Cham eats very little

Ok, I got this veiled chameleon 2 days ago.

he is 8 months old.

so far in 2 days Ive watched him eat 8 crickets, 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening.

There is more available for him to eat but he just doesnt seem to want thim, Im getting a little nervous cause I can see his ribs.

Im a 1st time owner for chams but Ive had geckos and they were really aggressive and ate like wild hogs.

Am I just over reacting?

many chameleons will not eat when you first get them because they are stressed out from their new surroundings. You say he is skinny. Could you post a pic please? Are you sure you have all the correct lighting and supplements and things you need to keep him healthy?

my cham ate the minute i got her! sometimes it's not always stress. a worried owner is a healthy pet. just dont go all out on D3 and what-not. theres always moderation

maybe she doesnt like crickets? or w/e ur feeding. try getting an extremely active insect and free range it in the cage. that'll trigger his/her killer instinct >

Yes I believe I have all the proper lights, I have a standard house bulb in a dome for his basking bulb, and then I have 2 5.0 reptiglo uvb bulbs.

The woman told me the bulbs were 6 months old so I ordered new ones today.


I did alot of research on him before I bought him, I have a schedule set up where he gets multi vit twice a month and then calcium with d3 twice a month on alternating weekends and then just regular calcium the rest of the time.

Like I said I did my homework but everything I read mustve been based off of getting the best chameleon in the world

wontbme said:

my cham ate the minute i got her! sometimes it's not always stress. a worried owner is a healthy pet. just dont go all out on D3 and what-not. theres always moderation

maybe she doesnt like crickets? or w/e ur feeding. try getting an extremely active insect and free range it in the cage. that'll trigger his/her killer instinct >

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you are right as my chameleon ate right away too but I have seen many on here that do not eat for days. I agree that other feeders should be offered also as my chameleon starting disliking crickets at about that age.

honestly you do not need TWO UVB bulbs. One 5.0 is plenty and what the majority of us use.

I am feeding crickets and I plan on spicing it up with some super worms later down the road. The woman I got him from supposedly said he at 10-15 every day. If he really ate that I dont know for sure but, maybe Im just panicking lol.

Ive tried to free range the crickets in the cage and I made a little cup by his branch he likes to chill out on but he doesnt really seem interested in either.

If food is available he will eat it if he is hungry right? I mean he wont just starve himself to death will he?

probably not, but they have been known to go on hunger strikes. My cham pretty much just flat out refuses crickets. Once in a great while he will eat them, so I had to find alternative feeders he likes.

I dont think you need worry about the less than expected cricket intake. Certainly not yet.

You might want to increase the water a bit. It could be just that photo, or I may be out to lunch, but he look a little dehydrated to me. Dehydration can reduce appetite.

ok, I try and up my misting for him, Ive seen him drink and that made me very happy. I hope to get some form of auto mister soon after I get his new setup and Ive got a home made dripper all rigged up for when Im at work

At 8 months shouldn't they only be getting 1-2 a day?

AZJ0SH said:

At 8 months shouldn't they only be getting 1-2 a day?

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I give mine a bit more than that and they eat more than that, at that age, as they are still growing quite a bit. But 1-2 a day is nothing to be overly concerned about.

is your chameleons eye or eyes always closed?

i agree with hydration. i agree with he needs time to acclimate but lets make sure you have the rest of the components to make it all work efficiently.

please fill this out.

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.


Cage Info:

Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Veiled, male, 8 months, its been in my care for 3 or 4 days now

Handling - I try to handle him at least once a day so he gets use to me

Feeding - Crickets ( mediums), I offer 5 per day in a cup in the morning ( he never eats all 5 so I let them sit there all day). They are gutloaded with a green offbrand cube style and some flukers grain stuff.

Supplements - Zoo Med Repti Calcium Daily ( no d3), exo terra multi vit twice monthly, and exo terra calcium +D3 twice monthly on alternating weekends. This is my projected schedule as I havent had him long enough to actually do this.

Watering - Dripper while Im at work, Misting with a bottle after work 3 times in the evening every couple hours for about 2-3 minutes or until everyhitng is soaked. Yes I do see him drink, not a whole lot though.

Fecal Description - The look pretty white in the beginning and normal on the rest. Has not been tested for parasites, I know he did come from petco though, i dont know if they do that there

History -I don't know of any history on him, I got him from a woman on craigslist with his setup for cheap and he seems like he may be a little neglected, she didnt realize how much work he would be.


Cage Type - Exo Terra terrarium, its glass screen combo, I read it was ok for young chams. Its 18x18x25.

Lighting - Exo Terra, Dual Canopy, and 2 26w UVB 5.0 repti glo and one 65 watt house bulb for a basking lamp in the corner. Lights come on at 10 and go off at 10.

Temperature - basking about 85 and cage floor is about 75? Lowest overnight temp so far has been 70, temperatures are measured with a Zoo Med digital thermometer.

Humidity - His humidity starts off at 60 in the morning and works its way up to 75 throughout the day, humidity is kept up via, the dripper, the misting, adn a fogger. Humidity is measured via a analog hygrometer within the cage.
Plants - 1 live pothos, 2 fake plants, 2 fake vines.
Placement - Living room, although I wouldnt call it high traffic it does see some action. The cage is about 3 foot off the floor at its base.
Location - Wisconsin.

I do plan on building him a bigger cage very soon, and am planning on either getting the basic mist king or exo terra monsoon system to mist it periodically when Im not around by the end of this week.

His eyes are usually open and it was open in that picture I think he was just looking off funny.

thanks for all the help soo far guys I really appreciate the info and not being judged as a bad person.

Chameleons could be bored eating only crickets and lose appetite

It is important to know that if a chameleon eats only crickets, their appetite could weaken, because they become bored eating uniform food. It is the case with people too, when eating every day the same food.

Try with some other insects that could be more tasty than crickets.

It is also possible to make crickets being more tasty. The taste of crickets is influenced by what they eat. They will become more tasty if they eat varied fruits and vegetables, and at the same time they become a better source of needed vitamines and minerals too.

whatkind of fruits and veggies?

We just got our chameleon....so far loves crickets and meal worms....what kind of fruits, veggies and other insects can we feed him?

I offer mine things I catch, so far Ive seen him eat a fly and a grasshopper.

I give my crickets lettuce( not iceberg) and tomatoes and little slivers of things I may not eat or want them to try.

Please remove the second uvb bulb. you really dont need it. one is just fine.

They are the helicoil style bulbs so if I only have one in only half the enclosure is lit, is it really a bad thing to have 2? the hood was built with 2 and thats the way I see alot of them sold so how bad can it be to have 2?

Surprised nobody pointed this out yet but you are handling the guy too much.. Once a day is too much for a chameleon, one you just got especially because they dont handle stress too well. Also how big is the cham? I think you'll need a bigger cage down the road. Something like 24x24x48 is recommended for male veileds.