age limit?

[ir0k]

So the past few days my baby pantherwas going through a shed, which is almost done. He has been real finiky on eating, only a few crickets a day. Today i put a mealworm on the side of his cage and after contimplating it for a few mins he ate it. He is about 3 months old. Is it ok for him to have one every now and.again at such a young age? Also he has been eating kind of late in the day...almost around his bed time. Is that a problem?

Thanks in advance

 

[carol5208]

Mealworms are ok to feed. There are other worms which are a better choice like silkworms. I feed superworms and gutload them. From what I understand mealworms can be gutloaded also to make them more nutritional for your chameleon. It would be better to feed your chameleon earlier in the day so he will have time to bask and digest his food. It will not hurt him to eat a feeder or two before bed, but I would not make that your regular feeding schedule. Feed in the morning or early afternoon at the latest.

 

[fluxlizard]

I sometimes feed mealworms on the day my chameleons hatch- but the worms have to be the appropriate size. baby meal worms for baby chameleons. My personal preference is to feed an entire meal's worth of whatever species of insect I am offering on a particular day and switch up what I feed every day- just a personal preference to keep things easy for me. The reason I mention- no harm comes from feeding a full day's ration of mealworms (10 or whatever) in one go, rather than 2 worms every day or whatever. But whatever your preference.

As far as time of day- I haven't ever found that it really matters. I feed mine all kinds of times depending on my schedule from first thing in the morning to late in the evening before lights out. Digestion slows at night while the lizard sleeps and picks up again the next day when the lizard warms up again- the food is still in there for digestion the next day, it doesn't get pooped out undigested or something. Again, just my personal preference, but I don't think a wild chameleon would turn down a feeding opportunity late in the day either.