Baby Veiled Only Eating Fruit Flies

[Calypso2013]

Chameleon - Veiled, Male, Purchased at the Phoenix Expo in November. At that time, he was reportedly 2-3 months old.

Handling - A couple of times a week - to clean cage and take him out in the sun.

Feeding - This is the problem. He will only eat fruit flies.

Supplements - I'm dusting the fruit flies with calcium without vitamin D3 (ExoTerra) - every day. Calcium with vitamin D3 (ExoTerra) - once a week. Zoo Med's Reptivite once a month.

Watering - Misting with a hand mister 3-4 Times a day. Have a dripper that drips all day. He drinks regularly directly from the end of the tube.

Fecal Description - Normal. Dark brown with white/yellowish urates.

Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? No

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Small screen Reptibreeze. I've enclosed one side with plastic to try to keep humidity higher.

Lighting - Both lights on 8am to 8pm. Zoo Med Combo Fixture - ReptiSun 5.0, 60W Bulb

Temperature - 80-85 Basking, 70-75 other spots, lowest nighttime temp is 68.

Humidity - 40-50%, Room humidifier, Misting

Plants - Pothos and Ficus

Placement - In corner of Dining Room, no drafts.

Location - Phoenix, AZ area

Current Problem - He will only eat fruit flies. Has only eaten fruit flies for a month and a half. Will not eat greens, fruit, crickets or meal worms. Last week, at the end of my rope, I did not feed him for a day and then offered crickets the next day. He just sits and watches them. I've tried all sizes (within reason). I know this is not healthy, he does not seem to be the size of other chameleons his age. The other day when there were both fruit flies and crickets in his enclosure, he actually ate a fruit fly off the back of a cricket. Now that's dedication.

He is very active, loves to hunt fruit flies, drinks lots from the dripper hose and seems otherwise healthy. Tongue looks healthy, grip is strong.

Thank you for any help you can give me.

Stephanie

 

[Calypso2013]

Pictures of Calypso and Enclosure

Here are pictures from today. He is puffed up in his pic. He is not usually like this - hates the iPhone.

 

[Calypso2013]

Should I post this in another area?

Should I post this in another area?

 

[MelissaB]

No, the health clinic should be a good spot for your post. I bet people that could help you, just aren't home from work, yet.
Can you get pinhead crickets for him? They're really small, and maybe he'd go for those. How big are the crickets that you've tried feeding him?

 

[kplatvoet]

I hope you have cultures going ? I had the same problem with my Jackson when she was small - I got staple flies from mantisplace.com and then bluebottles - she ended up going for those and then deciding that she also loves silkworms - she wouldn't eat crickets often until she was big enough to eat 3/4. The major problem with flies are they are hard to dust -I stick them in the freezer for a min to slow them down.
What I do for the flies is to hatch them in medium deli cups with food and water crystals (I use the "fly food" they have on the site) when I get them I break them up into a couple of containers and keep 1/2 in the fridge for a couple of days when the first batch starts to hatch. (My kids and husband love this) they hatch out quite quickly in the summer - the batch I got last week though took almost a week to start to hatch. (If you don't have culutures going you can get a fruit fly kit and one going cluture and make your own fruit flies - get the biggest
I would also try getting some phoenix worms I found that they stay good for long periods of time - I would give my jackson some in a tiny cup (using velcro buttons) in a place where it wouldn't get wet every day and take them out and put them back in the container at night - she finally started eating them and they didn't go to waste.