Baby feeding

[kaylie]

Just got my male veiled, he's about 2 1/2 months. The guy at the pet store said to feed about 3 crickets a day. Is this enough?

Also, I feed the crickets the thirst quencher and gut load, both of which have calcium in them. Do I still need to dust them?

I'm good on the set up, plenty of stuff to climb, total mesh cage, a dripper, spray bottle, etc.

 

[kinyonga]

I feed babies as many of the appropriate sized insects as they will eat in a couple of minutes at each feeding....which should be a lot more than 3 for a veiled.

I've never used commercial products for gutloading. I prefer to feed the insects (crickets, superworms, roaches, locusts) a good healthy diet of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc).

I dust at most feedings with a Rep-cal phos.-free calcium to try to balance the usually poor ratio of calcium to phos. found in most feeder insects.

I dust twice a month with Rep-cal phos-free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that they get some D3 without overdoing it....and leaving them to produce the rest of the D3 from their exposure to the UVB (long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0) tube light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from their exposure to the UVB shouldn't as long as they can move away from it if they want to.

I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. Beta carotene can't build up in the system like prEformed sources of vitamin A can. There is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert beta carotene but this leaves it up to the keeper to decide whether to give the chameleon prEformed vitamin A or not. Excess prEformed vit. A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD...so be careful not to overdo it.

Calcium, D3, phos. and vitamin A are all important in bone health and in other systems in the body and need to be in balance. When balancing them you have to look at the supplements used, what you feed to the chameleon and what you feed to the insects.

Appropriate temperatures also play a role in that they affect the digestion and thus, indirectly the absorption of nutrients.

Keeping them the way I do, female veileds usually live to be over 6 years old and males even longer...so all I can do is assume that how I keep them works.

Sorry for a rather long answer to your question, but I think its important to give the whole picture.

 

[Gensen]

Research...

Yes, a baby that age should be eating more than 3 crickets a day.... and you will want to use something other than what you are curreclty using for gutload... cricket crack is a good "dry gutload" but that should still be used in addition to a wet gutlaod consisting of vegatables ect. You may want to use the search bar here on the Forum and look up gutloading there are lots of threads on it for you to look over.

And yes a supplementation schedule is extremely important and I would not rely on a Petstore to guide you with that so you may also want to search for supplement schedules on the Foruma as well, again there are many good threads with lots of good information there for you.

Good luck with your new Cham! And don't be afraid to ask if you have a questions bout your set up or lighting although yuo said you are good to go with that! Have fun!

 

[kaylie]

Alright... since I already have the store bought gut load I might as well keep using it, and I can throw some greens and/or carrots in there as well. But since I am using that, will dusting the insects give him too much calcium? Is that possible/bad? Also, I have Zilla Vitamin spray that I use every once in a while for the tortoise, can I use that once or twice a month for the chameleon too?
Thanks

 

[carol5208]

I would get a powdered multivitamin and dust your feeders with this two or three times a month.

 

[Gensen]

Jannb

Alright... since I already have the store bought gut load I might as well keep using it, and I can throw some greens and/or carrots in there as well. But since I am using that, will dusting the insects give him too much calcium? Is that possible/bad? Also, I have Zilla Vitamin spray that I use every once in a while for the tortoise, can I use that once or twice a month for the chameleon too?
Thanks

There ia a lady on here named Jannb and she is excellent with Veilds you may want to try to contact her... she would be one of the very best to guide you with a young Veild... and she could recommend and exact schedule for feeding and supplementation... good luck.