Looking for advise from you awesome people!!

PackMaster

Member
I have learned so much from this site and all of you! I have a 9 mo old female veiled. Fell in love with her at Petco 4 mo ago. I don't handle her unless necessary to move her from her habitat for some reason. I feed her 4 crickets (dusted with Rep-Cal calcium w/ vitD) and 3 mealworms daily. I just ordered horned worms cuz local selection is super-worms, mealworms and wax worms ( high in fat) Once a month I use Zoo Meds Reptivite w/D3. She has a good appetite. I have a dropper, and a mister (15 sec every hour) she drinks from dripping leaves. Her enclosure is soft screen, all sides 18 x 18 x 36 high. I have a 50 W basking light ( 85') and a full spectrum light ( 75') humidity is 65%. 1 live plant (. ) and also silk for additional coverage for security, also a wide variety, sizes and textures of branches and vines. Her habitat is in my bedroom, away from the main traffic of the house. I live in a small rural town in north central Arkansas. Now that it warmed up, Input her habitat on rollers so I can roll it out on the deck for fresh air and natural sunlight. I almost forgot... I followed the instructions given in the link for an egg laying bin. ( sand and organic soil)
My concerns....
1) egg laying/egg bound. I feel like I have her set up pretty well but I'm afraid that she will become egg bound. Since its new to me, I'm not sure IF she is gravid, how long before they lay eggs, when to worry.
2) gaping. She does sit under her basking light with her mouth open, often. Should I worry about an upper respiratory problem. Could she be so full of eggs, it inhibits her lung expansion. Could it just be "normal" ??

I hope to learn from your knowledge and experience, I want to be successful in raising a healthy female veiled. Once I do that, I would like to add a male, and eventually learn how to raise healthy babies!!

Open to any and all suggestions! What am I doing wrong? What can I do better?
 
Female veileds do have a good appetite. :):D

Laying eggs is a normal thing for them to do but you can sometimes stop them from laying or at least keep the clutch small by feeding less and keeping their temps cooler. The only way to know for sure if she has eggs is an x-ray. If she seems healthy and you have everything correct for her then hopefully she want have any problems. I'm attaching my egg laying blog and Dez's video about egg laying and the laying bin.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/
 
Thanks for the advise

Yes, the dustings I have, all have vitD.
1) what brand do you suggest? I will have to find it on the Internet because local sources don't have much selection.
2) how often would I use the dusting with vitD, and how often, without?
THANK YOU SO MUCH for responding!! I sure do appreciate it,
 
Gut loading

I use Flukers cricket quencher also with calcium, and Flukers Orange Cube complete cricket diet. I have not tried fresh veggies or fruit. What do you suggest? Thanks again!
 
You should get het calcium without D3 in it and.dust at every feeding. Do you have a multivitims for her? I know this isn't what your post was about but since I saw you bring it up lol
 
I use Flukers cricket quencher also with calcium, and Flukers Orange Cube complete cricket diet. I have not tried fresh veggies or fruit. What do you suggest? Thanks again!

click on the resource tab. It gives a list of food you can gutload with and very good care sheets on veileds if you haven't already seen them
 
I dust at most feedings with a phos - free calcium powder (rep-cal) to help make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phos found in most feeder insects.

I dust twice a month with a phos - free calcium / D3 powder (rep-cal) to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving it to produce the rest from its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues bit as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB D3 produced from the light exposure won't build up.

I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrEformed sources can build up in the system and lead to health issues but its debatable as to whether all chameleons can convert the prOformed or not so some people use a vitamin powder with a prEformed source once in a while too.

Appropriate temperatures aid in digestion so they play an indirect roll in nutrient absorption.

You can feed/gutload the crickets with a wide range of greens such as dandelions, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, etc . What you are using is not much good.

It's important that phos, D3, calcium and vitamin A are all know balance for good bone health and other things.
 
You should get het calcium without D3 in it and.dust at every feeding. Do you have a multivitims for her? I know this isn't what your post was about but since I saw you bring it up lol
I have Zoo Meds "Reptivite" which has a crazy long list of moisture and minerals, vitamins and nutrients, amino acids
Hard to believe all of that is in here, but that's what the container shows.
What calcium do you use with "NO" D3. ? If I have the name, I'm sure I can find it online.
Thanks for your response!!!
 
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