Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On the box of the Reptisun 5.0 it says that using that bulb replaces the need for for a d3 supplement. I never noticed that and have been dusting with Sticky Tounge Farms indoor mineral which contains the D3 for atleast the last 6 mo's. Should I be using the outdoor Mineral? Have I caused my Chameleons any harm? They look as healthy as any Chameleon I've ever seen, but if I'm doing something that could in the long term hurt them I would realy like to know. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Chams kept indoors under a ReptiSun need some D3, so you are OK. There is still a lot of debate as to how much. One of those things we still don't have down. How often do you dust? If your cham is mostly grown or an adult you only need to dust minerals about once a week (if your insects are well gutloaded of course). The MinerAll 0 is really for chams kept outdoors constantly.

Right now I have a 1yr. old and 3 that are about 5mo's (all veilds). I dust the 1yr old every 2-3 days and have been dusting every 1-2 days depending on what I'm feeding them that day. On days that I offer wax or silk worms I dont use dust. What kind of schedule do you use or suggest. I have mineral o for when I move all their cages outside for weekends or extended periods of time. Would it be good to alternate dustings between the indoor and outdoor formulas? What Kind of dust do you use?

Let's see,

For the 1 year old I would cut back mineral dusting to once a week (you can actually overdose it and cause organ calcifications). I dust minerals once a week and vitamins twice a month or less if my gutloads are good. For chams that are outdoors the MAJORITY of a week I use Mineral 0. For chams that are indoors the majority of a week I use Mineral . This is still not an exact science so I can only pass on what I do. Also, I don't have veileds now.