Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey there, i'm sure this has been answered many times, but since i'm relatively new at this and lacking the experience, i would like to know what do you use to gutload the meals to your chams, and how oftenly? specialy when they're adults...i'm using Calcium(no phosphorous) a couple of times a week , and the other days i'm using a dust with lots of vitamins, my doubt is, that if i use this vitamin, my cham's necessity for calcium would be satisfied already? or if it would even be dangerous to feed those vitamins everydays, since they also contain calcium(min 28% max 30%)and even a small amount of phosphorous(0.01%)?

Hi,

Gutloading is the term we use to refer to the food given to the prey insects before they are fed to the chameleon.

Supplementing or "dusting" is the term used when we coat the feeder insects with either calcium or vitamin/mineral powders.

For most adult chameleons, supplement with calcium twice per month (males), and supplement with minerals once per month. Use caution with jackson chameleons - they are especially susceptible to over-supplementing. Female adults (egg bearing) may require more frequent calcium.

It used to be thought that more frequent supplementation was required - but recently, it is thought that over-supplementation is more harmful than helpful. The best avenue is to "gutload" the insects - providing a nutritious meal.

Hope this helps,
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