Feeding as they grow...

On 2/3, Kush will be 6 months old. I have noticed lately that he has not been eating all of his crickets. I usually put 18-20 in there and, he would always eat them. Last night he only ate 10, and they were smaller ones bc the place where I buy ran out of large ones. We just put 11 more in there and he has only nabbed a few of them. I know as they get older, they stop eating as much and as frequently. Should I start feeding him every other day or is it still too early to do that. When did your chameleon start eating less?

Mine stopped being a cricket vacuum at 8 months. After that shed his volume of eating went down 2/3's. Now he doesnt even eat during the week, and pigs out on the weekend. Some times i can get him to eat a dubia on thurs/fri night. been that way for 3 months now, hes not skinny so im not worried.

20 appropriate sized or on the smaller sized crix? If its appropriate sized that is overkill even for a young animal IMO. You dont have to go to every other day feeding but I would cut down a lot. I give my animals around that age 6 to 8 feeders a day very well gut loaded. I even make them wait a day, two and sometimes more and when they get older I sometimes make them wait even longer along with only feeding every other day. I dont really have a set schedule. I just look at my animals and decide how much to be feeding. If they look a little on the skinny side Ill feed more. If they look like they are on the heavier side or even perfect Ill feed less.

I really think feeding a cham all it wants is a big reason for very long hunger strikes. The key is to keep them wanting more so they keep coming back.

Oh no! I didn't know that was too much! When I got him, I remember people saying to let them eat all they want twice a day, and that is what I've been doing. I figured he would just slow down on his own. So I should start giving him 8 a day? Wow. I'm glad I found this out!

Oh, and before this bunch of crickets that I got yesterday, he was eating lrge crickets. He's only had the small ones for 2 days now.

There have been cases where veileds have been fed too much and actually get MBD even though UVB and supplements were used correctly. I dont know how much was fed though.

A lot of people will suggest feeding an animal twice a day as much as they can eat in 5 minutes when young. Personally I just feed once a day as much as they can eat in one sitting and maybe toss a few extras in after that.

It may not be enough to hurt your guy but it is definitely time to start slowing down a bit on the feeders. He is old enough and Im assuming established enough to skip days in between feeding.

Like I said, I dont have a real schedule, I just kind of look at the animal and decide what and how much to feed. You could start with 8 feeders and see how that works. A lot of animals go on hunger strikes and I do believe its from access to food constantly and not really they are tired of an item. Keeping him guessing when food will be available can help in not going on a hunger strike.

Thank you for your advice! I have already lowered his feedings to 8 a day.

Cain has offer you some excellent advise. I would also recommend a large variety of feeders and not just crickets.