how often to feed cham?

[siennas]

Hi,

My chameleon is four and a half years old and I am not sure how much a week to feed him now that he is an old man.

He has an incredible food drive (always sticking his tongue out at everything) but is also pretty skinny with ribs showing & skinny arms and casque. I feed him twice a week and read somewhere that old veileds do not need that many calories so this is sufficient, but his drive for food tells me otherwise.

Any help is appreciated!!

 

[Beman]

Post pics of him currently so body tone can be determined. Also how much and what are you feeding twice a week?

 

[siennas]

Here are pics.


When I feed him, I use 4-5 1/2in roaches plus a medium superworm since I have other lizards that cannot eat anything larger than that.

 

[Beman]

So since your last post essentially you cut one of the feeding days. Going from 3 days down to 2 days. How fast did he reduce weight? He now is looking too thin and very frail with not much muscle tone. Did you monitor his weight using a gram scale like I recommended? If so how much does he weigh now?

Concern here is would this be due to the cut back or is there an underlying parasite issue going on. Some parasites can cause them to get quite thin like this even when they are eating enough to support muscle tone. I would get a fecal test run to rule out a parasite issue.

I would also take him back to 3 days a week feedings with 4-5 insects. If he does have a parasite issue going on you want him eating so that the medication to treat it does not make him more frail. Make sure your insects are gutloaded correctly as well. He need healthy nourished insects so he can get everything good out of them.

Reducing weight in chams is something you really have to watch because you really want to monitor weight loss and find the sweet spot where they stay the stable weight they need to support health without getting too fat or too thin.

 

[siennas]

So since your last post essentially you cut one of the feeding days. Going from 3 days down to 2 days. How fast did he reduce weight? He now is looking too thin and very frail with not much muscle tone. Did you monitor his weight using a gram scale like I recommended? If so how much does he weigh now?

Concern here is would this be due to the cut back or is there an underlying parasite issue going on. Some parasites can cause them to get quite thin like this even when they are eating enough to support muscle tone. I would get a fecal test run to rule out a parasite issue.

I would also take him back to 3 days a week feedings with 4-5 insects. If he does have a parasite issue going on you want him eating so that the medication to treat it does not make him more frail. Make sure your insects are gutloaded correctly as well. He need healthy nourished insects so he can get everything good out of them.

Reducing weight in chams is something you really have to watch because you really want to monitor weight loss and find the sweet spot where they stay the stable weight they need to support health without getting too fat or too thin.

I did not use the gram weigher. He lost the weight in a span of 9 months or so since I went to college & my parents fed him whenever they remembered. I'm back home for a few months now and trying to make up for lost time.

I tested him for a parasites a few years ago and came back clean. I do not believe he has them because I keep his environment clean and the roaches are from dubia.com. I gutload insects properly with fresh veggies and fruit.

I will start monitoring his weight (he just weighed in at 98g) and feeding him more. Thanks!