HELP: New juvenile cham not eating much

[slog521]

I have a new veiled chameleon that arrived Friday morning. He's 2-3 months old and I'm concerned because he's not eating much. Since he's been here he's eaten a hornworm, 2 supers and 4 small/medium dubias all dusted in calcium. Is he eating enough? Is he getting enough calcium?

 

[Ares05]

Hello! Welcome to the forums.

I would refrain from feeding him supers, they may be a little big for him at this age. Dubias are great feeders. Hornworms are good for hydration, but I wouldn't feed them more than 1-2 times a week. Make sure the hornworms aren't too big.

He could just be settling in, but baby veileds should consume 10-15 small feeders a day, if not more once settled.

Please fill out this form for me. Answer all the questions, and be detailed. be sure to include lots photos of your setup and your chameleon.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

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Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[PabloTheCham]

I would refrain from feeding him supers, they may be a little big for him at this age. Dubias are great feeders. Hornworms are good for hydration, but I wouldn't feed them more than 1-2 times a week. Make sure the hornworms aren't too big.

you know, they sell small, medium, and large superworms. the small ones are pretty small and would probably be more than fine for his cham.

 

[Ares05]

With really young chams it's probably best to give them food with less chitin.

 

[slog521]

Hello! Welcome to the forums.

I would refrain from feeding him supers, they may be a little big for him at this age. Dubias are great feeders. Hornworms are good for hydration, but I wouldn't feed them more than 1-2 times a week. Make sure the hornworms aren't too big.

He could just be settling in, but baby veileds should consume 10-15 small feeders a day, if not more once settled.

Please fill out this form for me. Answer all the questions, and be detailed. be sure to include lots photos of your setup and your chameleon.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?- male, veiled, 2 months old. Had him since this past Friday
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?- I don't at all. He runs and hides anytime we open his door.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?- Dubias, supers, hornworms and BSFL. I put 4-6 Dubias, 3-4 supers an 3-5 BSFL in his bowl in the morning and moniter what he eats throughout the day. Feeders are eating sweet potato, carrots, mustard and collard greens.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?- ReptiCal w/out D3 every day and Repashy calcium plus loD
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?-misting 2 minutes every morning before lights come on and 1 minute in the evening before lights go off. Dripper for drinking. I've never actually seen him drink.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?- found 2 droppings so far, both were half black and half white.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?-16x16x30 screen enclosure
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?-65 watt flood light bulb for basking. T5 10.0 UVB. Lights are on a 9a-9p schedule
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?-60-100, lowest overnight temp is 55-60. Measure with gun
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?-30-55% with 2 mistings/day and several live plants
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?- yes. Pothos, money tree and umbrella tree
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?- in a spare room away from the commotion of the rest of the house
• Location - Where are you geographically located?-NW Ohio

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.- Not eating as much as I think he should and I'm worried he's not getting enough calcium

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[slog521]

Pictures of his enclosure

 

[slog521]

Full enclosure. His food dish has been moved.

 

[Ares05]

Hello! Welcome to the forums.

I would refrain from feeding him supers, they may be a little big for him at this age. Dubias are great feeders. Hornworms are good for hydration, but I wouldn't feed them more than 1-2 times a week. Make sure the hornworms aren't too big.

He could just be settling in, but baby veileds should consume 10-15 small feeders a day, if not more once settled.

Please fill out this form for me. Answer all the questions, and be detailed. be sure to include lots photos of your setup and your chameleon.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?- male, veiled, 2 months old. Had him since this past Friday
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?- I don't at all. He runs and hides anytime we open his door.

Normal. He is in a brand new place and he needs to settle in.

• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?- Dubias, supers, hornworms and BSFL. I put 4-6 Dubias, 3-4 supers an 3-5 BSFL in his bowl in the morning and moniter what he eats throughout the day. Feeders are eating sweet potato, carrots, mustard and collard greens.

I stand by what I said with feeding mostly Dubia/BSFL. I would only feed 1-2 supers per feeding, if you are going to.

Your gutload is pretty good. The more variety, the better.

I would honestly put 10-15 small dubia, some BSFL, and maybe a super in his bowl. With babies you need to let them eat pretty much as much as they want. As he gets older you will slow down his food intake.

• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?- ReptiCal w/out D3 every day and Repashy calcium plus loD

The LoD supplement is an all in one. Just use this everyday, you dont need the plain calcium.

Dust your feeders so they are slightly light in color, they shouldn't look like powdered donuts.

• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?-misting 2 minutes every morning before lights come on and 1 minute in the evening before lights go off. Dripper for drinking. I've never actually seen him drink.

Some chams wont drink in front of their owners. As long as his eyes aren't sunken and his Urates are nice and white, you are good. I would mist for 2-4 minutes in the morning and 2-4 minutes in the evening. Run the dripper between mistings.

• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?- found 2 droppings so far, both were half black and half white.

Make sure his droppings are firm, not runny. Urates should be mostly white/creamy colored, normally with the tip being a bit orange. Normal. As long as the urate is at least 50% white, you are good. Sometimes if a chameleon hasn't pooped for a while, the urate will come out looking orange.

• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?-16x16x30 screen enclosure

This enclosure size will do for now as your chameleon is young. As he gets older you will want to upgrade to a larger glass/screen/custom cage.

• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?-65 watt flood light bulb for basking. T5 10.0 UVB. Lights are on a 9a-9p schedule

A 10.0 bulb may be a little much for this enclosure size. How close can he get to the uvb bulb? I would grab a 5.0, and He shouldn't be able to get much closer than 9-10 inches.

• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?-60-100, lowest overnight temp is 55-60. Measure with gun

Temperature guns only measure surface temperature. I would get a digital thermometer for the basking spot, and the ambient temps in the lower bits of the cage.

Im assuming you mean the bottom of the cage is 60, and the basking spot is 100? How are you pulling 100 degrees on the basking and then 60 in the ambient?

55-60 is fine at night.

His basking spot should be around 80-85, and his ambients should be 70-75.

• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?-30-55% with 2 mistings/day and several live plants

Your humidity should be 30-40 (though after mistings it will probably spike to 50-60, this is fine) and then 80-100 at night. the nighttime humidity can be achieved by running a fogger during the night.

• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?- yes. Pothos, money tree and umbrella tree
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?- in a spare room away from the commotion of the rest of the house
• Location - Where are you geographically located?-NW Ohio

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.- Not eating as much as I think he should and I'm worried he's not getting enough calcium

Babies should eat around 10-15 feeders. My boy was eating 3-5 for the first month. Turns out he had parasites. Not saying this is your scenario, as you only got your boy a few days ago, but if their is a prolonged absence in appetite I would get him tested. If you got him Petco, definitely get him tested.

Even if his appetite goes up and he is acting fine, I would still get a fecal done, as you would with any new reptile.

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.