3 month old Veiled isn't eating

[dfercho]

Hello all, I could use some advice!

I received a baby Veiled Cham (advertised as 3 month old) from FLCHAMS.com 6 days ago. So far I haven't seen him eat any crickets, however, I have found droppings on the large leaves near his basking lamp. They are tiny, but otherwise look normal.

Enclosure setup:

• His enclosure is 24x24x48 (large for a baby I know)
• his cage is misted every 4 hours for 60 seconds a day with an automated system atop the screen enclosure
• he has 3 large Golden Pothos plants at various levels through the enclosure, and two 6 foot pliable branches to ensure access to all areas of the enclosure
• i use a 75 watt daylight blue repti bulb for heating, and 13 W 5.0 UVB fluorescent lamp
• his basking area is approximately 85 to 90 degees *measured with a probe*
• Humidity level is consistently within about 45 degrees day and night
• temp only drops as low as 65 at night

Food: (so far have only offered crickets)

• the crickets are the smallest petsmart sells (brown crickets not black), and i started removing the larger ones to ensure he can safely eat them
• I offer about 10 at a time and dust them with reptical (also gut load them the night prior to the morning feeding with organic oranges, carrots and flunkers cubes
• I leave them in overnight, following advice from FLCHAMS to leave food for the crickets like carrots and potatos to ensure they don't bother my Cham

Behavior:

• He seems content and active from time to time exploring his new environment
• He is shy, but seems to be warming up to me more and more
• I have tried hand feeding him crickets with a tweezer, holding the cricket within an inch or so for up to 5 minutes; I almost thought he was going to take it once, but then he shied away.
• Although I have not seem him eat, I would assume he has, as not all of the crickets are there the next day from what I can tell. Additionally, he has left several droppings over the last six days, but I did not find them until yesterday, so I am unsure of the frequency

My main concern is that several are posting that baby chams eat 10 to 20 crickets a day, and my guy has at most, maybe eaten 2 or 3 a day. I have silkworms on order from coastalsilkworms.com, which will be arriving tomorrow, so I am hopeful he will take to those.

Any advice is welcome, thank you for your time!

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Varety is the secret to a chameleon eating well!

 

[dfercho]

Varety is the secret to a chameleon eating well!

Just added 5 silkworms to his cage; hopefully when I get home they'll all be gone.

 

[alphakenc]

Ur cage might be to big for him to locate his food ,since he is still a 3 month old baby cham still trying to adjust to his new environment.

 

[dfercho]

hey alphakenc

Ur cage might be to big for him to locate his food ,since he is still a 3 month old baby cham still trying to adjust to his new environment.

hey thanks, I thought that too. I left him s

Ur cage might be to big for him to locate his food ,since he is still a 3 month old baby cham still trying to adjust to his new environment.

hey thanks for the feedback... it's a big cage for a little guy, agreed! But if he was hungry and had a bunch of tasty silkworms on his branch right in front of him, wouldn't he eat them? I gave him some around noon today, got home around 8, and maybe 1 was gone.. cage is so big I can't even be certain. but if he wasn't eating, he wouldn't be pooping right? He seems healthy, and moving, i just haven't seen him eat and i'm worried about that. How long can a baby go without eating cricks and worms? is he maybe eating the golden pothos plants? Is he fine eating a few cricks a day? please advise, again, thanks for your time!

 

[alphakenc]

hey alphakenc

hey thanks, I thought that too. I left him s

hey thanks for the feedback... it's a big cage for a little guy, agreed! But if he was hungry and had a bunch of tasty silkworms on his branch right in front of him, wouldn't he eat them? I gave him some around noon today, got home around 8, and maybe 1 was gone.. cage is so big I can't even be certain. but if he wasn't eating, he wouldn't be pooping right? He seems healthy, and moving, i just haven't seen him eat and i'm worried about that. How long can a baby go without eating cricks and worms? is he maybe eating the golden pothos plants? Is he fine eating a few cricks a day? please advise, again, thanks for your time!

If you saw the poops in the cage then he must be eating,especially a 3 month old cham ,he will need as much food as he needs,NOT jus a few crickets but along with other variety feeder item,like the silkworm u had feeding him,also make sure to gutload all ur feeder so ur cham can absorb all the good nutrition from it.
Did you see any bite mark from the golden potho plants??that probably will tell u what u asking for!
A baby should not missing any meals as far as im concern,unless they are jus newly born baby or trying to adopt into their new cage home,let me know if you have anymore question,I will be more than glad to help you answer them.

 

[kinyonga]

What's the temperature in the area of the cage where your chameleon spends most of its time?

 

[dfercho]

If you saw the poops in the cage then he must be eating,especially a 3 month old cham ,he will need as much food as he needs,NOT jus a few crickets but along with other variety feeder item,like the silkworm u had feeding him,also make sure to gutload all ur feeder so ur cham can absorb all the good nutrition from it.
Did you see any bite mark from the golden potho plants??that probably will tell u what u asking for!
A baby should not missing any meals as far as im concern,unless they are jus newly born baby or trying to adopt into their new cage home,let me know if you have anymore question,I will be more than glad to help you answer them.

I think he's doing well. He shed his skin yesterday, and dropped some very large stool. He didn't seem interested in the silkworms, as they were still crawling around last night untouched. But I have been gut loading the crickets the night before with carrots, oranges and Flunckers diet stuff. Apparently he's too shy to eat in front of me, but i'm convinced that he is eating his crickets.

Thanks for the feeback alphakenc!

 

[dfercho]

What's the temperature in the area of the cage where your chameleon spends most of its time?

between 65 and 70 degrees. basking area is 80 to 90. humidity between 45 and 55

 

[alphakenc]

I think he's doing well. He shed his skin yesterday, and dropped some very large stool. He didn't seem interested in the silkworms, as they were still crawling around last night untouched. But I have been gut loading the crickets the night before with carrots, oranges and Flunckers diet stuff. Apparently he's too shy to eat in front of me, but i'm convinced that he is eating his crickets.

Thanks for the feeback alphakenc!

That is so awesome to hear that he is doing well!sometimes its normal to not seeing him eating in front of u,since the male cham is a solitary individual which I can related to...and thats why makes him one unique in his own way,as he gets to know u are not his threat like a predator,he will be more comfortable to eat in front of u.
And its my pleasure for u to giving me the opportunity to reply u in this post dfercho!

 

[Paulycham]

Can you take a pic of him? I just ordered a male veiled cham from flchams this morning. I'm getting one from Jethro sire, who's yours from? I'm also housing mine in a 2-2-4 size cage, so I'm hoping to do some learning from this thread.

 

[dfercho]

Can you take a pic of him? I just ordered a male veiled cham from flchams this morning. I'm getting one from Jethro sire, who's yours from? I'm also housing mine in a 2-2-4 size cage, so I'm hoping to do some learning from this thread.

Mine is also from Jethro! I will try to get a good picture up soon. He is very cute.

 

[dfercho]

Mine is also from Jethro! I will try to get a good picture up soon. He is very cute.

How's your little guy doing Pauly?

 

[Spiffy0710]

between 65 and 70 degrees. basking area is 80 to 90. humidity between 45 and 55

All of my research says the humidity should be more tropical for veiled's. I keep mine between 70-85 on the humidity with a few dips during the day to 55 ish.