How much is enough??

[Chamster]

I'm not sure how much to feed my 4-5 month old panther cham. I feed him 2 times a day. Today I gave him 4 small silk worms and 2 crickets..... Is that enough or too much???? LMK. Anything will be helpful.

 

[pssh]

Eight to ten appropriately sized crickets a day is fine. Use your best judgment to figure out what that equivalent is in the silkies. As an adult he will need to eat a lot less (9-10 months)

Rule of thumb for feeders is nothing bigger than the space between their eyes, but it can be longer. Squishy insects can be a teeny tiny bit bigger because they squish rather easily.

 

[Chamster]

Ok so as long as he's taking good I'll keep offering......

 

[pssh]

What do you mean?

 

[Chamster]

I'll keep giving him food until he doesn't want it no more... That's what I always do... O just gave him 3 small silkies..... He didn't want anymore so i stopped...

 

[pssh]

Most chameleons will not stop eating. Do not feeding him more than the equivalent of ten crickets in a day or you risk him growing too fast. Slow grown chameleons live longer healthier lives.

 

[sandrachameleon]

While he is young, you can give him as much as he'll eat in 5 minutes, a couple times a day. Like pssh said, that might be as much as ten appropriately sized crickets (or equivalent) a day. As he gets towards adult size, you can taper that off to 2 or 3 a day (some people feed 5 or so every other or every third day).

 

[reefpimp]

not to but in but ur saying once their growth slows they ony need to eat a few crikets a day or several every other?

 

[Chamster]

I think that's the reason... It makes sense in a way... Just like old people don't eat as much...

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

The reason you feed them less as adults is to prevent obesity which can lead to prolapses and numerous other health problems. As juveniles they are growing and the food is converted faster and helps them grow. Once they hit adulthood and stop growing so fast, they always sort of grow in one way or another just at a super slow pace when adulthood is reached. So once the growing begins to slow down and their metabolisms start to slow down a bit they need less food. Just like in people growing children can consume more calories/fat and not put on as much weight as an adult due to the fact their bodies use up alot of it in the growing process. When an adult chameleon hits a certain weight, depending on the species, that looks healthy but not obese the key is to feed them enough to healthily maintain their weight or to not make them put on weight so fast as they do as juveniles. There is a reason so many of the breeders and experienced keepers feed on a schedule like that, its because it works the best most of the time. Plenty of people will tell you that overfeeding can and will lead to some painful problems and a sooner death than a cham with a healthy body weight that is not over fed. Good luck with the little guy chamnation.



Justin