Bee Pollen Dusting

[StickyTongues]

Has anyone ever dusted crickets or roaches with bee pollen? If so, how often? Did you notice a difference? Any reason why Bee pollen would not be good to dust with? Thanks for any info.

Danny

 

[jannb]

I put in some crushed bee pollen with my regular dry gutload once a week.

 

[whereswaldo]

what does it do?

 

[StickyTongues]

I have a dry gutload that i made and it have bee pollen in it too. My thought is that being so expensive, i can just dust the crickets/dubias with it and the chams would be getting a lot more in their systems that way. It seems to be a more cost effective way to get the chams to eat bee pollen.

Danny

 

[Zen Reptiles]

I would imagine being pre-digested by the feeder insects would aid in absorption and available nutrients to the chameleon. But dusting would be much more economical.

It is a very rich source of nutrients & amino acids, and is 100% plant based, I don't see how it could cause any harm to dust externally.

 

[Seeco]

Just let the bugs eat it. Make sure it is bee pollen intended for human consumption.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I dusted my crix with bee pollen/calcium (no d3) about 3 times a week for a little over a month, just for the heck of it. I always added it to my gutload and it seemed so nutrient rich so why not? Didn't change my gutload besides subtracting most of the bee pollen there. I wasn't having problems before so I didn't really see an improvement in any particular way and about 2 weeks ago I noticed what appeared to be mild gular edema of my panther. My veiled and even my Jackson on the same schedule did not seem to be affected but I stopped using it anyway. The mild edema has gone away since I stopped dusting with bee pollen. Whether or not that actually was going to cause gular edema I can't truly say. I had a hard time actually finding a breakdown of nutrients in human consumption grade bee pollen. It seems a little odd to me that my panther would be affected by oversupplementation before my jackson, but it resolved once I stopped using it... I stick to adding it just to gutload now to be on the safe side. So that's my little experiment fwiw since you asked.

 

[djfishygillz]

I dusted my crix with bee pollen/calcium (no d3) about 3 times a week for a little over a month, just for the heck of it. I always added it to my gutload and it seemed so nutrient rich so why not? Didn't change my gutload besides subtracting most of the bee pollen there. I wasn't having problems before so I didn't really see an improvement in any particular way and about 2 weeks ago I noticed what appeared to be mild gular edema of my panther. My veiled and even my Jackson on the same schedule did not seem to be affected but I stopped using it anyway. The mild edema has gone away since I stopped dusting with bee pollen. Whether or not that actually was going to cause gular edema I can't truly say. I had a hard time actually finding a breakdown of nutrients in human consumption grade bee pollen. It seems a little odd to me that my panther would be affected by oversupplementation before my jackson, but it resolved once I stopped using it... I stick to adding it just to gutload now to be on the safe side. So that's my little experiment fwiw since you asked.

would you mind explaining what gular edema is? thanks

 

[tkilgour]

Bee Pollen is awesome stuff and considered a super food. You can google and find tons of great information on it.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I've tried dusting with it from time to time. Doesnt stick easily to most feeders. Will not do any harm (dusted on or gutloaded into feeders). There is anecdotal support for using it, but I've never read any scientific papers that support significant benefits from it.

 

[Dave]

I personally believe dusting is better than gutloading. My thought is that wouldn't the bugs absorb some of the nutrients out of the bee pollen and then poop out the rest, just as we do. Our bodies take what nutrients we need, and then we pee/poop out the rest. That's why taking an abundance of vitamins in a single day isn't going to sustain you for a full week.

When you dust, the cham gets the nutrients it needs, and it poops out the rest. I'd assume Chams have a higher nutrient requirement than your crickets or roaches. Again this is just my personal opinion and knowledge of the HUMAN body, not necessarily the bodies of chams or bugs.

-Dave
SPF