how much is too much?

[jbrough42]

Okay, so my veiled is almost 4 months old, I've had him for nearly two months. For the first month he ate a moderate amount. Maybe 5-12 1/4 to 1/2 inch crickets per day. Over the past couple of weeks though, that number has been revving up. All of his crickets are about a 1/2 inch now and he began eating about 15 per day... then 20 then 25 and now he can gobble down about 30 in a day. I've heard that at this age I should let him eat as much as he wants, but is that an excessive amount? He appears quite healthy, he isn't fat, but he has a nice little pot belly. His droppings appear completely normal compared to the poop 101 thread. Any thoughts would be appreciated

 

[qdude46]

He is at the age where a lot of growing will take place so it seems pretty ordinary for the cricket per day to exceed 20. Eventually he will eat less when he is an adult but now is the time where you will go through a lot of feeders. Are crickets all you are offering?

 

[jbrough42]

He has a couple meal worms on occasion, every once in a while a wax worm, and he's had a few pieces of mango. I offered him 1/4 inch Dubia a few days ago and he would have no part in that. I'm keeping the Dubia and feeding them till they're a bit bigger and I'll try again. I'm also about to order some small hornworms for him to try.

 

[TreyLcham]

have you tried giving him a larger cricket my panther did this so i went to a larger cricket and he gobbled it down easy and he now eats about 10-15 a day on average

 

[Metal725]

My veiled just hit the 5 month mark and i bumped him up to large crickets because he was eating 15-20 small/medium crickets daily. he now eats 5-10 large crickets and has shed 3 times in 2 months and i swear he gets bigger every day now. I was a little nervous moving up a bigger size in crickets but he seems to be doing ok with them and seems happier with the juicer feeders.

 

[camimom]

young chams shouldbe allowed to eat as many good bugs as they want, dubias and crickets are great.


but bumping him up on the cricket size is a good idea.

 

[jbrough42]

That's a great suggestion. I've got a ton of medium sized crickets to finish off, but as much as he's eating I'll be reordering in no time. I'll order the 3/4 next go around