Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If my Male Jax lived in the wild he would starve. He is also finishing a shed which has taken him a bit longer than usual. I am giving him showers which seems to help the shedding.

He is still having problems hitting crix. (I use cricketbites to GL). He can hit big silkies np. That is what he mostly eats. I usually supplement him 2x - 3x per month wirh zoomed reptivite. I thought he may be getting too much vitamin A so I switched to Herptivite which has no Vit. A.

Lighting he has a new reptisun 5.0, a Arcadia D3 compact UV & a Zoomed MV light that I turn on when I am home.

Temp is about 75 day 60-65 night. Humidity is around 70% (have a mister on a timer 3x per day manual misting in the am.

He is by himself and there is nothing that should be stressing him.

Any Ideas?

his light needs to be on for at least 12 hours a day. i get up at 5 am to get ready for work thru the week so i turn it on at 5:30 before i leave and turn it off around 8 or 9 at night. this simulates a full day of sun in the wild and they need the uv and such during the day to digest and shed properly along with absorbing vitamens to help with muscles and bones. if he doest shoot his tongue out far or at all i would make sure the light are on longer to help with muscles in his tongue. also my veiled wont eat from a cup at all, he refuses to eat unless he hunt them down him self, so try letting some loose for him to hunt to stimulate him to use it more.

Sorry guess I was not clear. Reptisun 5.0 & arcadia D3 are on a timer from 8am to 8pm. the only light that I use when I am home is the MV due to the heat it generates.

Just curious - why do you think too much Vit A? If that is a concern FYI, Herptivite contains beta carotene which is converted to Vit A.

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Lele-

Vitamin A is thought/known to cause problems with monate species of chameleons. The most common would be eye issues such as a swollen eye (usually right eye) and edema in other chameleons when overdosed. Beta carotene is suppose to be a safer form of vitamin A that the body can convert the beta to A as needed. A high quality gutload is highly recommended (such as www.cricketfood.com, Adcham recipe, or www.herpnutrition.com) when feeding monate species (actually all chameleons will benefit greatly) and keeping the vitamin/calcium dust to a minimum. The monate species are thought to have a slower metabolism due to the colder climate they inhabit. Hope this helps!

Happy Holidays!
-----
John W. Lucas

CHAMELEON PARADISE

CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR

Feeding Baby Chameleons
Caging Baby Chameleons

got SILKWORMS!

Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

Hi John,

Yes, I understand the problems Vit A. I was curious as to why the poster thought the cham was getting too much. He/she didn't seem to mention symptoms of too much Vit A. I know that beta carotene is a precursor for Vit A and again I wasn't clear if the poster realized this or not.

I have a container of Reptivite and compared ingredients with Herptivite and found some interesting things that might help - or maybe not Reptivite contains 22,907 units per/kg of D3 and 211.46 grams/kg of Calcium. Interestingly, I went to ZooMed's site to see ingredients which differs from the bottle I have which I purchased last May. Hey, maybe none of this makes a difference but it does show that we really don't know the best vitamins and minerals for herps and that a general herp vitamin dust may be impossible. Good Gutloading is still the best way to go!

>>Lele-
>>
>>Vitamin A is thought/known to cause problems with monate species of chameleons. The most common would be eye issues such as a swollen eye (usually right eye) and edema in other chameleons when overdosed. Beta carotene is suppose to be a safer form of vitamin A that the body can convert the beta to A as needed. A high quality gutload is highly recommended (such as www.cricketfood.com, Adcham recipe, or www.herpnutrition.com) when feeding monate species (actually all chameleons will benefit greatly) and keeping the vitamin/calcium dust to a minimum. The monate species are thought to have a slower metabolism due to the colder climate they inhabit. Hope this helps!
>>
>>Happy Holidays!
>>-----
>>John W. Lucas
>>
>>CHAMELEON PARADISE
>>
>>CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR
>>
>>Feeding Baby Chameleons
>>Caging Baby Chameleons
>>
>>got SILKWORMS!
>>
>>
>>Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Lele-

Ya I posted that to make sure they knew about the vitamin A issues with Jax and the gutload. I can tell you I do not use any one supplement other then the very fine powdered pure calcium carbonate dust (no D3). I change the vitamins, but I do not use Reptivite so I can not comment on it. Supplements are sill in question as far as what to use, how much to dust, and how often to dust. Not much help!LOL!

Happy Holidays
-----
John W. Lucas

CHAMELEON PARADISE

CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR

Feeding Baby Chameleons
Caging Baby Chameleons

got SILKWORMS!

Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

Because that was the only idea anyone posted when I asked about it here the first time.

Hi-

Is the Arcadia D3 compact, a twin tube compact fluorescent or is it a spiral socket compact fluorescent? I ask because if it is a twin tube it will put off as much if not more then the MV bulbs do of UVB/heat. If he is eating not much to worry about, maybe he doesn't care for crickets much. I did not really get an understanding of the tongue problem, is it just that he shoots his tongue and misses only crickets. Or dose he hit the crickets but the tongue doesn't hold them? Cricketbites is not a good gutload, see the post I made below. If you are having shed problems try raising the humidity, this can be done by placing a damp terry cloth towel on a side or sides of the cage. This will raise humidity but still allow for air exchange. Hope this helps!

Happy Holidays!
-----
John W. Lucas

CHAMELEON PARADISE

CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR

Feeding Baby Chameleons
Caging Baby Chameleons

got SILKWORMS!

Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

Spiral socket compact.

I switched to Herptivite because Beta Carotene was a safer form of Vit. A.

He just shoots and misses the crix. This did not used to happen until about a week ago.

Hi-

Is he more lethargic? How is his water intake? Any excess mucous in the mouth, or making any noise while breathing? You need to improve the gutload, and keep the vitamin dusting to once every two weeks, calcium no more then once a week. It looks like there are nutritional problems, changing your gutload will help. Hope this helps!

Happy Holidays!
-----
John W. Lucas

CHAMELEON PARADISE

CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR

Feeding Baby Chameleons
Caging Baby Chameleons

got SILKWORMS!

Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

Thanks I will try changing gut loads. However, he eats 75% silkies. I also will switch to pure calcium for dusting and see how it goes.
His behavior is normal.

He does not have a respritory infection if that is what you were asking. Shed is not in his eyes. He seems healthy other than being a little flakey and missing the target with his tounge.

Luna sometimes misses, too - well, when she was eating! I had to switch from a clear plastic feeding cup to a solid white one b/c she kept shooting at the cup - being a cham she didn't quite get the transparency thing - LOL!!

If he eats more silkies he may be getting spoiled by not having the target moving around a whole lot and the crix confuse him!
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta