Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi

I've kept a lot of snakes over the years, but am buying my first chameleon in a couple of months-and I know they're a totally different ballgame! Obviously, I've bought a lot of books and done some internet reseach-but there are contradictions which have left me somewhat confused. Does my basic set up (below) sound OK?

Cage: Mesh-2ftX2ftX4ft. Containing live hibiscus (with sterilised soil)and some artificial plants/vines/perches.

Temp: Incandescent bulb placed outside of cage provides a hot spot on perches of 90 degrees. The ambient temperature in the reptile room varies between 70 and 75 degrees in the daytime with a 5-10 degree drop at night.

Humidity: A dripper system, dripping onto leaves of plants provides drinking water. I am also planning to spray cage (not chameleon) twice daily, as I suspect the mesh cage is going to be a nightmare humidity wise. Is this too much spraying?

Full spectrum lighting is to be used.

Diet: I will get as much variety in as I can and will try fruit and veg as well as insects. However, I suspect that the majority of the diet will be crickets. Supplementation sounds a bit tricky. I am planning to gut load the crickets with veg and 'vit-all' and dust the crickets with 'miner-all 1'. Are these supplements ok? Miner-all 0 is designed for animals kept outside and miner-all 1 is designed for animals kept inside. I've gone for miner-all 1 because the full spectrum lighting will not be anywhere near as intense as sunlight would be. But could this result in an overload of vitamin D3? How frequenty should I dust the crickets? Some authors suggest dusting at every feeding, whereas others at the opposite extreme suggest not more than once weekly. It seems to be a fine balance between vitamin deficiency and vitamin overload and I'm worried that i'm going to get this totally wrong-so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry about the length of this post-just wanting to check everything's basically OK

Thanks in advance for any tips.

Josie

Just a bit more info on the supplements i intend to use:

Miner-all is phosphorous free and contains, amongst other things, calcium and viatamin D3

Vit-all contains beta carotene and some ingredients containing naturally occuring vitamin A

I have kept/raised/bred/hatched veiled chameleons for many years and most of the females live to be over 6 and the males even longer. This is what I do and why...

I provide UVB with Repti-sun 5.0's. They rarely get sunlight because of the climate I live in...but sunlight is the best form of UVB. There should be no glass or plastic between the UVB and the chameleon and the UVB whether its from the sun or the tube light. Compacts have been known to cause problems, so until they are proven okay, I wouldn't use one. Exposure to UVB allows the chameleon to produce D3 which allows it to use the calcium.

Since most feeder insects we use have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous, I dust at most feedings with a phosphorous-free calcium powder.

I also dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Beta carotene won't build up in the system. However, there is controversy as to whether all chameleons can convert beta carotene or not....so some people give a little preformed vitamin A once in a while. Preformed vitamin A can build up in the system...so be very careful with this. Excess preformed vitamin A can prevent the D3 from doing its job and lead to MBD.

I also dust with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder twica a month lightly to ensure that the chameleon gets enough D3. D3 from supplements can build up in the system...so don't overdo it.

Its important to have appropriate basking temperatures so that the chameleon can digest its food properly.

Its also important to gutload the insects and feed them a nutritious diet. I gutload my crickets with an assortment of greens (dandelion, kale, collard, curly endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, etc.).

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are four of the main players in good bone health and they need to be in balance. When trying to achieve the balance you need to look at what goes into the insects, what supplements you use and what is fed to the chameleon.

Watering is also important.

Hope this helps!

Thankyou for the advice. After posting (in a bit of a 'panic') I looked at the posts and also found your advice in the thread 'hypervitaminosis'.

So I'll use miner-all o (calcium , but no D3) at every feeding, Miner-all 1 (calcium with D3) every couple of weeks, and I'll gut load the crickets with a healthy diet Vit-all as a supplement, and hope for the best. I've read a bit about the syptoms of hyper/hypo vitaminosis and hope I will recognise these conditions if they occur.

Incidentally, the makers of miner-all 1 (containing D3) suggest that it is given at every feeding (juveniles)-this seems somewhat extreme! Is the stated amount per kilo of product (4,400.00I.U)particularly low? I ask because this product was developed specifically for chameleons, so presumably the makers have found no evidence of overdosage at this level?

Thanks again for the advice

Josie

Perhaps they mean that does for those not getting any UVB at all, not even from bulbs? I only use my Cal VitD once a week or so.
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Sandra
BC Canada