Multi vitamin and calcium and d3 questions

[calvin]

Hey I am looking to get a panther chameleon. I all ready have some calcium with d3 in it. Is this okay to use on a daily basis? Is there something bad about to much d3?? And how often should I dust the crickets with calcium or calcium d3 and multi vitamin??
Thanks

 

[Milesd]

If you click resources tab and go to care sheets you will find this info and yes too much D3 is harmful



"Supplementation:
Calcium and other vitamins are very important to your chameleon's health. Feeder insects should be lightly dusted with powdered supplement before being fed to your chameleon. Many keepers successfully use calcium (without D3 or phosphorus) at nearly every feeding, multivitamin once every 2 weeks, and calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks. "

 

[Carlton]

Hey I am looking to get a panther chameleon. I all ready have some calcium with d3 in it. Is this okay to use on a daily basis? Is there something bad about to much d3?? And how often should I dust the crickets with calcium or calcium d3 and multi vitamin??
Thanks

Proper nutrition is more than dusting. The most important thing is to care for your insect feeders well and gutload them before ever giving them to your cham. Feeder insects may not be fed at the shops or even if they are, probably not too well. They lose their gutloads quickly and can be nothing more than empty crunchy things by the time your cham eats them. Dusts help fill in nutritional gaps your feeders provide. Be aware that most commercial pet shop type insect gutloads are pretty poor. Check out gutloads available from forum sponsors. There are good ones you should consider. Also remember to read the basic care pages that explain more about nutrition and ask further questions if it isn't clear, OK?

 

[calvin]

Proper nutrition is more than dusting. The most important thing is to care for your insect feeders well and gutload them before ever giving them to your cham. Feeder insects may not be fed at the shops or even if they are, probably not too well. They lose their gutloads quickly and can be nothing more than empty crunchy things by the time your cham eats them. Dusts help fill in nutritional gaps your feeders provide. Be aware that most commercial pet shop type insect gutloads are pretty poor. Check out gutloads available from forum sponsors. There are good ones you should consider. Also remember to read the basic care pages that explain more about nutrition and ask further questions if it isn't clear, OK?

Okay thanks I normally feed my crickets fresh fruits and vegetables and some dry oatmeal and crushed dog food.and is it bad to use d3 everyday??

 

[Carlton]

Okay thanks I normally feed my crickets fresh fruits and vegetables and some dry oatmeal and crushed dog food.and is it bad to use d3 everyday??

Yes! As mentioned before, calcium WITH D3 should only be used once every 2 weeks. Dust with plain calcium (NO D3 added) lightly each day. Oh, BTW, don't give your feeders spinach or broccoli...those two veggies tend to make the dietary calcium less available.

 

[calvin]

Okay thanks!

 

[kinyonga]

Scan down until you come to the articles by Kenny Lopez...
http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...cularius-demo-video-4-jan-2013-update-10.html

This thread also has some other very interesting articles.

 

[calvin]

Scan down until you come to the articles by Kenny Lopez...
http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...cularius-demo-video-4-jan-2013-update-10.html

This thread also has some other very interesting articles.

Thanks for that it was very helpful

 

[brieannab]

Crushed dog food? Never heard of that?

 

[calvin]

Crushed dog food? Never heard of that?

Ya I have seen it on quite a few cricket care guides. Have been doing it for years and I have lots of health crickets!

 

[laurahlove]

Yeah I've heard of that too, never tried it though. Interesting

 

[Bush baby]

Crushed dog food has A LOT of protein in it, which is bad for your Cham…long term. I personally feed my crickets Omega One Fish Flakes, every other month - which also has a lot of protein in it, but also a lot of vitamins very beneficial to my cham, and the crickets love them. So long as you don't give them the dog food too often, your cham should be fine.

 

[calvin]

Ya they only get the dog food about once a month for a couple days and then go back to oatmeal and vegetables

 

[vgaines]

Ya I have seen it on quite a few cricket care guides. Have been doing it for years and I have lots of health crickets!

From what I understand feeding dog food to crickets is NOT good for your chameleon.

 

[calvin]

Oh okay well I guess I will stop.

 

[vgaines]

You might want to try Rapashy Bug Burger. It is a great gut load and my crickets love it. You mix it with water and cook it a bit. I even fed it dry to my crickets along with fruits and veggies. The bug burger was always gone in a couple of days.

 

[Bush baby]

Yeah, i find that crickets prefer to eat it dry, compared to eating it in it's gelatin form.

 

[calvin]

Okay I might try that out