Bee Pollen...

K

kinyonga

Chameleon Queen
"A study of bee pollen samples showed that they may contain 188 kinds of fungi and 29 kinds of bacteria"...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_pollen

"Bee pollen is collected by beekeepers with the use of pollen traps, devices that fit over the entrance to a hive and contain openings just big enough for a returning forager to squeeze through. In the process of squeezing through the opening in the trap, the pollen carried on the hind legs of the bee are knocked off and falls through a screen into a drawer where it is collected by the beekeeper."...
https://www.beeculture.com/bee-pollen-overview/
 
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I don't know but..."Larvae feeding on increasingly sterile diets experienced significant adverse effects on growth rates, biomass and survivorship. When completely deprived of pollen-borne microbes, larvae consistently exhibited marked decline in fitness."
 
kinyonga said:
I don't know but..."Larvae feeding on increasingly sterile diets experienced significant adverse effects on growth rates, biomass and survivorship. When completely deprived of pollen-borne microbes, larvae consistently exhibited marked decline in fitness."
Click to expand...

I have thought the same about Chameleons, Bioactive Vs Sterile Cage. However I did touch upon this on that other Bee Pollen thread, while this stuff may be good for Bees, its apparently questionable for humans.

I will say again. They are trying to sell you something, so take it with a grain, but.

http://www.somalab.net/studies-reports/flower-vs-bee-pollen/

"Bee Pollen is graded by the level of contaminants found in the pollen traps, including bacteria, mites, fungi, insect debris, rodent feces, etc. Even radiation treatments do NOT help."
That is an aspect worth thinking about, who knows what these bee keepers bees are being exposed to. We are not buying Bee Pollen stole from the Hives in the Wilds of a Protected reserve. We are buying Pollen from the guy who has bees nests behind his trailer, between him and the meth lab.

Their is zero FDA approval for it, this stuff is not being tested or vetted by anyone. It could be poisoned, it could be contaminated, Pesticide Laced, we dont know.


Also a good point if true.
"Since bee pollen contains the hard outer husk which is virtually indigestible, little or no nutritional benefit is obtained."


This is entire good point, one that I just made.
"Bee pollen based products by their nature are not standardized, therefore, scientific testing, with any reliability is impossible."


We had seen the "diets" and again I dont like them, they list some diet of "Hymenoptera", but that doesnt just include Bees,
"Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera

So with that in mind, how do we know how much of that was Bees? I have personally seen my Cham eat the sugar ants that wander into his viv, so they defiantly eat ants.


Diet was huge with Coleoptera, and Petr did say "Beetles covered in Pollen", not every beetle is a Pollinator, however even the ones that are, would be covered in Flower Pollen, which is a different substance than Bee Pollen.
 
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They could very well be beneficial bacteria? I know introducing bacteria into any freshwater or saltwater aquarium is necessary before even introducing fish or living organisms into the aquarium.
 
kinyonga said:
I have friends who keep bees and it is regulated here in Canada. In fact they seem to be quite strict...
FDA..
https://www.inspection.gc.ca/animal...oducts/2001-3/eng/1321120820722/1321120923343
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Its not regulated at all in the states.

I know this, as the story I just told you wasn't a fictional example. There is a local bee keeper here, with a packaged product that he sells at the Farmers market, and some of the Mom and Pops in the Area sell his product.

The guy has his bee hives next to his mobile home, in which he processes and Jars the pollen and honeys. His next door neighbors meth lab exploded a couple of months ago.

It has the same regulation as general foods here. Which is to say, none.

I can grow foods in my backyard and sell them, and do so for 20 years and be very likely to never see an FDA agent. Which is the point I am trying to make. If there is an issue an a compliant to the FDA, about a brand in particular they will investigate it. They have done so, and they have caught bee pollen's, laced with all sorts of nasty stuff some intentional some not.
 
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You said..."I have personally seen my Cham eat the sugar ants that wander into his viv, so they defiantly eat ants"...what do you mean "defiantly"?

You said..."Diet was huge with Coleoptera, and Petr did say "Beetles covered in Pollen", not every beetle is a Pollinator, however even the ones that are, would be covered in Flower Pollen, which is a different substance than Bee Pollen"...true.

You said..."Its not regulated at all in the states."...then I'm glad to be living in Canada! :)
 
kinyonga said:
You said..."I have personally seen my Cham eat the sugar ants that wander into his viv, so they defiantly eat ants"...what do you mean "defiantly"?

You said..."Diet was huge with Coleoptera, and Petr did say "Beetles covered in Pollen", not every beetle is a Pollinator, however even the ones that are, would be covered in Flower Pollen, which is a different substance than Bee Pollen"...true.

You said..."Its not regulated at all in the states."...then I'm glad to be living in Canada! :)
Click to expand...

I mean from the article you linked, from the Canadian FDA. It has a "Food Regulation" that means, light and little. Hit up your local farmers market, there is surely 5-6 different "tents" of people with a couple bee hives in their yard, slinging honey and pollen for sale.

Buying from Large brands, is likely "Safer" but even then, safety isn't guaranteed, but then again neither is our Gut load.



To Ants, I mean what I said. They 100% will eat Ants they come across. Ants are even used as feeders for babies, by some folks.

Lets think logically on this, without specifications of what Hymenoptera they are eating. Which do you think a Chameleon is more likely to run into in the Wild? Bees inhabit trees, around Flower fields that they can procure Pollen from. With the exception of the Hive they are rarely around trees in my experience, though maybe not always.

Chameleons that hail from Madagascar, have some SERIOUS bee and Wasps Species to contend with, Those Bees and Wasps, kill humans, but we think a Chameleon could win a fight against a pack of them? Or survive a couple stings, when said stings can drop a Human Being?

Madagascar is home to MANY species of Tree Inhabiting Ants, some of those ants are very very large, and inhabit the very trees the Chameleons live in. They are in my guess, alot more likely to come across Ants than Bees in the wild, at least the Malagasy species. Most of the Flora that possess pollen, found in the areas around Malagasy Chameleons are not liked by Bees, or not able to have pollen extracted from Bees. They are more the territory of Hawk Moths, and Weevils.


I do feed my Feeder Bee Pollen, from a Large Supplier. However that gives a second layer of defense as well, I mix it into large batches of Gutload, I that test (as I dont trust the Gutload either lol) with a couple of feeders in advance of feeding the heard. If something was wrong with one of the products, the bugs would die long before they were fed to the chameleon, and alert me to an issue.

Straight up dusting the feeder, with a questionably sourced Bee Pollen is not something I would do.
 
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