Vitamin A Foods?

[Kntonoff]

Hey guys,

So my little one, has recently had an eye infection, I took care of it. However, I was wondering if someone could give me ideas to help with Vitamin A. I have tried feeding her spinach, but she absolutely hates it, and now every time I get near to her with it she backs away. So, does anyone have any ideas what else to feed her, that contains Vitamin A?

All answers will be appreciated

 

[ataraxia]

no need to force her with foods.

Things to try.
1. Gut load your feeders 4-8 hours before feeding off with ingredients high in vitamin A.
2 Implement a multivitamin into the schedule that has a preformed source. Reptivite and Calcium Plus both have this.

 

[fluxlizard]

Yeah- there is some debate about whether chams can convert stuff from veggies into true vit a. My opinion is that they probably can, but my experience has been that I can't count on them to do it. So I use a little reptivite with vit a every once in a while.

 

[Bush baby]

The obvious one is Carrots but they have extremely high levels of vitamin A, which in excess can cause gout, so it's safer to use dark green leafy vegetables such as Mustard, Turnip, and Collard greens which also contain calcium.

 

[Kntonoff]

Thank you everyone! I have never heard of reptivite ? What exactly is it? Powder? Spray?

 

[kinyonga]

What species of chameleon is it?

Bush baby....I would like to read about vitamin A and how it's bad for gout sine the articles I've read say that antioxidants help gout and beta carotene helps provide antioxidants.

Vitamin A comes in two forms...prOformed and prEformed. PrOformed sources (from greens and veggies) are converted as needed by the body and can not lead to an overdose. PrEformed sources such as retinol, retinyl, etc are ready to go and can build up in the system and lead to overdoses so you need to be careful with prEformed sources. Vitamin A also interacts with the D3 in the chameleon's system and needs to be in balance.

There has been controversy over whether chameleon's can convert the prOformed sources or not but I think at least some of them do.

Spinach is not recommended to use for gutloading insects or for feeding the lizards. Dandelion greens, collards, endive, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, sauash, etc are better choices.

 

[Kntonoff]

Thank you! That was actually really helpful! I have been giving her a little bit of sweet potato baby food, because it contains beta carotene. Can it hurt her if she has too much beta carotene?

 

[kinyonga]

Asian said in my post....vitamin A from veggies can not lead to an overdose.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I fully support what kinyonga has posted.

Im all for good gutloading, and consider that a wide range of feeder prey fed a good gutload is the ideal way to get nutrients to your chameleon. But of course an easy way to get some preformed vitamin A (and other vitamins) to your chameleon, or to round out your gutloading, is to use a multi-vitamin supplement that has preformed vitamin a /retinol.

here are some links to info you may find useful:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/174-whats-supplements-brand.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/food-thought-12472
https://www.chameleonforums.com/vitamins-othr-nutrients-62080/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=5.Vitamin.A.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/chams-eye-doesnt-want-open-21534/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/seriously-worried-22697/index3.html#post199819
https://www.chameleonforums.com/insects-vitamin-other-nutrients-37090/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/vitamin-supplements-dr-ivan-alfonsos-blog-64145/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/carrots-vit-23572/
http://jgp.rupress.org/content/47/3/433.full.pdf
https://www.chameleonforums.com/vitamin-scares-me-12395/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/gutload-vitamin-27997/
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=17+1796&aid=3027