hello everyone!

[chameleon guy]

hello i have a a few questions about my veiled female Ivy. She is about ten months and she's 10'' and lives in an 18'' 18'' 18'' cage. She also hasn't had her first clutch. I was also wondering if she needs another cage. here are some pics. Also would like opinions on her appearance.

 

[Julirs]

Yes-a bigger cage would be great-maybe something 18X18X36. The substrate needs to go-it can cause lethal impaction and the waterfall is a dangerous bacterial breeding ground. Do you have a UVB light on her? Can you get some good pictures of her back legs?

 

[Malicious]

Hello,

She looks a bit thin in the photo, and her back has a interesting hump in it. Is she eatting and drinking well, and what color are her urates?

Here is my 10 month old female, 16" tip to tail.



-Jay

 

[chameleon guy]

yes she has a UVB light. Also are you sure about the waterfall because i seriously had no idea.

 

[chameleon guy]

She eats like a hog but she does;t drink to often. I mist her everyday but it is probably that I don't have a dripper. I thought she would drink from the waterfall. Also by urate are you talking about the little creme colored peace of poo. I am going to take her to the vet asap.

 

[john118]

hi my female veiled is ten months to and she is about 10inches and still hasn't had her first eggs yet there has been so many times when i thought she was getting a big body and when she went off her food i thought this could be it but nothing lol i was worried but it's gd to know some else cham is pretty much the same as mine lol

 

[chameleon guy]

our chams probably had old mothers because I heard the younger your cham breeds the bigger the babies since they would be smaller.I had expected to get better answers of my chams health than I got.Can you post any pics of yours.

 

[john118]

she looks fine mine eats loads to wax worms crickets morio worms u name it she eats it lol and you can see the ribs in both of mine when they move about from branch to branch it wont let me put the same pic up twice but search on the forum for "for sale!!!!!" my male andd female are on there i will get better pics of the female tomorow when she is awake it half 2 in the morn lol she sleepin

 

[chameleon guy]

do you think mine might be malnourished?

 

[john118]

i feed wax worms as a treat once a month i get 50per tub and feed them 5-10 each a week just to make sure they are getting enough fat morio worms are also a treat so one month wax worms next month morio worms and crickets as there main food which i supplement once a week usually on a sat with repton insect dusting i put the crickets in a tub with some calcium and shake the tub for a few seconds and throw them in the viv's i will be changing thier food soon tho as i have a roach colony which is breeding like mad lol but make sure you supplement her but not to much and she has a nice wide varity of food because they go off thier food quiet a bit my male hates black crickets and won't touch them he eats brown ones instead lol but if your worried she looks thin get some wax worms they love em but can be really addicitive lol

 

[sandrachameleon]

wax worms are a poor choice of feeder, BTW
(high in fat, low in nutrition)
Mealworms are also light on nutrition, and are hard for chameleons to digest.
Superworms (zophobas) are high in fat, but can be gutloaded and make a decent feeder option. Good for helping to fatten up a thin chameleon.
Butterworms are a good choice for fattening up a thin chameleon.
Crickets are a good general choice, though they must be gutloaded and calcium supplemented. Silkworms are also a good choice.

My females get cages 2 foot by 2 foot and 4 foot high, so your cage sounds very small to me.

Yes, waterfalls are an very very bad idea. Do a search on the forum and you'll find plenty of threads about it. You might also check out my blog entry: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/92-hydration-importance.html

If you fill out the How To Ask Questionaire, you'll get a lot of feedback on your set-up and husbandry.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[john118]

o ye waterfalls are bad my cousin had 1 for his viv an took it out a couple of weeks later said the water was going stale and mucky i dont see mine drinkin either but i spray like 2-3 times a day i only said wax worms because some one siad the cham looked thin it's just wot i feed to make sure they are gettin a little bit of fat every so often but every 1 is different lol

 

[chameleon guy]

wax worms are a poor choice of feeder, BTW
(high in fat, low in nutrition)
Mealworms are also light on nutrition, and are hard for chameleons to digest.
Superworms (zophobas) are high in fat, but can be gutloaded and make a decent feeder option. Good for helping to fatten up a thin chameleon.
Butterworms are a good choice for fattening up a thin chameleon.
Crickets are a good general choice, though they must be gutloaded and calcium supplemented. Silkworms are also a good choice.

My females get cages 2 foot by 2 foot and 4 foot high, so your cage sounds very small to me.

Yes, waterfalls are an very very bad idea. Do a search on the forum and you'll find plenty of threads about it. You might also check out my blog entry: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/92-hydration-importance.html

If you fill out the How To Ask Questionaire, you'll get a lot of feedback on your set-up and husbandry.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

how big and how old are your chameleons?

 

[chameleon guy]

o ye waterfalls are bad my cousin had 1 for his viv an took it out a couple of weeks later said the water was going stale and mucky i dont see mine drinkin either but i spray like 2-3 times a day i only said wax worms because some one siad the cham looked thin it's just wot i feed to make sure they are gettin a little bit of fat every so often but every 1 is different lol

why would it be bad to supplement to much?

 

[YoshiTheVeiled]

Superworms (zophobas) are high in fat, but can be gutloaded and make a decent feeder option. Good for helping to fatten up a thin chameleon.

So does that mean it would be ok to use supers as a main? Currently I have been using crickets, with occasional supers. But I just bought 1000 supers and he is a bit thin.

 

[chameleon guy]

I would think super worms would be a very bad choice because they have tough shells. I once fed one to my turtle and it couldn't bite into the worms shell.

 

[leid]

Superworms are fine cham guy. It's mealworms you cannot feed. Their exoskeleton is full of chitin and could bung up your cham.

Yoshi --
Not many people use supers as a staple, but it has been done. One of the senior members feed their cham supers as staples, you just need to gutload well. Their fat content is a -little- higher than crickets, but I'm not sure if this would make a significant impact as would wax.

 

[sandrachameleon]

how big and how old are your chameleons?

I have had all ages of panthers (from egg to grave, so to speak).
Currently just seven, varying ages.
I should clarify that until they are about six months -8 months old, they are in smaller than 2x2x4 cages - makes their hunting easier.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I dont think any one insect should be a staple. But, if I were to pick a staple, I pesonally wouldnt choose superworms. That said, I wouldnt hesitate to offer supers a couple times a week, if they're well gutloaded.

Different people have had success with different "meal plans"
I believe Brad R has a healthy chameleon that eats only supers ( i think the chameleon refuses to eat anything else)
I like to vary their diet as much as possible. I try to offer multiple different prey items: cricket, roaches, butterworms, superworms, silkworms, moths, phasmidae, isopods, hornworms, etc

 

[john118]

i just remember some1 sayin if you use to much calcuim and other supplements that it starts comin out there nose or something like that maybe one of the other members knows a bit more about it than me