Nick429255
New Member
I've done a lot of research and got some expert advice, and I'm looking for a small supply of vit A to administer orally. Anyone know where to get this?
Anyone know where to get vit A?
- Thread starter Nick429255
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sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Your vet can provide you with an oral solution based on the chameleons weight. You can buy vitamin A caps and take a tiny pin prick to smear on a cricket. You can gutload your bugs with stuff that contains it.
be careful - it can be toxic
be careful - it can be toxic
KingJulien
New Member
Just to emphasize what Sandra said, a little bit is all you need. If you do buy the 8000 IU Vitamin A, be aware that (according to my vet) 80 IUs every other day is all you need. So that's 1/100th of one caplet.
I am not sure if this is the best dosage for a healthy chameleon though. It may be too high. My little guy is dealing with a resp. infection and had a droopy eyelid when this was advised. I plan to read up on it some more and suggest you do the same.
Edit to add:
I mixed 5 ml of flax seed oil with one caplet of vitamin A and administer .05 ml of the solution every other day to get the lower dosage needed. The flax oil was Ok'd by the vet, and my little guy's eye seems to be improving. We don't know for sure if the eye was irritated because of a vit A deficiency or from the resp. infection or both.
I am not sure if this is the best dosage for a healthy chameleon though. It may be too high. My little guy is dealing with a resp. infection and had a droopy eyelid when this was advised. I plan to read up on it some more and suggest you do the same.
Edit to add:
I mixed 5 ml of flax seed oil with one caplet of vitamin A and administer .05 ml of the solution every other day to get the lower dosage needed. The flax oil was Ok'd by the vet, and my little guy's eye seems to be improving. We don't know for sure if the eye was irritated because of a vit A deficiency or from the resp. infection or both.
Kbullock
New Member
I agree do a lot of research my vet gave my cham a Vit A shot and he said that Vitamin A can be very deadly and its very easy to OD them.
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
You might find the information/discussion about Vitamin A in these posts interesting:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=5.Vitamin.A.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/vitamin-scares-me-12395/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/food-thought-12472/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/seriously-worried-22697/index3.html#post199819
https://www.chameleonforums.com/carrots-vit-23572/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=5.Vitamin.A.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/vitamin-scares-me-12395/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/food-thought-12472/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/seriously-worried-22697/index3.html#post199819
https://www.chameleonforums.com/carrots-vit-23572/
Chameleon Company
Avid Member
Vitamin and nutrition stores, such as GNC, usually have en entire shelf or two devoted to Vitamin A. You can also get it on-line.
The primary Vitamin A compound out there is retinal palmitate. It is a fat soluble vitamin, and as such, is usually dissolved in an oil, in gel caps. When you look at a Vitamin A product on the shelf, you should note the Vitamin A source, wanting to see retinal palmitate, and the concentration per gel-cap. Different products will range from 2000-15000 iu's per gel cap. If beta-carotene is the source, skip it. It will not work on your chameleon.
We recommend that you dose at approximately 200 iu's per 100g of animal every couple of weeks. It is a very inexact science. Should your animal already be showing signs of Vitamin A deficiency, you would dose it daily for 5-7 days, expecting to see improvement around day 3-4,, except in severe cases, where the wait may be longer.
Chameleons do not like oil in their mouth. The above dose rates equate to a smear with a moistened Q-tip, either directly into the mouth, or on a cricket that is then eaten, which is not enough to cause a negative reaction. However, administering a drop or two of any oil into the mouth can sometimes induce vomiting, and other undesireable results.
That said, for an animal showing Vitamin A deficiency, I believe it was Dr. Ferguson who would often dose up to 4000 iu's at once for an adult male. I am not sure how he did it while keeping the oil volume low, but he had success with it.
It is also possible to cut the oil with with bipolar solvents such as glycerine or propylene glycol, to make it water soluble. Liquid vitamins, such as children's Poly-Vi-Sol, use glycerine.
Good luck.
The primary Vitamin A compound out there is retinal palmitate. It is a fat soluble vitamin, and as such, is usually dissolved in an oil, in gel caps. When you look at a Vitamin A product on the shelf, you should note the Vitamin A source, wanting to see retinal palmitate, and the concentration per gel-cap. Different products will range from 2000-15000 iu's per gel cap. If beta-carotene is the source, skip it. It will not work on your chameleon.
We recommend that you dose at approximately 200 iu's per 100g of animal every couple of weeks. It is a very inexact science. Should your animal already be showing signs of Vitamin A deficiency, you would dose it daily for 5-7 days, expecting to see improvement around day 3-4,, except in severe cases, where the wait may be longer.
Chameleons do not like oil in their mouth. The above dose rates equate to a smear with a moistened Q-tip, either directly into the mouth, or on a cricket that is then eaten, which is not enough to cause a negative reaction. However, administering a drop or two of any oil into the mouth can sometimes induce vomiting, and other undesireable results.
That said, for an animal showing Vitamin A deficiency, I believe it was Dr. Ferguson who would often dose up to 4000 iu's at once for an adult male. I am not sure how he did it while keeping the oil volume low, but he had success with it.
It is also possible to cut the oil with with bipolar solvents such as glycerine or propylene glycol, to make it water soluble. Liquid vitamins, such as children's Poly-Vi-Sol, use glycerine.
Good luck.
