Enough food?

Daddio53

New Member
I got a Dwarf Fischer's from someone a couple days ago. She is 9 months old and her body is about 4 inches long. The person I got her from said to feed her 5 medium crickets every other day. The cham seems ravenous and seems to like hunting. I put one cricket on a cluster of leaves right below her later in the afternoon and she snatched it right away. This was after she had possibly eaten her other 5. I'm wondering if she is getting enough to eat with just 5 crickets every other day, especially when I see some people saying a 3 month old chameleon is eating 5 crickets a day. I realize a Dwarf Fischer's is smaller than a lot of other chams, but I still wonder. Can anyone with actual knowledge help me out? Please don't be offended, but if you aren't familiar with a Dwarf Fischer's, and are only guessing what to do, don't give me an answer. I don't want to kill my new friend by overfeeding her based on, "I heards" or, "IMHO" sort of answers. I am looking for knowledge and not for someone who is just chiming in. Again, please don't be offended by me saying that. I am really just looking for the right answer and not a guess.
Thanks
 
I would just feed him as many until he stops eating, keep count and compare to get an average of how many he eats per day. Remember to not give him any crickets larger than the width of his mouth,
 
I'm a newbie - don't take my word for anything but my understanding is that with a "she" over feeding causes over egg production -(this goes for the live birthing ones too i think) I hope someone with experience with females can help you more-
 
At nine months old I would not feed as much as she wants. You are going to have an overweight chameleon and yes overfeeding is said to lead to egg production. You could feed her everyday up until about a year or so and then cut back to every other. I don't have your species but after a year I feed every other day about 5 to 6 prey items. You can also feed her things other than crickets...dubia roaches, mantids, moths, superworms, hornworms, silkworms, butterworms, phoenix worms. Just make sure everything is appropriately sized.
 
Welcome to the forum!
It's nice to see a concerned cham owner seeking as much info as possible to ensure the health of his new cham.
One thing to determine is if she has any internal parasites that are causing a ravenous hunger.
Typically, a vet does one or more fecal tests to rule out different parasites.
In addition to the caveats already given, I would get in touch with Seeco the writer of this thread, as he has been breeding several Fischer's species for a number of years:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-methods-part-one-72356/
To PM, click on the username of the person you'd like to contact.
 
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