Am I doing this right?

[skeleptica]

When I got Lola, it was my very first time ever owning a chameleon. I got her as a gift from my boyfriend for christmas, and when he purchased her they didn't provide a whole lot of information. However, they did say to give her approximately 10, 3 week crickets a day, this is what I've been feeding her ever since except I've now moved up to 4 weeks (also of course with the random exception of other creatures). There has never been a problem with this, she seems healthy and happy, however, I've never actually thought about whether this is actually how much I should be feeding her or not, does this sound right?

I have no idea how old she is, I'm at school right now, so I'll measure her when I get home.

BB.

 

[Phatturk]

As far as I know, when dealing with Female Chams the amount of food they eat is a bit more important than with males. If you over feed a female she can produce lots more eggs than normal (I think that is what I read?). But to be honest I don't really know how much is too much! Maybe someone else here with more XP can help!

My female would eat as much as I would put in there and still look around for more food all day, my male eats just as much as he wants and leaves the rest. I am still not sure if that is a Male/female thing or just personality.

 

[Hempa]

If you could post a picture of here it would be great.

But Phatturk is right. Overfeeding a female can lead to huge clutches. I heard of clutches as big as 100 eggs. And that is not good for the cham. The more you feed them when they are young the faster they mature and can produce eggs.

 

[Tygerr]

Overly large clutches of eggs is not the only problem caused by overfeeding of females.
The production of infertile clutches of eggs is also thought to be caused by overfeeding.
As you may know, egg-laying female chameleons can (and often do) lay clutches of eggs whether they have been mated or not.
It is thought that favourable climate conditions (like the environment in a captive enclosure) and plentiful supply of food triggers the chameleon to start producing eggs.

Kinyonga has reported that she has been able to delay, and in most cases altogether prevent the production of infertile clutches of eggs in her females by limiting the amount of food given to them, and by lowering their basking temps.
Kinyonga would be able to shed more light on what sort of quantities she feeds her chameleons, but I know that she always posts that she 'feeds as much as they can eat in one minute'...

 

[Hempa]

Thanks Tygerr, you wrote what I had in mind but forgot to write .
What I meant with clutches was both fertile and infertile. I have a female which is nearly 2 years and hasn´t shown any signs of being gravid. And Im glad as long as she doesnt. I hope I can do as good as Kinyonga!

 

[jaidexl]

Kinyonga has reported that she has been able to delay, and in most cases altogether prevent the production of infertile clutches of eggs in her females by limiting the amount of food given to them, and by lowering their basking temps.

This is basically what I read somewhere many years ago. I keep my female veiled fed with no more than three or four insects daily, and her basking spot is usually no more than 90F. She is over three years old now and has never produced a clutch. She has a sand bed but has never stepped foot in it unless hunting. Other than a lip growth that started a few months ago, she has always acted and looked healthy.