Quick Calcium Question

[TheOtherOne]

Hey, so I have a roughly 5 month old female veiled. I couldn't find calcium w/o D3 anywhere near my town so I ordered some online. I only have calcium w/ D3 and already gave it to her like 2-3x this month. However the calcium I ordered won't be here until thursday, and I haven't dusted her food in about 2 days.

My question is should she be ok without calcium for a couple more days or should I just use the calcium with D3 while I wait. She has a t5 HO reptisun 5.0 and she has gotten about 15 minutes of outside sun the past two days since it was super nice out.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks,
Steve

 

[jannb]

I would not give her anymore of the calcium with D3. IMO she will be better doing without. What all kinds of feeders do you have? Phoenix worms, silkworms and butterworms are very high in calcium and you could feed a few extra of those feeders the next few days if you have them.

 

[Bush baby]

She should be fine without the calcium powder for a week. Calcium deficiency is not an over night thing and takes several weeks, to months, to manifest into an issue.

Stop the calcium with D3. D3 is dangerous when used often. In the meantime just gut load your feeders with foods that are high in calcium like green leafy vegetables i.e collard greens, turnip green, etc...

 

[Lovereps]

I absolutely agree with Jannb and Bush baby.
No more D3 for the month.
An excess of D3 is far worse than a few days without calcium supplements and by feeding the feeder insects high calcium greens, you will make them more nutritious and higher in calcium.
The feeders Jannb mentioned are naturally high in calcium.
Here is a breakdown of calcium rich vegetables--not all greens are high calcium
http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-011118000000000000000-2w.html

 

[TheOtherOne]

I would not give her anymore of the calcium with D3. IMO she will be better doing without. What all kinds of feeders do you have? Phoenix worms, silkworms and butterworms are very high in calcium and you could feed a few extra of those feeders the next few days if you have them.

Thanks for all the answers!

Ok that's what I figured and I've been doing. I only have super and wax worms along with gutloaded crickets. I have some phoenixworms that are shipping out tomorrow.

 

[Traceyd]

Hi guys sorry to interrupt, but so much information is conflicting when it comes to calcium.. Okay my Cham is coming home today so do I dust with calcium every feed then once every two weeks use calcium with D3? What about nutrobal it is a multi vit that contains calcium an D3 so could I use that twice a month? Or is it up until your Cham is 9 months do you give D3 twice a week? Sorry totally confused and want everything to be right for my little guy..

 

[jannb]

Hi guys sorry to interrupt, but so much information is conflicting when it comes to calcium.. Okay my Cham is coming home today so do I dust with calcium every feed then once every two weeks use calcium with D3? What about nutrobal it is a multi vit that contains calcium an D3 so could I use that twice a month? Or is it up until your Cham is 9 months do you give D3 twice a week? Sorry totally confused and want everything to be right for my little guy..

If your chameleon is young, under 9 months or so and if it's a male veiled or panther you will dust with plain calcium at just about every feeding. If your chameleon stays inside you will also dust with calcium with d3 twice a month. You will also dust with multi vitamins twice a month. I have never use nutrobal but if it's d3 and multi vitamins then all you will need is the nutrobal and a plain calcium without d3.

 

[Lovereps]

Chameleons in the US don't get their feeders dusted with calcium with D3 2x a week , because it's considered too much D3 for a cham of any age.

I was mistaken when I said that Nutrobal contains far less D3 than most of the US supplements do (Nutrobal has 150,000 IU D3 versus Repashy Calcium Lo D 20,000IU D3, for example)
EDIT; Repashy's website lists their Lo D products as having 8000 (Calcium plus Lo D) and 10000 IU (Supercal Lo D) per pound.
This info is taken from Sandrachameleon's blog here https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/174-whats-supplements-brand.html

The forum caresheets recommend dusting with plain calcium at most feedings, calcium with D3 2x a month and a multivitamin 2x a month.

One problem that exists with supplementing chameleons is that the exact requirements for any of the nutrients is not known.
It is known, however that too much D3 and/or too frequent multivitamin dustings have bad consequences for chams.

I am not sure which supplements Miss Lily uses now but as she is also a UK chamkeeper, you may wish to ask her .
I know that in the past she was using plain calcium without D3 most feedings and Nutrobal 1x a week.

 

[Traceyd]

Thanks so much guys for your help. He is a veiled and seems to be settling in really well.. Saw him drinking from his dripper tonight.. So much to learn but I think with the advice from this forum and I also have a great herp vet we will be good..

 

[Loadout]

Chameleons in the US don't get their feeders dusted with calcium with D3 2x a week because the supplements typically used in the US have far more D3 in them, so it's too much D3 for a cham of any age.

Nutrobal contains far less D3 than most of the US supplements do (Nutrobal has 150IU D3 versus Repashy Calcium Lo D 20,000IU D3, for example)
EDIT; Repashy's website lists their Lo D products as having 8000 (Calcium plus Lo D) and 10000 IU (Supercal Lo D) per pound.
This info is taken from Sandrachameleon's blog here https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/174-whats-supplements-brand.html

When we speak about dusting with plain calcium at most feedings, calcium with D3 2x a month and a multivitamin 2x a month, it is based on the amounts typically found in US supplements.

One problem that exists with supplementing chameleons is that the exact requirements for any of the nutrients is not known.
It is known, however that too much D3 and/or too frequent multivitamin dustings have bad consequences for chams.

I am not sure which supplements Miss Lily uses now but as she is also a UK chamkeeper, you may wish to ask her .
I know that in the past she was using plain calcium without D3 most feedings and Nutrobal 1x a week.

I could be wrong here, because I don't use Nutrobal, but isn't that 150 iu per gram? I.e 150,000 iu per kg or 68,027 iu per lb. I remember reading the label a while back and thinking it was misleading.

 

[Lovereps]

I could be wrong here, because I don't use Nutrobal, but isn't that 150 iu per gram? I.e 150,000 iu per kg or 68,027 iu per lb. I remember reading the label a while back and thinking it was misleading.

Wow, no, you are NOT wrong.
It is indeed 150IU per gram, so the 150,000IU per kg calculation is 100% correct.
Good catch. Thanks, Loadout.

http://www.vetark.co.uk/pages/Nutrobal-for-reptiles.aspx

 

[Loadout]

Wow, no, you are NOT wrong.
It is indeed 150IU per gram, so the 150,000IU per kg calculation is 100% correct.
Good catch. Thanks, Loadout.

http://www.vetark.co.uk/pages/Nutrobal-for-reptiles.aspx

No problem It's a popular product over here but it's misleading that the values are given per gram