Calcium PLUS - how often?

[trevev]

I been having issues with the repashy all in one. I also use bug burger to gutlaod my crix. My female has been having eye over a couple of months. I waited until she laid her second clutch before i took her to the vet. she had been keeping her eyes closed. a blind chameleon can't hunt so i have had to force feed her for over a month. I would do this by holding her and getting her to open her mouth and dropping a cricket or dubia in it before she bit me. the vet perscribed her a oral steroid and antibiotic ointment for her eye. she did better for a couple of days but soon started keeping her eyes closed again. i was very frustrated and began began doing research into what could cause this. I found that vitamin a deficney could cause this.I skeptical about the deficency b/c i gutloaded my crix w/ repashy bug burger and used the calcium plus. then my male started to close one eye also and i knew it was husbandry related. So I put a couple drops of cod liver oil on a dubia and fed it to my female. within 2 hours she had both eyes open!!!! The only problem is that she had forgotten what i looked like and now she is very hard to handle. it has been over a month since i have seen those beautiful eyes!! There is no doubt in my mind that she had a vit A deficiency. tomorrow I will give my male a drop of the oil also. I guess i will be looking into a new combo of supps. i am just glad that her eyes are open again!!

 

[pssh]

This thread is mainly speaking about overdose. It seems unlikely that there would be a deficiency from the calcium plus.

 

[trevev]

all i can say is that after giving her some of the cod liver oil her eyes opened

 

[Tazjunky]

I also wondered about how often to give the Calcium Plus.

Over here in the UK - alot of people are using the 12% D3 Arcadia T5HO light tubes (due to the mesh filtering out some of the UVB).

Would this have any bearing on the frequency of use for the Calcium Plus?
Would the combination put the chams at risk of D3 accumulation?



I have used it for a while now but noticed my cham has lost his appetite and has difficulty shedding and wondered if it was all too much for him?

 

[Psychobunny]

I hate it when these "suppliment" threads pop up!!

People get confused.

I have been dusting with Repashy Calcium Plus for all my chams and have not seen a problem.
But, I wonder how a product like this can be recommended as an "all in one" for different species, such as leopard geckos, which do not get UV from sunlight.
Obviously, they will have different nutritional needs!!??

The whole suppliment issue is very confusing to me. I just use moderation.
Since I have 3 different species of chams, they require somewhat different nutrition.
Smeagol LOVES fresh leafy greens. He litteraly comes running to the front of his cage with his mouth already open when he sees me coming with some so I know he is getting vitamins and minerals from that which my other chams do not get (hence, the suppliment)

I also can only get them outside on weekends as long as it's not too cold. So I dont know if that's enough or not in terms of how to suppliment.

The thing is, if the cham is getting the right diet and real sunlight, why would there be a need for any kind of suppliment??!!

 

[pssh]

The thing is, if the cham is getting the right diet and real sunlight, why would there be a need for any kind of suppliment??!!

That's what we should all be aiming for as far as care. We should be trying to provide the best nutrition and sunlight/UVB. Unfortunately we can't replicate the wild so we use supplements to supplement what we are already doing. Supplements shouldn't be used as a sole source of nutrition or D3.

 

[clarkrw3]

I'm with Tom on this! I love Calc Plus but I think how often to dust is the wrong question. To me it's what feeders to dust? All my feeders get gutloaded very well and I use Cal Plus the most out of all the supplements. I don't dust everything, but if feeding crickets they get Cal Plus. I have previously posted what I gutload with and which feeders I dust and with what. I have seen NO problems with the supplementation I am doing, but that's what makes cham keeping SO interesting, the constant learning and adjusting to make things better and more optimal






Found my old post:

If you are really interested in what I do here it is:

The chams I keep are primarily Panthers with one Veiled and now 2 K. Matschiei's (which get less supplementation)

I feed the following as "staples"
Dubia
Crickets
Silkworms
Hornworms
**Some of my chameleons will only take one or two types of feeders.

The crickets and dubia are gutloaded the same.
Repashy Bug Burger mixed with Dino Fuel Raptor edition
Sometimes I will also use Cricket Crack, or home made following some of Sandrachameleons recommendations.
Carrots
Wet gutload which I blend as fresh organic veggies and freeze into cubes (butternut squash, Kale, Dandalion greens and flowers if I can find them, mustard greens, apple, papaya, red bell paper, & misc other veggies)

Silkworms get fresh mulberry leaves
Horworms just get hornworm chow

Then I give treats as follows:
Superworms
Butterworms
Soldier fly larvae
Mantis
Stick insects
Silk Moth


Supplements:
I dust dubia, crickets, hornwoms, and superworms in Repashy Calcium plus. Females get liquid Cal twice a month. On occation maybe once a month I will dust with Reptivite or Repashy Vit A supplement. Right after laying I will give the females extra Rep Cal plain calcium
All other insects other then the 4 listed are given without dusting.
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[sandrachameleon]

I'm with Tom on this! I love Calc Plus but I think how often to dust is the wrong question. To me it's what feeders to dust?

Agree. it wouldnt make sense to dust a gutloaded terrestrial isopod, with anything, ever.

 

[Bernie]

I also wondered about how often to give the Calcium Plus.

Over here in the UK - alot of people are using the 12% D3 Arcadia T5HO light tubes (due to the mesh filtering out some of the UVB).

Would this have any bearing on the frequency of use for the Calcium Plus?
Would the combination put the chams at risk of D3 accumulation?



I have used it for a while now but noticed my cham has lost his appetite and has difficulty shedding and wondered if it was all too much for him?

I was using Calcium Plus alongside the T5 12% lighting. My panther became ill a few months down the line. My Yemen seemed ok however when my panther took a turn for the worse I dropped both animals to 6% tubes (which are plenty strong enough through mesh with a reflector). The calcium plus is in the bin and I have gone back to my old supplement schedule that was working fine in the first place.

I think I got lucky with my Yemen chameleon. His natural environment would normally have more intense uv whereas panthers receive a more filtered source of sunlight (through trees).

If you continue to provide 12% T5 lighting I would consider supplementing your chameleon a far less D3 dosage.

 

[RandellTheCham]

Ive noticed dramatic change in my chameleon since using it! Was all going really well untill amonth ago.

This thread may save my chameleons life.

Thank you guys