How much is Too Much...crickets

[CajunGator]

i have four Veils in a 20 gallon enclosure. they are about 6in in length and about 5 months old. I have been feeding them dusted 1/4 in crickets. I dump about 50 at a time in the enclosure. Seems like next day they are all gone, or few hiding. The Veils seem to be doing great. But, still trying to decide if they are getting enough or can you give them TOO MUCH! Will they stop eating if they are full, or should their diet be restricted to so many crickets per day? I also give them medium mealworms ever few days. I plan to also start feeding them a larger cricket on my next fluker order (great to be one hour from them, next day delivery, lol) Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated!

 

[carol5208]

You need to seperate your veilds into individudal enclosures! A 20 gallon tank is not even sufficient for 1- 5 month old. Preferably they should each be in screen enclsoures a minimum of about 18 X 18 X 36 or for adults 24 X 24 X 48. You are going to stress the heck out of them housing them together and they can become ill. They may also start fighting one another. Not only that, some may be getting more food than others and you will not know it until one becomes sick. A 5 month old should be fed between 12-15 even 20 crickets a day so you amount is ok but you could put in more. I would definitely separate them asap!!! You need to be dusting your crickets with 3 supplments also. Calcium w/d3at every feeding, calcium without d3 twice a month and a multivitamin twice a month also.

 

[Olimpia]

What genders do you have? At 5 months old the females are almost sexually mature, but not big enough to safely have clutches of eggs. Females that young have been known to lay eggs and die due to internal damage. So it's in the best interest of all your chameleons for you to separate them, like Carol said. At the very least a 20g is too small for that many chameleons, and you don't know if one or two are eating a lot more than the others, or if they're going to start picking on each other or fighting.

If they're females, you also want to keep their conditions different from the males so they don't produce/produce fewer eggs: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

 

[Hoj]

You need to seperate your veilds into individudal enclosures! A 20 gallon tank is not even sufficient for 1- 5 month old. Preferably they should each be in screen enclsoures a minimum of about 18 X 18 X 36 or for adults 24 X 24 X 48. You are going to stress the heck out of them housing them together and they can become ill. They may also start fighting one another. Not only that, some may be getting more food than others and you will not know it until one becomes sick. A 5 month old should be fed between 12-15 even 20 crickets a day so you amount is ok but you could put in more. I would definitely separate them asap!!! You need to be dusting your crickets with 3 supplments also. Calcium w/d3at every feeding, calcium without d3 twice a month and a multivitamin twice a month also.

i totally agree, crickets are ok but i would think that they should be seperated for sure

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

i have four Veils in a 20 gallon enclosure. they are about 6in in length and about 5 months old. I have been feeding them dusted 1/4 in crickets. I dump about 50 at a time in the enclosure. Seems like next day they are all gone, or few hiding. The Veils seem to be doing great. But, still trying to decide if they are getting enough or can you give them TOO MUCH! Will they stop eating if they are full, or should their diet be restricted to so many crickets per day? I also give them medium mealworms ever few days. I plan to also start feeding them a larger cricket on my next fluker order (great to be one hour from them, next day delivery, lol) Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated!

I think your thread should have been titled "how much is too much chameleons in one cage"! As said above, those conditions are simply not suitable for your chameleons. You may have seen them like this in a pet store, but pet stores notoriously do everything wrong. They only need to keep them for a short period of time so they usually are not concerned with doing things wrong if the animals survive it. However in the long term none of them would survive, period.

Chameleons are solitary animals and easily stressed by just the sight of other chameleons, and your are having to basically live one on top of one another. If you continue to house them this way you are going to lose them from illness, stress or fighting. A 20g tank is too small for even one of these animals. They need a vertical cage, preferably not made of glass because they need lots of ventilation to avoid the buildup of dangerous mold or fungus. I use the 18wx18lx36h cages from diycages.com personally and they are great quality. I made my first cage, as many others have so you could look into that option for a quick fix that may (or may not be) less expensive. If you search on here for cages you can get an idea of some design options.

Your chams look to still be in good health so it's certainly not too late to get them on the right track. But if you don't do that soon you could cause irreversible damage. They're in an important stage of growing and need a lot of tlc to establish good bones to support the rest of their lives.

You need to read the blog posted above, or this is a good one too. Gutloading is very important, as is supplementation with mineral powders, and even more important is UVB light. Most chameleon owners start off with a great amount of improvement to do in their setup and husbandry so don't feel like you're alone. You've come to the right place, please let us know if you have any questions about anything!

 

[kinyonga]

Regarding how much food is enough...if you put in 50and there are some left the next day then they should be getting enough to eat.

I have to agree with separating them...before you end up with problems.

 

[carol5208]

Regarding how much food is enough...if you put in 50and there are some left the next day then they should be getting enough to eat.

I have to agree with separating them...before you end up with problems.

Lynda, you bring up a good point as usual!

 

[carol5208]

I think your thread should have been titled "how much is too much chameleons in one cage"! As said above, those conditions are simply not suitable for your chameleons. You may have seen them like this in a pet store, but pet stores notoriously do everything wrong. They only need to keep them for a short period of time so they usually are not concerned with doing things wrong if the animals survive it. However in the long term none of them would survive, period.

Chameleons are solitary animals and easily stressed by just the sight of other chameleons, and your are having to basically live one on top of one another. If you continue to house them this way you are going to lose them from illness, stress or fighting. A 20g tank is too small for even one of these animals. They need a vertical cage, preferably not made of glass because they need lots of ventilation to avoid the buildup of dangerous mold or fungus. I use the 18wx18lx36h cages from diycages.com personally and they are great quality. I made my first cage, as many others have so you could look into that option for a quick fix that may (or may not be) less expensive. If you search on here for cages you can get an idea of some design options.

Your chams look to still be in good health so it's certainly not too late to get them on the right track. But if you don't do that soon you could cause irreversible damage. They're in an important stage of growing and need a lot of tlc to establish good bones to support the rest of their lives.

You need to read the blog posted above, or this is a good one too. Gutloading is very important, as is supplementation with mineral powders, and even more important is UVB light. Most chameleon owners start off with a great amount of improvement to do in their setup and husbandry so don't feel like you're alone. You've come to the right place, please let us know if you have any questions about anything!

Good one! I like your idea of renaming the thread! and could'nt agree with you more!

 

[Echoezra]

Calcium recommendations switched?

You need to be dusting your crickets with 3 supplments also. Calcium w/d3at every feeding, calcium without d3 twice a month and a multivitamin twice a month also.

I think you might have mixed up the with and withouts? I've always seen it recommended the other way around.

 

[ChamOh]

I think you might have mixed up the with and withouts? I've always seen it recommended the other way around.

yes you are correct, it is the other way around. calcium w/o d3 at most feedings and d3 once or twice a month.