Jambo gone fussy over night!

[Shona]

Hi guys,

Jambos 13 weeks old now, hes a male veiled.

ive had him nearly a month now. for the first two weeks, he was feeding on mini mealworm, waxworms, and 2nd crickets.

I then got sum baby locust, but they were quite big ( much bigger than the crickets) so i just put a few in at a time but he gobbled them all straight up!!

He then stopped eating the crickets i put in, i thought this may be because they were to small, so i put him up a size and bought sum 3rd crickets.
He also stopped eating the mini mealworms, so i bought adult ones again thinking they are just to small after he demolished the locust so quickley.

Jambos still not wanting the 3rd or 2nd crickets and just leaves the mealworm in the bowl.

i just put the crickets in his cage, they are loose, but this has always bin the case, and he just used to wait upside down on a vine and pick them off!


ve not done anything different, its the same suppliments ect...

Can anyone advise? he seems to have gone fussy overnight!

Thanks x

 

[heartben]

skip a day or 2 of feeding and see if he will take whatever you want him to. thats one way to go about it anyways.

 

[Shona]

skip a day or 2 of feeding and see if he will take whatever you want him to. thats one way to go about it anyways.

Am i over feeding him then? will he be okay with out food for a day? hes only a baby, and i thought i was supposed to feed as much as he will take at this stage?

 

[heartben]

i doubt you are over feeding him but its definitely ok to skip a day - even a day a week , especially if you make sure he is still drinking.

 

[Shona]

Thanks, i have put 10 waxworms in this morning, 9 oclock but they are normally gone by about 1 or 2oclock.

il try not feeding him tomorrow.

i never see jambo drink! i mist with warm water 5 times a day but i dont hang around watching him i just leave him alone, should i watch him more to make sure he is drinking? its just hes still quite edgy around me so i never want to put him off.

he has also got a bowl with very shallow water and fresh fruit in his cage, the crikets seem to love this and hop in and out, so i thought he may drink this while he is eating, or i thought it may catch his attention as the crikets jumping in it makes it ripple. is this a stupid idea? i just put it in as i havent seem him drink.

Thanks for all your help, i love how everybody helps as much as they can on this site

Shona

 

[carol5208]

As a rule chameleons do not drink from standing water. I would probably remove the bowl of water as it serves no purpose and if he did drink out of it you probably wanna make sure it is changed constantly. Crickets can poop in it along with him too and he might drink out of it which would be bacteria filled by then. Is your chameleons urate white? That is the part of his poo that is the light color. If it is white, then he is drinking and hydrated. Yellow or orange means dehydration, orange beiing the worst. You can put a dripper in the cage also for him to drink from. Yes he will not die without food for a day but he is growing so once he is on track again with eating I would continue to feed everyday. You are not over feeding. I would cut back on the waxworms though. They are one of the fattiest feeders around. Try to stick with crickets and substitute waxworms with silkworms. They have around the same fat content as crickets.

 

[Stanly]

As a rule chameleons do not drink from standing water. I would probably remove the bowl of water as it serves no purpose and if he did drink out of it you probably wanna make sure it is changed constantly. Crickets can poop in it along with him too and he might drink out of it which would be bacteria filled by then. Is your chameleons urate white? That is the part of his poo that is the light color. If it is white, then he is drinking and hydrated. Yellow or orange means dehydration, orange beiing the worst. You can put a dripper in the cage also for him to drink from. Yes he will not die without food for a day but he is growing so once he is on track again with eating I would continue to feed everyday. You are not over feeding. I would cut back on the waxworms though. They are one of the fattiest feeders around. Try to stick with crickets and substitute waxworms with silkworms. They have around the same fat content as crickets.

I 2nd this, also meal worms are not a great feeder as they have a hard exoskeleton and aren't very nutritious the tiny super worms are a slightly better choice as they can be gut loaded, however they are still pretty fatty so it's best not to have them as the largest part of his diet.

It sounds like you're pretty new to the world of chameleons (welcome) you'll find some great info on this site, I'd suggest looking up all you can on the care of veileds . I know janb, (a member of the forums) has a very informative post/blog, also check out gut loading and feeder nutrition blogs by sandrachameleon.

 

[Shona]

As a rule chameleons do not drink from standing water. I would probably remove the bowl of water as it serves no purpose and if he did drink out of it you probably wanna make sure it is changed constantly. Crickets can poop in it along with him too and he might drink out of it which would be bacteria filled by then. Is your chameleons urate white? That is the part of his poo that is the light color. If it is white, then he is drinking and hydrated. Yellow or orange means dehydration, orange beiing the worst. You can put a dripper in the cage also for him to drink from. Yes he will not die without food for a day but he is growing so once he is on track again with eating I would continue to feed everyday. You are not over feeding. I would cut back on the waxworms though. They are one of the fattiest feeders around. Try to stick with crickets and substitute waxworms with silkworms. They have around the same fat content as crickets.

As for the water, i did disinfect the bowl n change the water both in the morn and night, but its gone now! yes his poo has white in it , it has only been white since i got him! thanks for that info though, glad there is Something to tell me.
I havent put any food in today, but he does have sum crix in there which he ignored yesterday, so he has them to eat at least. Hate the idea of him hungry.

ive only bin giving so many waxworms as its the only thing he has been eating lately. il deffinatley cut down on them though.


Yes im new to chameleons, i researched for 8 months before i got him, but it just seems that everybody tells you different things. so glad ive found this forum, the shops who are supposed to specialise in these animals have completely told me rubbish!!

Thanks for all the help.