Eating dirt, how much is too much?

[luevelvet]

So I've been through the lengthy threads on chameleons eating dirt and I'm ok with that. When I had Veileds and Jacksons 15 years ago, they both did it, the Veileds more than the Jacksons, but its not something that concerned me a whole bunch. I always make sure to notice fecals, water intake and normal food intake.

This time around we have a mellers. It's been a while but I'm getting the hang of it again. One odd thing though, every morning after about an hour from when the lights come on, he moseys on down his hibiscus bush and starts going to town on the dirt. Now I have organic potting mix topped with organic top soil, sifted, topped with a little bit of coconut fiber. He will strike three or four times and grab a pea to chick pea sized clump of dirt and relish it like nothing else. The thing is, i rarely see him eating anything else. I did just notice that he usually eats in front of me in the morning and rarely when I get home from work. I'm assuming he's full for the day after the two crickets he takes from me and his desert of dirt.

I guess my question is, how much is too much? I gutload crickets, though he doesn't really seem all that interested in them, I try to dust them but he really doesn't go after them once they've been dusted. I've tried silk worms with minimal success. He's gaining weight and growin g, though we haven't taken a length since we've acquired him, but he has put on almost half his original body weight, 12 grams, to be a total of 38 grams. But every morning it looks like he just enjoys a clump of dirt!

I guess we're a little bit at a loss and dont know what to think about it. I see fecals in his cage almost every day and thats the only thing keeping me from really being alarmed.

What do you all think?

Thanks,

Luis

 

[jojackson]

Mine eats dirt also. Cant work out why, maybe nutrients required??? who knows. Cant find much of any info on chameleon behaviours in the wild so these questions remain unanswered.
Too much id guess would be if food intake drops off, or it gets impacted or both.
Its down to, let it eat dirt and keep an eye on it, or cover the soil to prevent it really.

 

[Titan]

Is your Mellers, wild caught? That may not make a dif. WC or CH. your Mellers as many animals in the world eat dirt. Not always all dirt, but usually specific types of soil. I have at times watched live wild animals such as Deer, Elk, Bison and such, (& I am sure many other creatures do it.) Go to specific sites to actually eat, lick the dirt. Reason for this is dirt contains high amounts of minerals & some vitamins esential to living animals. They somehow know this and will eat it when they feel they are lacking in needed minerals. So I wouldnt worry much about it. Sounds like you have some good clean dirt for him to supply any deficiencies he feel he is lacking elsewhere.
Also now shows why he was so angry on your other post when he was freekin out. You covered up his "candy" supply with rocks

 

[luevelvet]

Oh boy he hates anything blocking his dirt! I think I may sprinkle little bite size bits of romain lettuce and see if he grabs that instead of the dirt, and it might be nutritious to boot.

He's not WC, but a CH from Mike at FLChams. His last as a matter of fact.

It's only been just shy of 3 weeks and we're still learning his patterns, even as they change from his time with Mike. He certainly likes an unobstructed view of the room, so I provide supervised free range time. Like I mentioned before, he seems to eat more readily in the early morning, about an hour after the lights kick on. This at least gives me an opportunity to dust crickets etc and make sure hes getting enough supplementals.

You have to love moving to different species. It's almost like starting all over again...

Thanks for the replies!

Luis

 

[Todnedo]

What kind of supplements are you using and how often?
What kind of feeders?

I'm wondering if by eating dirt helps clean their digestive tract or they are lacking bacteria or enzymes to help digest their food.

 

[sageghost]

In the wild, It's natural for cham's to dig and eat dirt to get trace minerals that are lacking in their diet.

However, this behavior in captivity often lends itself to "something" missing in their diet.

I would take a look at your gutload, feeders and supplementation schedule.

 

[Hilikus311]

lol. . . i noticed mine doing the same thing today and yesterday! thats funny how today someone asked about it. . .(thinks to himself) man i love this board

 

[luevelvet]

Right now only crickets, but last week I had some silkworms, which he took with mixed results. He didn't seem to enjoy them all that much and after only one or two he really didn't seem all that interested anymore.

Super worms seem to scare the crap out of him and he doesn't really seem interested in mealworms at all.

It's tough to say really, I mean, based on his growth, he has to be eating something with some nutrional value, I do gutload the crickets prior to feeding, but maybe he's eating while we're at work, though it must be only one or two crickets a day.

My next step is to send in a fecal to the vet soon to make sure there's nothing going on inside his tummy. He's plump, but not fat in any way. I almost think he could gain to put on a few more ounces around his hips etc. He drinks everytime he's watered, which is by mister 3 times per day for 10 minutes each time....

Not sure what else to say abou tit other than that. He's very chill and laid back, but healthy looking. A nice bright but nothing alarmingingly bright, green. He certainly does show you when he gets upset, black and white stripes with the yellow dots etc, but that's not very often anymore. Well, now that the rocks aren't blocking his plate o' dirt!

Luis

 

[luevelvet]

Oh, I forgot to mention his absolute passion to attack branches in the cage. He goes at the about once every other day, but man when he does, it's like a mini dinosair tearing down the jungle! He thrashes and gnaws until he gets a piece of bark off and gulps it down. This is almost unmanageable!

I have to grab some pics of him going to town on a branch. It really is a funny sight.