Dwarfed veiled chameleon?

[Rosesdandelionsnsucculent]

Hi I'm new to this site, let me know if you need anything or want to know anything. I have a year and a half old veiled chameleon, and have received conflicting messages on whether he should be full grown by now. He's been growing I know that, but he's still pretty small, he eats a lot (at least 10 insects a day, all about half an inch give or take).

 

[Beman]

Welcome to the forum! At this age he is basically adult sized. Do you have more pictures you could post of him? what kind of insects are you feeding? 10 a day is a lot for that old of a cham.

 

[PoseidonTheChameleon]

Has he been checked for parasites?

 

[Rosesdandelionsnsucculent]

Has he been checked for parasites?

He was checked when I got him at 6 months old, he was all clear and my local exotic vet said he was in great health (it's expensive and seeing as we're from a reptile owning family I haven't gone back) He's also never showed any signs of being ill.

 

[Rosesdandelionsnsucculent]

Welcome to the forum! At this age he is basically adult sized. Do you have more pictures you could post of him? what kind of insects are you feeding? 10 a day is a lot for that old of a cham.

Thank you! I'll attach more pictures below but I was cleaning his cage and he was just hanging out in my ivy. As for insects he mostly eats Dubai roaches, occasionally crickets (once a month I get a dozen or two he's not a big fan of them though), I keep trying to add other things to his diet but he's not a big fan. (P.s. please excuse the dark colors, he's almost ready to go to bed and is not happy I Disturbed him)

 

[Beman]

Thank you! I'll attach more pictures below but I was cleaning his cage and he was just hanging out in my ivy. As for insects he mostly eats Dubai roaches, occasionally crickets (once a month I get a dozen or two he's not a big fan of them though), I keep trying to add other things to his diet but he's not a big fan. (P.s. please excuse the dark colors, he's almost ready to go to bed and is not happy I Disturbed him)

Not a problem. So I would get another fecal run to ensure that he has not contracted any parasites since then. Also not always do the parasites show up in the fecal depending on where they are at in their cycle. So if he had a minor issue just starting when you had him tested at 6 months they would not necessarily have shown up. I only say this because of the food intake and him visually they do not line up. I would expect him to be much thicker then he is. I am looking at the casque and size of limbs on him. His form looks healthy but it looks like that of a younger Male 9 month old if I had to guess looking at him. Some parasites can effect their growth as well. They will not get as big as they would have without it.

At a year and a half to get 10 dubia a day is a lot. For example my Male who is almost 3 only gets 3 1/2 inch dubia 3 times a week. Or if I have silkworms then he gets one and then a dubia and a superworm. But basically it is 3 feeders 3 days a week. So your looking at 9-10 feeders a week vs your 70 a week. My male is thick and actually about 20 grams over where he should be and he is smaller for a Male Veiled at about 16 inches in total length.

 

[Rosesdandelionsnsucculent]

Not a problem. So I would get another fecal run to ensure that he has not contracted any parasites since then. Also not always do the parasites show up in the fecal depending on where they are at in their cycle. So if he had a minor issue just starting when you had him tested at 6 months they would not necessarily have shown up. I only say this because of the food intake and him visually they do not line up. I would expect him to be much thicker then he is. I am looking at the casque and size of limbs on him. His form looks healthy but it looks like that of a younger Male 9 month old if I had to guess looking at him. Some parasites can effect their growth as well. They will not get as big as they would have without it.

At a year and a half to get 10 dubia a day is a lot. For example my Male who is almost 3 only gets 3 1/2 inch dubia 3 times a week. Or if I have silkworms then he gets one and then a dubia and a superworm. But basically it is 3 feeders 3 days a week. So your looking at 9-10 feeders a week vs your 70 a week. My male is thick and actually about 20 grams over where he should be and he is smaller for a Male Veiled at about 16 inches in total length.

It's been a while, but I went to my vet (She's absolutely amazing! She has over 40 years experience with reptiles, and over 25 with exotic reptiles. My chameleon honestly hated the ride over there more than actually interacting with her) I told her about everything, and got him tested (all cleared) I've made some adjustments to my care, but the vet doesn't think he's going to grow anymore. She gave me a few guesses on what happened

1. He's just a dwarf chameleon (I'm hoping for this one)
2. She had someone recycle an old UVB bulb, and they had a similar problems. The way she described it to me is they didn't have enough UVB to properly digest their food... So now I'm paranoid that someone's returning used UVB bulbs instead of paying for a new one, and I'll now be ordering directly from a manufacturer.
3. I swear there was more but I just can't remember, she also thinks I did a bad job explaining the food situation to you (tho I have made changes based off of her suggestions) I would like to thank you for your help, and look forward to interacting with you in the future!

 

[Beman]

It's been a while, but I went to my vet (She's absolutely amazing! She has over 40 years experience with reptiles, and over 25 with exotic reptiles. My chameleon honestly hated the ride over there more than actually interacting with her) I told her about everything, and got him tested (all cleared) I've made some adjustments to my care, but the vet doesn't think he's going to grow anymore. She gave me a few guesses on what happened

1. He's just a dwarf chameleon (I'm hoping for this one)
2. She had someone recycle an old UVB bulb, and they had a similar problems. The way she described it to me is they didn't have enough UVB to properly digest their food... So now I'm paranoid that someone's returning used UVB bulbs instead of paying for a new one, and I'll now be ordering directly from a manufacturer.
3. I swear there was more but I just can't remember, she also thinks I did a bad job explaining the food situation to you (tho I have made changes based off of her suggestions) I would like to thank you for your help, and look forward to interacting with you in the future!

Wonderful so happy to hear that you found an amazing experienced Vet. This is to me one of the hardest things about this hobby and one of the most important things to have. My pleasure to help