanx

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

This is what I was given by Kammerflage Kreations. Maybe I could get some input on this schedule from everyone.

Due to the lack of scientific research, nutritional supplementation for chameleons in captivity is largely a mystery. This is an area of chameleon care that must be determined individually by the chameleon keeper. The needs of each chameleon can vary depending on species and life stages (i.e. growing babies, egg laying females, mature adult males etc.).


The conventional wisdom is that both a vitamin and calcium supplement should be provided to captive chameleons but with widely differing opinions as to "how much" and "how often". Babies and juveniles have higher requirements due to their rapid growth rates while adults and fully mature chameleons require less since they have reached full size.


One of the best ways to ensure chameleons are getting proper nutrition is through the foods they eat. Supplements are in addition to a healthy diet. When we supplement, it is done "lightly and routinely". The prey items should be evenly coated but not "laden down" or smothered with supplements.


We use the following supplement products:


Herptivite (multivitamin with beta-carotene) - Mondays and Thursdays

Rep-Cal Calcium (calcium with and w/out vitamin D3 - depending on indoor or outdoor use) - Tuesdays and Fridays

Miner-All (calcium with essential trace minerals) - Wednesdays and Saturdays


Our adult males are supplemented with vitamins and calcium one time each per week.

 

[chameleon97]

a good schedule for a baby is:
calcium without vitamin d3 6 times a week
calcium with d3 once a week
multivitamin twice a month.

juviniles:
calcium w/o d3 5 times week
calcium w/d3 twice a month
multivitamin twice a month

adults:
w/o d3 2-4 times a week
w/ d3 twice A month
multivitamin twice a month

 

[gad58y]

i use calcium(calypso) mon,wed,fri & nutrobal on sundays.i also gutload my livefood with dandylion leaves.

hope this helps

graeme

 

[scut]

Mine is a juvenile. Right now I am giving him calcium on about 3 crickets a week, and multivitamins on 1 or 2 crickets. I usually only use calcium d3 now every other week- I substitute the cald3 where the normal cal would go for that week.

My veiled tends to excrete the excess out of his nostrils, so I don't give him too much.

 

[sandrachameleon]

There is no one answer.
Factors to consider is age of chameleon, type, gendre, how much access to outdoors sunlight it gets, and what insects you offer and what you feed the insects, and brand of supplements.

And as ryan said "One of the best ways to ensure chameleons are getting proper nutrition is through the foods they eat" - a variety of well gutloaded insects is key. For more info on feeder nutrition, see: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition.html

Many insects (such as crickets) have a poor calicum to phos ratio, hence the LIGHT calcium dusting.

Those raised 100% indoors might need a little help with D3 now and then, even though they have UVB emitting light tubes. Rep-Cal has 400,000 IU/kg of D3 whereas Miner-All (I) has 4,400 IU/kg of D3 and I think 150IU D3 in Nutribol (which i believe also has Vit A so be wary of using this very often). That's a considerable difference in D3 strength.

My supplementing schedule (for my panther chameleons) is much like that described by Chameleon97. I use a calcium (no phos or D3) lightly dusted on most crickets. I use calcium with vitamin D3 once every other week. I use a vitamin supplement (without preformed vitamin a) once every other week (the week opposite to D3). I rarely dust anything other than crickets, mealworms (which I dont offer often) and sometimes superworms. I almost never dust stick insects, moths, roaches, butterworms, cabbage loppers, isopods, etc. I pay attention to gutloading.

This blog entry has links to many previous threads and other websites with useful information regarding supplementing.

 

[Syn]

I dust my house twice a month.

edit: oh darn sorry
[FONT=&quot]calcium every other day, w/d3 once a month, minerall replaces calcium once a week, herptivite every other week.[/FONT]