Baby Veiled Male not eating

[mullberrysdream]

I purchased a baby male veiled chameleon about a month ago, when he was just 2 weeks old. The breeder I got it from said he was the best eater out of all the 40 babies they had (likely story), and I brought him home, and set him up in his temporary baby tank. It's a glass tank with just a screen top, when he gets a little bigger I will get him a fully screened enclosure.

I've got a UVB 5.0 bulb as well as a Flukers 50watt day bulb. Initially I was trying to keep his temp in the high eighties with a basking spot in the early 90's but after doing more reading I learned that this was too hot, so now I just try to keep it in the low-mid eighties.

When I first got him I didn't notice him eat for a few days. I took that as a sign of him getting used to his surroundings and whatnot, as my roommate last year had a baby veiled and she didn't eat at first either. Since then he has definitely started to eat, but there is no way he is eating more than maybe 3-4 a day, if that. I have been buying the smallest crickets the pet store can find for me (they don't cary pin heads), and when I got him the breeder told me he was just starting to be able to eat "small" crickets as opposed to "pin heads".

I will try and get some photos later but I frequently see his ribs when he breathes, does this mean he is too skinny? I have been able to see them since I first got him and have just assumed it's because he was so small. I am now starting to get a bit more concerned as I really think he should be eating a lot more than he is, but he just doesn't seem interested.

A few days ago I started putting the crickets in a plastic container in his cage so that they would be easier to find (i previously just set them loose so he could hunt for them).


Is this normal for a baby to not be so interested in food? Am I doing anything wrong with the lights/temp? I mist him 3-4 times a day, and i frequently see him climbing on top of his cage to drink the water droplets.

Thank you in advance for the help!

 

[camimom]

When my guy was little, he did the same thing.
I free ranged crickets, and for a while I thought he was eating them all.
But then I realized when I put 15 in, 10 came out in the evening.
So I started cup feeding. Then, he lost interest and only ate 1 or 2 a day.

Its possible he is adjusting to your cup feeding. It took my guy about a week or so to figure out that his food was in it.

Can you post a picture of him please?

 

[mullberrysdream]

Here's a photo of him from about a week or so ago.

He was born on september 2nd.

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[mullberrysdream]

Some of the crickets have escaped the cup and have been roaming in the cage. I put 4 in there yesterday afternoon and by night time only two were still in the cup, and the other 2 were hopping around. At about midnight as I was going to bed i saw him sleeping with a cricket ontop of him so i quickly got the cricket off of him and took the crickets out of his tank.

I put them back in this morning and tried putting him down near the cup, and he shows no interest.

 

[lindawaz]

I copied some links for you. I never had a Cham that small so not sure about the food size- Maybe some fruit flies, I know many use them for their wee ones.

Your crickets need to be gutloaded with more than fluckers- SandraChameleon's

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html

here is Jannb blog link on new Cham owners
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

Hopefully someone comes on line and has more answers for you

 

[lindawaz]

I have never owned a Cham that small so i am not sure on the size of the food he needs. Some of the Breeders use fruit flies for their wee ones but not sure if that would be right for you. I am sure more experienced keepers will be on to help you.

Your crickets need better gut loading than fluckers here is a link to Sandrachameleons blog
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html

and here is Jannb's blog for new keepers
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

Best of luck with your baby !

 

[Olimpia]

Oh my gosh, he is so little and so adorable! I remember seeing photos of mine when she was that little.

It is possible that fruit flies might spark his interest more. I recently had a very young baby meller's chameleon that had been feeding on small crickets with the breeder but wasn't eating much with me. I tried fruitflies and that did it, he was way more interested once I started those. If you put a little piece of fruit in the cage, the fruit flies will stay around it and he can pick them off.

They sell cultures at Petcos usually, try to pick one up and see if it makes a difference. And if it does then maybe order some more online or then get some pinheads as well. I couldn't tell you why he's not eating more of them, but perhaps smaller insects will make him a more confident hunter.

 

[mullberrysdream]

Thanks for the helpful links! I have ordered some fruit flies from the local pet store which will be in next tuesday, and i picked up 10 extremely small crickets (normally the "small" ones from the pet store are quite big, but this time they are quite small, so maybe that will help)

Here is a photo of him from today where you can see his ribs. They are not this noticeable all the time, it depends on his breathing. Any other tips or advice? Should I not be handling him yet? I have been trying to handle him a few times a week, and sometimes he tolerates it better than others (i never pick him him if he starts to hiss or run away, as i dont want to scare him). I want to make sure that he gets used to handling and hopefully will start to like it a little bit, but at the same time i dont want to be going overboard with it so that it will ruin my chances.

