Gut loading is providing your feeder insects with the proper nutrition to be passed to your chameleon (or any animal that eats live feeders for that matter). We use vitamin dusting to make up for the lack of nutrients that feeders provide, and to allow the feeder insects to live longer (gut-loading diets can and will kill your insects and/or substantially shorten their lifespan).
For example, gut-loading crickets with a high calcium diet significantly reduces their life span (and most of us already know they have a short enough life span as-is, and when they start to die off they start to smell).
**A very good guide for gut loading can be found here: (Note: This is also a great guide for what to feed omnivorous chameleons, such as Veiled’s, that also eat fruits and veggies along with insects.)
https://www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm
(I also recommend alfalfa based, young guinea pig food [from Oxbow] ground up into a powder for a dry gut load).
Studies by Furgeson et. al suggested that supplemental pre-formed vitamin A is recommended for chameleons as gut loading insects (with either carotenoids or pre-formed vitamin A) was insufficient to prevent Vitamin A deficiency: “high amounts of beta carotene provided by gut loading crickets with carrots and an accompanying grain diet low in preformed vitamin A did not prevent the onset of symptoms of hypovitaminosis A.” (Furgeson, 2003)
Just as we, as human beings, tend to take daily vitamins to make up for nutritional deficiencies in our diet,
“it is important to realize that we are feeding our chameleons farm-raised, nocturnal insects”
to our diurnal chameleons (which are used to eating a large variety of wild diurnal insects). While gut loading is important, evidence based research has suggested that vitamin dusting is necessary.
Please refer to these sources below for more information on gut-load requirements, vitamin dusting, and further information
