# Dusting with bee pollen?



## Link3898 (Sep 18, 2008)

i am just curious if anyone has tried this with dart frogs... when i was breeding chameleons i used to dust fruit flys and pinheads in bee pollen and it seemed to help the hatchlings become stronger faster as well as be more healthy overall.

just wondering if i can use this on darts as well or if it contains something that could cause problems that i am unaware of


-Keith


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

While there isn't any information showing a negative effect for herps in the literature, there is sufficient evidence out there to give some significant doubt as to how much it helps. Pollen is fairly difficult to digest and does not breakdown readily (hence the ability to tell what plants were around due to preserved or fossilized pollen grains). There are a number of studies on its digestiability in vertebrates and outside of some specialized species it appears to be poorly digested (see SpringerLink - Journal Article for one article). 

I suspect that the improvement in your chameleons was due to a different factor than the pollen.. but with that said as long as you are providing sufficient supplementation of the other required nutrients, it probably won't harm the frogs.. however if the dusting regimen disrupts the other supplementation regimen then there may be issues. 

Ed


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## Link3898 (Sep 18, 2008)

hey thanks for the info that links a good although short read. i wasnt intending on using the pollen more than maybe 2 times a week or less and mixing it with calcium so it would be minimal at best, but hey i guess i can try it and if i see and difference at all in the frogs i will know whats going on and cut it.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Well a number of the symptoms of deficiency are not readily noticiable until they become quite chronic. I would suggest not cutting it into the calcium and the frequency of its use is going to depend on how often you feed the frogs. In well sealed enclosures I do not feed daily as it often takes several days before the ffs in the enclosure become depleated. This means that even cutting out one dusting a week in favor of something that does not contain sufficient vitamins to support the calcium metabolism could be problomatic.. 

Ed


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## Link3898 (Sep 18, 2008)

humm... alright then i will just not use it at all and stick with what is known to be safe. since the bad effects are only apparent after a long time then i would rather not risk it.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

It may be fine to use but it depends on the frequency of the feeding and the frequency of supplementation. 

Ed


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