Is this normal?!

[KaijuVeiled]

Guys I put 6 small crix in my veiled chameleons enclosure this morning, when I got home from school she was laying on her basking branch and a cricket was on her back, I tried to feed her 2 super worms, she didn't eat. Is this normal behavior, was she just not hungry? She was awake when I got home and is on a regular feeding and sleep schedule. Thanks!

 

[carol5208]

Well it depends. How old is she? When is the last time she ate??

 

[KaijuVeiled]

She ate yesterday, she is 6 months old. And I'm pretty sure she has eaten some of the crix in her enclosure. It just seemed weird one was on her!

 

[carol5208]

I was just wondering how old she is as often times they get tired of eating the the same feeders and will go on the so called hunger strikes. At 6 months they should be eating everyday. If she goes on not to eat you might want to try switching up the feeders.

 

[KaijuVeiled]

Ok I've only had her since Sunday... I feed her crix, supers, fruits and veggies. So it is normal she was letting a cricket sit on her back?

 

[ChameLIonLover]

Guys I put 6 small crix in my veiled chameleons enclosure this morning, when I got home from school she was laying on her basking branch and a cricket was on her back, I tried to feed her 2 super worms, she didn't eat. Is this normal behavior, was she just not hungry? She was awake when I got home and is on a regular feeding and sleep schedule. Thanks!

I'd say it's fairly normal for a cricket to occasionally crawl on a chameleon. My guy use to like hanging out with him... He used to like hanging out with them more than me (that's changed :])

Anyways, judging by what you've said, I think your cham is alright. Try again tomorrow. I would certainly suggest adding a couple feeders to your guy's diet.

Over n' out

 

[jajeanpierre]

I was just wondering how old she is as often times they get tired of eating the the same feeders and will go on the so called hunger strikes. At 6 months they should be eating everyday. If she goes on not to eat you might want to try switching up the feeders.

If she is a female veiled, I don't think you want them eating every day at 6 months.

I hope JannB chimes in and supplies the link to keeping female veiled chameleons. I can't find it.

The problem with female veileds is that they tend to lay abnormally large clutches earlier than in the wild, and many more times than is normal for a veiled female in the wild. They do not tend to live very long in captivity, dying from reproductive problems often becoming eggbound and with severe calcium deficiencies. Female veileda have a short brutish life in captivity if they reach maturity.

Experienced keepers (of which I am NOT) such as JannB recommend that temps for female veileds be kept quite low, going as far as to not give them a basking lamp and restricting their food intake. That will discourage a female from laying eggs, and if she does lay eggs, she will have a smaller, more normal-sized clutch. Smaller clutches laid less frequently will greatly improve the lifespan of a female veiled in captivity, to the point they will have a lifespan that is similar to a male's.

Repeatedly laying large clutches depletes the calcium levels. If calcium is not available from the bloodstream (and large clutches will demand too much calcium), calcium will be taken from the bones to supply the eggs, so she can develop MBD just from laying too many eggs. Over using the reproductive system will also basically wear it out, so any clutches she has to lay will become more and more problematic to lay as she ages.

It is incredibly difficult (for the keeper) to restrict a chameleon's diet. I know. I am writing this with a fat little female veiled in an enclosure beside me. Aside from the emotional issue of depriving your pet, chameleons often hunt and eat in secret and feeders hide so you don't always know how much they are actually eating. I'm playing around with a training experiment with my female veiled, so all food comes from my hand and I will be weighing her every other day or two now so I can monitor her weight and food intake better than when I was just putting a handful feeder insects into her cage to hunt.

(Side note: Hunting insects is enriching for them, so for me, cup feeding isn't the answer. Enriching environments is currently all the rage with zoos, etc. Zoos are going to great lengths to make food harder to find and get so the animal spends more of it's time feeding just as they would in the wild. It helps them keep their sanity, as captive animals have major mental health issues as evidenced by all the stereotypic behaviors exhibited.)

Now, back to your original question about the cricket sitting on your chameleon. Yes, crickets do that and chameleons appear to let them, I think partly because chameleons are not very flexible. They have a limited range of head movement and they just can't turn around and snatch up an annoying insect on their back the way a dog could. Sometimes if you put too many feeders in a cage, the chameleon will not eat anything and you will find crickets climbing on your chameleons. I don't think the chameleons like it. I think too many feeders or feeders that are too large overwhelm the chameleon. Also, if they are satiated, they won't eat unless they are like my veiled described above who I swear will eat until she explodes. I've seen crickets walking on my recent wild caught imports that were about a year old when imported, so they are not babies just learning to eat, but big tough sub adults who are survivors to make it to this age in the wild and to survive capture and importation.

Hope that helps, and I hope JannB posts again for the kazillionth time the links. (Thanks JannB--your continually posting that link saves a lot of female chameleons from an early and awful death.)

 

[happy]

if she is about to lay eggs, she may stop eating. at 6 months, its possible.
if she is dehydrated it could cause her to stop eating as well. as a weekly maintenance i always do a "shower session" plant, cage, every thing minus lights in the shower, with warm water "raining" on them for about half hour.
it ensures they are hydrated....

i usually feed my chameleons as much as they want to hunt.... i also put cricket food in the enclosure, so the crickets dont eat the chameleon. the cricket food gets replaced when it looks.... not fresh....

i also change up the food with "treats" and other feeders when i find a good deal on them, i know i would get tired of eating the same pizza every single day for 6 months, 8 months, a year.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Found the link to keeping female veileds:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html