Bugs while in receptive stage

[bfaber123]

Hello,
So I have a female chameleon that just started her receptive stage. She is five months old, how many bugs should I be giving her a day during this time leading up to her laying eggs?

I will provide pic for reference. (I only held her to put her in front of the natural light so you can see her colors)

 

[bfaber123]

I also forgot to say she is about five months old.

 

[kinyonga]

How many bugs have you been feeding her in the last few weeks? When did she turn to her receptive colours?

 

[bfaber123]

Her receptive colors just appeared two days ago, and I’ve been giving her 10 bugs a day (5 in the morning, 5 at night). She’s still under a year so I was giving her as many bugs as she wanted during the day before this started, but now that she’s receptive I don’t want to overfeed her and have her lay more eggs.

 

[bfaber123]

How many bugs have you been feeding her in the last few weeks? When did she turn to her receptive colours?

Her receptive colors just appeared two days ago, and I’ve been giving her 10 bugs a day (5 in the morning, 5 at night). She’s still under a year so I was giving her as many bugs as she wanted during the day before this started, but now that she’s receptive I don’t want to overfeed her and have her lay more eggs.

 

[Flick boy]

Hi as she is young you want to give her as much as she wants, to help her develop properly, what are your temps and humidity?

 

[kinyonga]

Here’s the situation…if you keep feeding her that much she will likely produce a large clutch…as I’m sure you know.

I don’t think anyone knows the exact timing for when the follicles are committed to developing into eggs…so it’s hard to know when it’s too late to cut her back to prevent a large number of eggs.

I would at least cut her back to feeding her only every second day right away…but I’m not a vet and have no scientific studies to back me up….it’s just my opinion. It has to be your decision…ultimately you have to decide what might be best.

I hope others will comment on this.

 

[Flick boy]

Here’s the situation…if you keep feeding her that much she will likely produce a large clutch…as I’m sure you know.

I don’t think anyone knows the exact timing for when the follicles are committed to developing into eggs…so it’s hard to know when it’s too late to cut her back to prevent a large number of eggs.

I would at least cut her back to feeding her only every second day right away…but I’m not a vet and have no scientific studies to back me up….it’s just my opinion. It has to be your decision…ultimately you have to decide what might be best.

I hope others will comment on this.

I would have that thought (if )the cham is only 5 months then cutting back would be better at around 7 months?

 

[kinyonga]

@Flick boy said…”I would have that thought (if )the cham is only 5 months then cutting back would be better at around 7 months?”..
To me, the thing is, she’s receptive and you have to weigh the issue of how many eggs she will produce if that feeding regime continues against how much she needs to finish growing. It’s not an exact science yet….so you have to try to figure out what is best….and I can’t give you a definite answer. I’m not sure there is a definite answer…it may depend partly on the individual chameleon.

 

[MissSkittles]

I hope others will comment on this.

Personally, I trust your wealth of experience and your advice makes sense. The only thing I’d add is for OP to feed only once in the morning to give time for basking and proper digestion.