I feel like an idiot, wrong supplements...

[AndrewWelch]

So, I bought 3 different supplements to dust Jose's crickets with (Keep in mind, he's my very first chameleon, and I've had him for a bout a month now) and what I thought I bought was regular vitamins without d3 for every feeding, One with d3 for twice a month, and calcium without d3 for another twice a month. But instead, I bought Reptitive without d3 which I thought was the regular vitamins for every feeding, and two of the same supplements, just different brands...

Now, this is the part I'm worried about...

He seems to be doing fine, just a bit too skinny (I'm not sure if he is, I might just be paranoid). He's active, everything, I'm just not sure if he's healthy or not because a lot of people say that chameleons won't show their sick until it's a problem.

Can anyone help me figure out this situation?

 

[Olimpia]

I think you still have your supplements mixed up!
1. Phosphorous-free calcium without D3 for every feeding
2. Phosphorous-free calcium with D3 for twice a month
3. A multivitamin for twice a month

At a month you are still in time to fix this, just switch him onto the proper schedule and give him lots of water, to help shed the extra vitamins he doesn't need.

You're not an idiot, btw, there's a lot to keep track of in chameleons. It's an honest mistake, at least you realized it sooner rather than later!

 

[AndrewWelch]

Well, what really ticks me off is that the people at the store didn't tell me I was making the mistake, but, it's petco. What do you expect?

I'll make a trip to the store in a day or two and get him the correct supplements.

Isn't the Reptitive a Phos. Free calcium without d3?

 

[sdheli420]

Well, what really ticks me off is that the people at the store didn't tell me I was making the mistake, but, it's petco. What do you expect?

I'll make a trip to the store in a day or two and get him the correct supplements.

Isn't the Reptitive a Phos. Free calcium without d3?

reptivite has vitimins, and the reptical one is the calcium only one (with or without d3)

 

[snipeusa14]

Couldn't he just use repashy all in one? Saves me Alot of time on counting days and when to use which supplement

 

[sdheli420]

Couldn't he just use repashy all in one? Saves me Alot of time on counting days and when to use which supplement

no way..its always best to deliver separate supplements to keep from overdosing your animal..giving too much d3 is really bad, its like an internal sunburn on the organs..

 

[snipeusa14]

It's got realy small amount of d3 so I don't think it does any harm...my chams have been using it for over a month now and they are great! I dust the crux every other day(mon,wend,friday,and saturday)
just incase but other than that they are fine!

 

[sdheli420]

It's got realy small amount of d3 so I don't think it does any harm...my chams have been using it for over a month now and they are great! I dust the crux every other day(mon,wend,friday,and saturday)
just incase but other than that they are fine!

i dnno, ied invest in just getting the separate ones..(you may be saving a few bucks now) but if they need a vet for over supplementing...lets just say you could be saving 100's by just spending the extra 20 bucks for the other two ( calcium no d3) and muli-vites for once a month

 

[melric]

We went over the schedule already. You sound confused. Your cham looks fine.

Does anyone have a pic of an unhealthy cham??? Post it.

 

[fluxlizard]

i dnno, ied invest in just getting the separate ones..(you may be saving a few bucks now) but if they need a vet for over supplementing...lets just say you could be saving 100's by just spending the extra 20 bucks for the other two ( calcium no d3) and muli-vites for once a month

Rapeshy's product has been used fairly long term (a few years) by the Kammers and other commercial breeders with excellent results for panther chameleons.

Personally, after using d3 at nearly every feeding (repcal with d3 each feeding, reptivite 1x per week which has d3 plus multivitamin) through much of the 1990s on hundreds of chameleons over generations and never seeing even one individual showing signs of oversupplementation I think claims of risks of oversupplementation here on the forums are greatly exaggerated.

I'm not saying do what I did- I don't follow that schedule any more myself because I feel more safe using less (personally I use rep-cal with d3 a couple times a week and a multi 1x every 1 or 2 weeks when I think about it during the winter. Summers I mostly use plain calcium now as all my lizards are outside then, and multivitamin about 1 x per month just to make sure I'm covered and to give them something of a break from the winter use).

But I do believe the evidence surrounding the Rapeshy product is pretty strong for a safe track record at this point, and when I work my way through my current supplements some time this coming year, I plan on switching to it myself.

 

[snipeusa14]

Rapeshy's product has been used fairly long term (a few years) by the Kammers and other commercial breeders with excellent results for panther chameleons.

Personally, after using d3 at nearly every feeding (repcal with d3 each feeding, reptivite 1x per week which has d3 plus multivitamin) through much of the 1990s on hundreds of chameleons over generations and never seeing even one individual showing signs of oversupplementation I think claims of risks of oversupplementation here on the forums are greatly exaggerated.

I'm not saying do what I did- I don't follow that schedule any more myself because I feel more safe using less (personally I use rep-cal with d3 a couple times a week and a multi 1x every 1 or 2 weeks when I think about it during the winter. Summers I mostly use plain calcium now as all my lizards are outside then, and multivitamin about 1 x per month just to make sure I'm covered and to give them something of a break from the winter use).

But I do believe the evidence surrounding the Rapeshy product is pretty strong for a safe track record at this point, and when I work my way through my current supplements some time this coming year, I plan on switching to it myself.

Thank you for clearing it up a bit

 

[AndrewWelch]

We went over the schedule already. You sound confused. Your cham looks fine.

Does anyone have a pic of an unhealthy cham??? Post it.

Yeah, I know. I'm just trying to get the most info I can. And since I've been giving him wrong suppliments I need to know whatsup.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Andrew, you may find this blog entry useful:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html
as it provides much of the explanations (or links to explainations) about various supplements and WHY and how to choose what to use.

There is no one single supplement product or schedule that fits all situations.
For example, you wouldnt ever dust a gutloaded terrestrial isopod with anything at all. You would definately dust a mealworm every time with at least calcium, even if you gutalod as much as possible. You wouldnt use the repashy calcium plus every day if you were using a variety of gutloaded feeders, but you might use it daily if you primarily use crickets as your feeder and your gutloading is not achieving everything needed.