My baby Veiled Chameleon won’t eat

[PabloTheCham]

I am cup feeding my chameleon a mix of meal worms, fruit flies and crickets but she isn’t eating them

stop using mealworms, they are simply useless, its like eating chips all day but without the fat.

 

[Kamikaze Chameleon]

I would absolutley get more branchs and vines, avoid getting moss covered vines or the exoterra with the grains that can fall off and become ingested. You really need to fill in the top portion so your cham can bask and absorb that uvb! Should look like a jungle in his cage. Keep the mist sessions up, i would avoid mealworms altogether. Try black soilder fly larva or smaller silkworms and hornworms those are the BEST feeeders imho...i woudlnt try dubias till hes bigger.

 

[PabloTheCham]

Hello, the temps are around 80F her cage is a repti breeze, I bought the Chameleon kit and I have basic lights set up. I have extra vines and added leaves for her to climb on.

You will need a lot more vines and branches. Like 20 more. Ditch the fake plants and get some real plants for him to drink the water off of, the plastic is not good to drink off of.

By the way, you installed the bottom on the top

 

[Kamikaze Chameleon]

Place branchs horizontally and tier them in the blue spaces. Chams thermotegulate their body tempature by moving to warm/ cold so you want to give him as many options as you can.

 

[Beman]

My chameleon is a veiled chameleon female and her age is around by my best guess 2 months

I don’t handle my chameleon very often because she is a baby and I just got her

I am cup feeding my chameleon a mix of meal worms, fruit flies and crickets but she isn’t eating them

I use calcium without D3 but I also use calcium with D3 once a week

I have a homemade Dripper it’s a bottle with a hole I put repti safe in it to make sure the water is okay for my cham

Her Feces are a dark color and by the time I see them they are dried on the bottom of her enclosure
I’m not sure of her history

Cage Description-

It’s all Screen and I bought a chameleon kit

I use the lights provided by the chameleon kit but I bought a Carolina linear T5HO light

Her temperature is around 80 degrees

I’m not sure what her humidity is but I do spray her enclosure twice a day

I have fake plants in her enclosure but very little as of now I am buying more plants for her and getting some live ones
She is in my room on my dresser

I’m located in the Midwest more specifically Ohio

Here are some photos of her and her enclosure

Did you read through the husbandry link I gave you?

Where is the feeder cup located? If it is on the floor it needs to be hooked higher at the basking level? What size crickets are you feeding?

There are many enclosure changes needed including uvb lighting.

 

[notxavierward]

Did you read through the husbandry link I gave you?

Where is the feeder cup located? If it is on the floor it needs to be hooked higher at the basking level? What size crickets are you feeding?

There are many enclosure changes needed including uvb lighting.

I have gotten a new UVB which is a linear T5H0 10 15W and added more leaves to the enclosure but she still hasn’t eaten she is drinking just fine but won’t eat.

 

[Beman]

I have gotten a new UVB which is a linear T5H0 10 15W and added more leaves to the enclosure but she still hasn’t eaten she is drinking just fine but won’t eat.

Where did you put the feeder cup and what size feeders are you feeding?

 

[notxavierward]

Where did you put the feeder cup and what size feeders are you feeding?

The cup is by her normal basking spot and I’m using small mealworms, becuase that’s what they were using when I first got her, should I try different feeders she hasn’t eaten the crickets I gave her, the mealworms or the fruit flies that I have given her

 

[Beman]

The cup is by her normal basking spot and I’m using small mealworms, becuase that’s what they were using when I first got her, should I try different feeders she hasn’t eaten the crickets I gave her, the mealworms or the fruit flies that I have given her

Can you take a picture of the cup and the placement so I can take a look?
She should not be given meal worms and fruit flies would be very small. What sized crickets did you get. She has to start eating.

 

[notxavierward]

Can you take a picture of the cup and the placement so I can take a look?
She should not be given meal worms and fruit flies would be very small. What sized crickets did you get. She has to start eating.

They were smal crickets probably 1/4 to 1/2” and what feeders should I use? I’ve heard that Dubai’s are good but shes so small and hornworms are also large for her

 

[Beman]

They were smal crickets probably 1/4 to 1/2” and what feeders should I use? I’ve heard that Dubai’s are good but shes so small and hornworms are also large for her

So you want small crickets 1/4 inch. No larger for her size. The placement of the feeder needs to be so that she can see into it from above you have it sitting a bit too high for her to do this. I would consider ordering this feeder run instead. https://tkchameleons.com/collections/accessories/products/shooting-gallery

 

[Kam0408]

Try to feed her those crickets and keep a close eye on her fecis.

 

[PoseidonTheChameleon]

Ah the chameleon kit... thank u for reaching out tho. This is a great place for help?

 

[Fchamel]

Oh dear! The dreaded chameleon kit strikes again! @notxavierward please don’t think I’m blaming you...you honestly had no idea. I just hate that they give people the impression that it is all a chameleon needs, when in actuality very little of it is useful. As has been said, get some branches from outside...avoid pine and other trees that have sap. Wash with dawn or other dish soap, rinse well with a hose, sun dry and they’re good to go. Get yourself a big full pothos plant.Gently wash the leaves and rinse well. Cover the dirt with some stones that are too big for your cham to eat and drape the vines and leaves around to provide her with some shade and hiding spots. Get rid of the Repti carpet...it only becomes a bacteria breeding ground. Bare floor is easiest to keep clean. If you fill out the help form above, someone can help make sure everything else is correct, so that you can enjoy many happy years with your sweet little girl.

I got the exact same kit, and then I had all of this other stuff I had to do to correct the kit! so I basically wasted my money on an inaccurate kit. I've spent more money correcting it, than on the kit itself. So annoying, and not ok!

 

[PabloTheCham]

I got the exact same kit, and then I had all of this other stuff I had to do to correct the kit! so I basically wasted my money on an inaccurate kit. I've spent more money correcting it, than on the kit itself. So annoying, and not ok!

Yeah.. I don't know how something that is market toward an animal but is deadly can be legal...

 

[Fchamel]

Yeah.. I don't know how something that is market toward an animal but is deadly can be legal...

??? Crazy!

 

[PabloTheCham]

??? Crazy!

Yeah... somehow i feel like i sold arsenic and marketed it as cat treats it wouldn't go across very well...

 

[MissSkittles]

Yeah.. I don't know how something that is market toward an animal but is deadly can be legal...

Zoo Med claims it’s just a starter kit, but they certainly don’t go to any lengths to explain proper husbandry changes that will need to be made. As long as people are still buying them, they’ll keep making and selling them.

 

[Fchamel]

Yeah... somehow i feel like i sold arsenic and marketed it as cat treats it wouldn't go across very well...

I agree. Yeah, that would not go well.

 

[Fchamel]

Zoo Med claims it’s just a starter kit, but they certainly don’t go to any lengths to explain proper husbandry changes that will need to be made. As long as people are still buying them, they’ll keep making and selling them.

that's not good because, how are people to know?