 

[brandychams]

is he climbing on cardboard in an aquarium while ill use aquariums for little ones until theryre bigger i would definately swap the cardboard for some sticks, vines and plants. hell also need cal with d3 and a multivite twice a month

 

[lindawaz]

He looks skinny. make sure you keep him hydrated lack of water is worse than
lack of food. I hope the tiny crix help and the fruit flies.

Tuesday for the flies? My fruit in the bowl sadly produces them quicker than that

 

[mullberrysdream]

I have been misting him 3-5 times a day, so he is definitely staying hydrated.

Tuesday is quite far away....would it be safe to feed him normal fruit flies, such as ones from a fruit bowl?

Any other tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[mullberrysdream]

I've got the aquarium because it was the only thing the local pet store had when I got my chameleon. I know it's not what I should be using, and I definitely plan on getting him a screen cage when he gets a bit bigger. I've got plenty of fake plants and vines in his tank, but for some reason he often likes to sit up on top of the cardboard I have in his tank (which divides it in half so that the tank is the appropriate size for him).

I'd been using calcium with d3 almost daily until about a week ago when I realized I needed to get calcium WITHOUT d3 for daily use, and just the d3 for a couple times a month.

I try to keep his tank in the mid 80's. is that appropriate for a chameleon that is about 6 weeks old?

 

[lindawaz]

You are suppose to keep a piece of fruit in the cage so the flies hover by it and easy to catch. If you have any in your home they will join the bought ones. I don't see the harm its not like they have been taken from a heavily fertilized field

 

[mbprime]

I know this is a late response to this topic, but if you can find a pet store or online dealer there are crickets called pinheads. Typically newborn crickets that are extremely tiny but will be large enough to spark interest from your tiny cham. Mine was born on 9-6, but must have been the pig of the group b/c he is easily three times as large as your lil guy (which I dont think is too tiny for a month old, he just might have been born later than others). Im guessing he was in a cage with multiple chams, so he might not have had the opportunity to feed as much. Keep trying the cup feeding, maybe let one or two run around his cage to hunt, but with the cup my lil guy runs over to it immediately (he ate 23 today, he is gonna be a fat chameleon).

And like others have said, Calcium W/O D3 daily, and Calcium w/D3 twice a month. I use the Sticky Farms for the Calcium W/O D3, and Repti-Cal and Reptivite for my D3 calcium and vitamin supplement. Hope that helps and best of luck with the lil guy. He could still just be shocked from moving into a new home too. The water is definitely more important, make sure his poop is at least white.

 

[mullberrysdream]

Thanks for the advice mbprime. Do you have a pic of your little guy? I'd love to see it! I just got my fruit flies today and he is eating them all up, but I think the next move is to order some Pinheads off the internet.

How successful are you in keeping your crickets alive? What's your secret?

Everytime I buy crix from the local pet store they die within a day or two. I have one of the plastic containers with the black tubes to keep them in, and i typically put a Flukers Cricket food inside for them to eat/drink.

 

[popwell89]

Dont get the little orange flukers cubes that are both food and water they have never worked for me. I did buy the ground calcium enriched flukers cricket food along with the calcium enriched water crystals by flukers. Keep those in the cricket keeper at all times and change out your other collards and whatever you gutload your crickets with. I do carrots, collards, oranges, apples, and many of the other things on sandrachameleon's blog. The information she has on here that someone posted to you on the first page is very helpfull. but the flukers cubes never worked for me.

 

[mullberrysdream]

Thanks Popwell89, maybe that is why all of my crickets have been dying. My roommate just bought the green crystals, so i'll try that when I order some crickets. Anyone have any favorite spots to get crickets online?

 

[popwell89]

Also get the bigger cricket keeper it works well with small and large the small keeper tends to only work well for small crickets. Keep the old fruits and vegetables out before they mold. You can keep a little over recomended capicity in the keepers but not too much. Be sure to refresh water crystals and ground food along with other gut loaders. And try to get the dead crickets out.

 

[mullberrysdream]

Get the bigger cricket keeper? Why is this important if I am only keeping small crickets at the moment?

 

[Olimpia]

I would just get a plastic storage box from Walmart. You can get a bigger size for like $3, and you can house 250+ crickets in one easily. Overcrowding actually makes them die more often, as they will trample each other. That's what I would do, anyway! Also makes cleaning a bit easier, I think, since you can shoo the crickets away from their fallen comrades and you can pick them up easily. You don't have 20 individuals climbing up your hand for freedom lol.