Having trouble setting up a diet plan

[RSGriff]

Cage Info:

* Cage Type - 5'x2'x2' screen
* Lighting - 5.0 linear tube, house light for basking in day, zoomed night light for basking
* Temperature - peak-87*, bottom- 68*, Night- 75* one thermometer at basking spot, random checks at bottom with meat thermomiter
* Humidity - 48-65%, Gauge at back of cage
* Plants -Pathos, Schefflera Arboricola
* Placement - Kitchen, corner. Medium-low traffic
* Location - Northwest Ohio, Toledo Area


Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - 10 week old, Male, Veiled
* Handling - bi-daily
* Feeding - Crickets, houseflies, meal worms. 7(ish) per day, Crickets are loaded with cricket crack, potato, carrot.
* Supplements - reptive with D3, probably half the feeders get dusted.
* Watering - Drip and pressure sprayer. Dripper runs 24/7, Mist once daily for 2min. I rarely witness him drink.
* Fecal Description - Dark brown fecal (noticed some fly wings in it), white/yellow-white urate. Never tested (to my knowledge)
* History - Purchased 4/13, arrived 4/14 from Tiki
* Current Problem - Feeding schedule: How much should I be feeding him at this age. He seems to eat everything I put in front of him and I am unsure as to set up a schedule for him.

 

[jannb]

Your temps are too high. At that age I would keep him about 80 to 82.

At that age I would feed him more......probably all that he wants.....12 to 15 small feeders a day.

You need to mist more often.....2 to 3 times a day and maybe for a longer time. The poop looks as tho he may be a little dehydrated.

Also, you need to dust with 3 different supplements. Plain calcium at just about every feeding, Calcium with D3 twice a month and a mulit vitamin such as Rep Cal Herptivite once a month. Lightly dust and don't make the crickets look like ghost. I buy these at lll.reptile. http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/vitamins-medicines-and-cage-cleaners/

Great place to get info on veileds: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

BTW Very cute little guy! I love veileds.....have 2 of my own.

 

[desultadox]

This is by FAR the best ask for help thread I've ever seen! Kudos to that. At that age I was just letting mine eat as much as he wanted, but somebody will have a better answer than that.

 

[RSGriff]

just to clarify, that is the hottest I have ever seen the temp get. It is usually in the low 80's directly below the light within an inch or two of the screen.

Thanks for the help, they taught us in third grade that well thought out questions receive well thought out answers. Ill have to go thank my teacher haha.

 

[Miss Lily]

Haven't had any experience of feeding a baby cham, but from what I've seen on here they do eat a lot. They grow very fast at that age and you'll find that his appetite will decrease once he's sub-adult/adult. The urates do have an orange tinge to them - try misting him twice a day to keep him more hydrated. Make sure that the cage has change to dry out between mistings though. Misting will also temporarily raise the humidity levels, so he will absorb some water from the air that he breathes in too.

I'm sure someone with experience of feeding that age group will help you soon. I just wanted to say what a cute little chap you've got there!

Edit : Looks like you've had some help already - I can't type quick enough!

 

[RSGriff]

spray directly on him, or around him?

 

[chambabysitter1]

spray directly on him, or around him?

Around. Fill the mister with hot water. It'll be warm by the time it hits him.

Move the mister slowly towards him after a couple minutes, they'll let you know if they want some direct mist or not.

 

[jannb]

I do both with warm water.

 

[RSGriff]

sounds good

 

[kinyonga]

Just be careful that the misting is quite a fine spray until your chameleon gets a little bigger and don't spray it right at the mouth...you don't want to get water into its lungs.

 

[RSGriff]

back to food

I am finding that he likes mealworms and that they are much easier to feed him. At his current age, would 10 meal worms and 2 crickets be a sufficient diet, or is that lacking a proper gut load? Should I be loading meal worms?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I would eliminate the mealworms altogether.
Not a good food for chameleons.
At this age he will be fine with crickets.
Get some calcium without D3 (LLL Reptile is a good source) and dust with that at most feedings.
D3 no more than once a week to be reduced to twice a month by the time he's 6 months or so.
I have become an advocate for not over feeding. I think we tend to grow them up too fast.
I would feed 8 to 10 appropriately sized crickets every day to be reduced to every other day at about 6 months old, at which time he should be eating adult crickets, silkworms, supers, roaches, etc.

-Brad

 

[sandrachameleon]

I dont offer mealworms to any age chameleon more than once a week. Fruit Flies, very small crickets, very small silkworms, and the OCCASSIONAL very small mealworm, very small superworm, very small isopod, etc