calcium dust

[Lunatic913]

i have about a 2 month old veil...i've been searchin through the forums on dusting crickets...i've been dusting them everyday but then some say every other day, my veil has been averaging 10 crickets a day also. any help would be appreciated, thnk u

 

[MicheleSmith]

Hmmm...at around 2 months of age I would dust them lightly every 2-3 days. Every day seems overdoing it a bit much, but that's personally my opinion. Are you feeding him only crickets?

 

[zinc99]

you should dust everyday when they are that young. Just change it up with differnt dusts. Like a vitamin dust on day, Ca dust the next. Also gut load the food they eat. They grow real fast when they are that young. Oh and if hes indoors make sure that your dust has some D3 in it.

 

[Lunatic913]

yea im only feeding him crickets..i've only had him for about 3 days now...i want to get him some wax worms...what other food do you prefer? my friend said that young veils will eat ripe fruit..is this true?

 

[exoticpetluvr]

Oh and if hes indoors make sure that your dust has some D3 in it.

OK, to be completely honest I don't have that much experience with chams; but if they are under the proper uvb lighting wouldn't that be the same as being outside?! Which would mean vitamin D3 in a supplement would be a bit of over kill since their body synthesizes it any way with the proper lighting.

Anyone with more experience or an expert in lighting with chams please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

No, if they are getting artificial UVB, it should be considered a supplemental UVB source. Unless they are in a large cage, and under a properly set up and calibrated mercury vapor bulb, of course.

Zoomed bulbs, and other UVB tubes are not a replacement for sunlight. It is not possible to grow them solely with these lights. You need to also use dietary D3 from a calcium supplement, minerall and repcal are my favorites - I KNOW they work.

Think of the lighting and d3 powder BOTH as supplements - neither is good enough alone, but together, they work perfectly (though not AS good as the sun, of course!). Using the D3 powder in conjunction with the low-output UVB bulbs is great, as the UVB reduces the amount of dietary D3 you HAVE to use. Alone, these bulbs do not produce enough UVB.

Here's what I like to use:
Repcal with D3
Minerall without D3
Reptisun bulbs(5.0 or 10.0, depending on cage size)

I dust almost EVERY feeding, but I only dust one out of every 4 insects I feed, per animal. In other words, if I'm feeding my chameleon 4 insects today, I dust one of them with a mixture of repcal and minerall - usually more minerall than repcal.

Repcal has a LOT of D3 - more than is really necessary. So, I "cut" it with the minerall, which also has trace minerals as well as calcium. I lightly dust the insects, so they do not get too much of anything at any time. I find that if you supplement a little bit, more often, it makes the possibility of oversupplementation lower.

For babies, or animals in growth spurts, I usually dust more than half their insects, but I still dust VERY lightly.

Every week, I usually include one vitamin dusted insect (with herptivite, with NO preformed vitamin A). Every 2-3 weeks, I dust one with reptivite, which has preformed vitamin A.

I know, having 4 supplements seems a bit much, but I find it offers MUCH more verstility. If I put my animals out in the sun I leave out the repcal with D3. If they are eating fruits or veggies high in vitamin A, I leave out the reptivite. If they are growing, or developing eggs, I up the quantity of repcal with D3.

 

[zinc99]

wax worms are very fatty and should only be used as treats.

 

[Lunatic913]

i did not know that about the wax worms

 

[Momac]

try silk worms.

 

[Lunatic913]

silk worms can be fed on a regular basis along with crickets?

 

[exoticpetluvr]

silk worms can be fed on a regular basis along with crickets?

sure can, the more varied the diet the better!