First Chameleon!

[Dylan Dutz]

I finally got my first chameleon yesterday. It is a 1 month old veiled that I named Flash. It is very healthy. I've already seen it take a few drinks from the water on the leaves. I just have a question. How should I make it eat. I got really tiny crickets for it to eat. I put a few crickets up by it. It stalked one down one time and acted like it wanted it, but then then the cricket fell from the leaves and Flash didn't go follow it. I call Flash an "it" because I'm not sure if Flash is a male or female yet. I was going to takie some pics, but Flash got all pissed off at the camera and puffed up. And I don't want to stress it out anymore than I need to. So should I be worried about him eating? Or should I just let him get used to his new place for a while?

 

[RhettusMaximus]

advice

Well what did when i first got a cham was i flooded it's cage with crickets, put like 2 dozen of them in and released them all on the leaves. It's possible that an abundance of insects in the cage can be stressful to the lizard but my chams (once they got used to using their tongues to eat) began eating the food faster than i could get the food to stay in the cage....

 

[Julirs]

What size cage do you have him in? If the cage is a good size for him, put about 10 little crickets in there-he should find them eventually. If it is a Veiled, you should be able to tell if it is male or female right away. On the "heels" of it's little back feet, there will be bumps if it is a boy.

 

[Dylan Dutz]

Flash just ate a cricket! I'm so happy!

 

[Julirs]

People really should not be selling one month old chameleons-that is a little too young. I do hope he is in a smallish cage. Good luck and congrats-you will soon be a chameleon addict!

 

[RhettusMaximus]

yep

1 month old is a very tiny cham, usually they wait until 3 mos. to sell them...

 

[Dylan Dutz]

He just ate 2 more! Yeah he's really young but he's been great so far.

 

[Julirs]

What kind of cage and lighting did you end up going with?

 

[PardalisGirl]

Lots of crickets please

I also would like to know what sort of set up you have. You don't want to stress the babe out by taking a close up, but you can take a picture of the entire cage from a slight distance. That won't stress your babe out. It is best to put more crickets in the cage than you would for an adult or juvie. Enough insects should be walking by your baby for it to eat. They don't seek out food all over the cage like a two or three month old would. An older cham figures out that crickets go down to the bottom and will go down to seek them out. A baby won't. Please post a picture and tell us what sort of lighting and heating you have. You want this baby to grow and thrive. At this age things can go down hill very quickly with no hope of repair. Extra care in the set up is needed for it to be healthy.

 

[SuperRad]

When both my chams were 4 weeks i was cup feeding them. but i used one of those little cups that waxworms cup in. just took the lid off. and pinheads can't jump out of that. and just put your cham on the edge of the cup. mine both had no problem eating that way

 

[wezeman512]

when i got my cham he wasn't that great at stalking down his prey so i put then crickets or whatever in a cup and he eats them right out of there with no problem

 

[Dylan Dutz]

I'll post some pics in a bit but today he's eaten 6 crickets. I pretty much just kill the crickets half way and lay them on a branch near him. He will shoot out his tongue and eat them. It's so awesome to watch!

 

[JMBNRC]

Wow! One month old! My boyfriend & I got my first (his third) chameleon about 4 months ago and the breeder we bought him from brought two chameleons to show us: one was a 1 month old and the other was a 3 month old. I loved the 1 month old because it was so cute and tiny, but the breeder suggested we buy the 3 month old instead because the tiny babies are so hard to care for. Hope your little guy is doing great! I wondered before we got this chameleon if I would enjoy it or not...and I definitely do!!! Good luck!

 

[Dylan Dutz]

Well so far today he's already eaten 6 crickets. He's doing great so far!