How Much Food?

[ebarrychameleon]

Hi all, on Friday I finally picked up my chameleon from about an hour away -- the owner had to rehome bc he was going to college. She's a female and her age is a little uncertain since the previous owner got her from a "sketchy situation" at a pet store (I don't know any details, but she doesn't have any heath effects from it it seems, as he had her in his care for a good few months). She is somewhere between 7-12 months old, probably on the lower side as she's still pretty small and hasn't become gravid yet. I've only had her for two days but I'm worried I'm feeding her too much/not enough food. I have dubias that range in size from 1/2 inch to 1 inch about (they were all supposed to be 3/4, but I got them for a good price with fast shipping so I don't mind too much), and I also have some hornworms. Yesterday she had 7 dubias and today she had 5 dubias and 2 hornworms that were 1.5 ish inches long. Is this too much food? I'm worried about over/under feeding her as I have never had a chameleon before. Also, when will I know to cut down her feedings from daily to every other day? Like I said this is my first chameleon so I'm just very anxious to get it all right and make sure she can have an awesome life. I'll attach some pictures of her!

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and congrats on your sweet lady cham. Over feeding females can lead to large egg clutches and egg binding, not to mention obesity. I feed my ladies about 4 medium sized feeders three times a week and occasionally in between will give a silkworm or superworms as a treat if I’ve had to invade their space to water plants and such. My older lady (about 1 1/2) has laid 2 clutches, each of about 35-45 eggs. My younger one (about 1 yr old) has only laid one clutch of the same size. Ideally I’ll get them to where they won’t lay, or will do so only once a year with smaller clutches.
Along with reducing their feedings, you also want to keep their basking temps around 78-80* max to help slow their metabolism. This article may help. http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

 

[ebarrychameleon]

Hi and congrats on your sweet lady cham. Over feeding females can lead to large egg clutches and egg binding, not to mention obesity. I feed my ladies about 4 medium sized feeders three times a week and occasionally in between will give a silkworm or superworms as a treat if I’ve had to invade their space to water plants and such. My older lady (about 1 1/2) has laid 2 clutches, each of about 35-45 eggs. My younger one (about 1 yr old) has only laid one clutch of the same size. Ideally I’ll get them to where they won’t lay, or will do so only once a year with smaller clutches.
Along with reducing their feedings, you also want to keep their basking temps around 78-80* max to help slow their metabolism. This article may help. http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

Thanks so much! I have seen in different places that you should feed them daily when they are still young and then switch to every other day/3 times a week when older. Do you know if this is correct? How did you know when the cham is old enough to be gravid?

 

[MissSkittles]

Thanks so much! I have seen in different places that you should feed them daily when they are still young and then switch to every other day/3 times a week when older. Do you know if this is correct? How did you know when the cham is old enough to be gravid?

Yes, that is correct.
Females can start laying eggs as young as 5-6 months old, which is approx how old Grumpy, my first chameleon was when I got her. As soon as I learned about egg laying, I got anxious about it. However, Grumpy let me know when she was ready. First she got very pretty and showed all of her colors and became restless...constantly climbing all over her enclosure and literally climbing her walls. That was her receptive phase. Within just a few weeks she then laid her first clutch. As I had no real idea about cutting back on her feeding, all progressed much quicker than it does now. Her second clutch, she was receptive in late October and didn’t lay her eggs until February. Now, it’s been at least a month or two since she was receptive and no signs of being ready to lay yet. My other lady has only laid once and she is following the same delayed time frame as Grumpy...receptive in November and laid in March.
You will want to make a lay bin up and keep it as a permanent part of the enclosure to help eliminate all the guessing. I’d also suggest, since this is your first cham, that you have your husbandry reviewed to make sure all is correct. Start a new thread, copy and paste the help form with your answers.

 

[ebarrychameleon]

Ok, t

Yes, that is correct.
Females can start laying eggs as young as 5-6 months old, which is approx how old Grumpy, my first chameleon was when I got her. As soon as I learned about egg laying, I got anxious about it. However, Grumpy let me know when she was ready. First she got very pretty and showed all of her colors and became restless...constantly climbing all over her enclosure and literally climbing her walls. That was her receptive phase. Within just a few weeks she then laid her first clutch. As I had no real idea about cutting back on her feeding, all progressed much quicker than it does now. Her second clutch, she was receptive in late October and didn’t lay her eggs until February. Now, it’s been at least a month or two since she was receptive and no signs of being ready to lay yet. My other lady has only laid once and she is following the same delayed time frame as Grumpy...receptive in November and laid in March.
You will want to make a lay bin up and keep it as a permanent part of the enclosure to help eliminate all the guessing. I’d also suggest, since this is your first cham, that you have your husbandry reviewed to make sure all is correct. Start a new thread, copy and paste the help form with your answers.

Ok, thank you so much!! Where can I post the thread to have it reviewed (like under which section)?

 

[MissSkittles]

Ok, t

Ok, thank you so much!! Where can I post the thread to have it reviewed (like under which section)?

You could put it under health or just general.

 

[ebarrychameleon]

You could put it under health or just general.

I just filled one out after feeding her a hornworm that was too big - https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/are-hornworms-too-big.177353/#post-1592813 Thanks for the help!