Eating Dirt?

[stapleton33]

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 4' x 20" x 18", screen
Lighting - i use reprisun (?) for heat spot bulbs and UVB
Temperature - 73-78 da, cooler at night, with basking light and UVB above
Humidity - 30-50%
Plants - umbrella and pothos, potted
Location - 4' tall cage on 2' tall dresser, no AC, heaters, or windows

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, Male, 3 months old
Handling - Rarely if ever
Feeding - Calcium-grain-fed crickets, 1/4", 10/day
Supplements - RepCal calcium dust, twice/month
Watering - i mist heavily in the AM, sometimes my wife feeds him with a dropper
Fecal Description - hard, dark with white
History - only had him a month
Current Problem - in the morning, before feeding, he climbs down, and zaps (eats with his tongue) the soil (your typical, Wal-Mart potted soil) that the plants are potted in. what gives?

 

[dodolah]

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 4' x 20" x 18", screen
Lighting - i use reprisun (?) for heat spot bulbs and UVB
Temperature - 73-78 da, cooler at night, with basking light and UVB above
Humidity - 30-50%
Plants - umbrella and pothos, potted
Location - 4' tall cage on 2' tall dresser, no AC, heaters, or windows

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, Male, 3 months old
Handling - Rarely if ever
Feeding - Calcium-grain-fed crickets, 1/4", 10/day
Supplements - RepCal calcium dust, twice/month
Watering - i mist heavily in the AM, sometimes my wife feeds him with a dropper
Fecal Description - hard, dark with white
History - only had him a month
Current Problem - in the morning, before feeding, he climbs down, and zaps (eats with his tongue) the soil (your typical, Wal-Mart potted soil) that the plants are potted in. what gives?

geophagy (eating dirt) behavior is quite often exhibited by chameleon in captivity (especially veiled).
There's no exact reasoning of why they do that.

The more common theory is that the chameleon might "sense" some mineral contents in the soil that it lacks from its diet. Therefore, it tries to compensate by eating dirt.

i suggest either you cover the soil with plastic canvas (if you want to limit his access to soil) or

sift the dirt from wood barks, stones, or any thing that can be potentially harmful for your chameleon (if you want to let him eat dirt).

Another suggestion (recommended) is by adding your supplement types.
I used 3 supplements: MinerAll 0 (Calcium and other minerals without vit D3), Repcal with D3 (calcium with vit D3), Herptivite (vitamin).

i supplement my cham with this schedule:
MTh Herptivite
TF Repcal
WSat MinerAll
Sun no supplement.

Hope that helps

 

[f1dd3]

A good idea to make sure the chameleon does not get stomach problems in the future it would be good to take the soil away and replace it with paper.

i never use soil in my Rhampholeon terrariums.

/Freddie

 

[f1dd3]

A good idea to make sure the chameleon does not get stomach problems in the future it would be good to take the soil away and replace it with paper.

i never use soil in my Rhampholeon terrariums.

/Freddie

Oh sorry, I do have when the egglaying process begins. But for Juveniles i dont.

 

[Julirs]

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 4' x 20" x 18", screen
Lighting - i use reprisun (?) for heat spot bulbs and UVB
Temperature - 73-78 da, cooler at night, with basking light and UVB above
Humidity - 30-50%
Plants - umbrella and pothos, potted
Location - 4' tall cage on 2' tall dresser, no AC, heaters, or windows

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, Male, 3 months old
Handling - Rarely if ever
Feeding - Calcium-grain-fed crickets, 1/4", 10/day
Supplements - RepCal calcium dust, twice/month
Watering - i mist heavily in the AM, sometimes my wife feeds him with a dropper
Fecal Description - hard, dark with white
History - only had him a month
Current Problem - in the morning, before feeding, he climbs down, and zaps (eats with his tongue) the soil (your typical, Wal-Mart potted soil) that the plants are potted in. what gives?

That is a really large cage for a baby-if he finds his food OK then it should not be a problem. Do you know what your basking temps are? They should have a basking temp 80-85 at that age, and the rest of the cage in your 73-78 range. Repcal Calcium with no D3 should be used several times a week, and then Repcal with D3 a few times monthly and a multi-vit/mineral like Herptivite a few times monthly(research supplementing), but you certainly need more calcium supps. My Veileds eat dirt sometimes. I think sometimes there are bugs hiding in there, and sometimes I have no idea why. Regular potting soil can be dangerous with perlite and fertilizers, so I would either cover it with rocks and/or screen, or repot with an Organic soil that does not have large chunks in it.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

-Brad

 

[stapleton33]

how to use the word "calcium" 20 times in 5 seconds:

if the crickets are gut-loaded with Fluker's High-Calcium Cricket Feed and dusted a couple times a month with RepCal Calcium with D3, do i still need to suppliment Keallach with more (no D3) calcium? wouldn't gut-loaded calcium + frequent dusted calcium + D3 calcium twice a month be a little OTT? Calcium.

 

[dodolah]

if the crickets are gut-loaded with Fluker's High-Calcium Cricket Feed and dusted a couple times a month with RepCal Calcium with D3, do i still need to suppliment Keallach with more (no D3) calcium? wouldn't gut-loaded calcium + frequent dusted calcium + D3 calcium twice a month be a little OTT? Calcium.

Herptivite contains vitamins and MinerAll contains other trace minerals found in the nature.
So, they are not just calcium.
Supplementing should be done lightly and not to coat the crix too much that it start to looked like a white ghost.

Many members here use at least 3 types of supplementing. I don't think it's over the top. However, it can be over the top depending on "how much" you give during dusting.

 

[hawaiianice99]

make sure that if he is eating the dirt that you replace that soil with organic, you dont want the soil with the little fertilizer pellets.