Expected growth

[bryantt]

Hi all,

I have a male veiled chameleon, he is 17" in length and just reached 1yr 3 months.

I have read many contradicting articles threads, I wonder if you can help.

I am aware chameleons never stop growing and Im aware that this is can exaggerated sometimes, I was wondering when a male veiled reached adult hood (max size). I have read that they reach 24" in captivity where as Rio is just short of 17".

He is my chameleon and it was a learning curve at first... Compared to our routine now, I now see I wasn't given sufficient level of care needed in the first few months
I.e.
- I didn't gut load until 4-5 month mark
- He wasn't supplied with Vit with D3 until 4-5 month mark

When he was young he used to eat at least 10 small crickets a day, now needing bigger food hes terrified of cricket and any bugs fast moving. So he eats hoppers, worms and locust.. currently eating max 1 locust a day (gutloaded and dusted)

I was wondering if my lack care in the first few month has caused a growth stunt, although even looking back he never seemed to be stressed of lacking anything, his skin was always bright green and his leg bones are extremely straight.

I am now fully up to scratch with him, gut loading 98% feeds and ensuring they're dusted with the appropriate vitamin. His skin is always vibrant, eyes never sunken, hes in good shape.

His cage size is 45x45x90, perfect humidity level and two basking arrears.

He is a very tame, happy inquisitive chameleon, never hisses and always seems to be in a good mood in caparison to other veiled I hear of.

So my question is to experienced veiled owners just how much more growing or 'bulking' will he do, id really love to seem him reach 24".

 

[JamesBryan]

I would say the only limiting factor is his enclosure now.

Adult male minimum should be 60 x 60 x 120.

And to be honest, you'd probably need an even larger one than that to reach 24".

 

[jannb]

My guys free range and with my experience my male veileds reach full growth around 18 months old. Of course they can continue to put on weight if feeding is not cut back.

 

[Decadancin]

I'm not totally sure that the enclosure size would have that kind of limiting effect on overall size. I would tend to say that minimized feedings would have more impact on size over a lifetime, and I would think you remedied the issue soon enough, but I still think in the long run that genetics would have the biggest impact. I'm not sure there is anything that you could do now to obtain those results. As Jann stated, your chameleon would likely add weight and not so much length.