My Veiled is getting big.....fast....

[Poveglia]

OK, so as some of you know, I got a baby Veiled a few weeks ago. When I bought him at the pet store, he was a tiny little guy, and I could see his ribcage. He was also very stressed and didn't eat for about 2 days when I first got him.

Since then, I have upgraded his cage in crazy ways. He has 4 live plants, plenty of hiding space, a warm misting machine (a misting bucket with floor heaters attached to it), and much more.

Now....the little dud is almost double his size (pretty fat actually), hand feeds, runs around green and happy all day, and eats anywhere from 8-10 crickets EVERY day....

Do these guys normally have fast growth spurts, or am I over-feeding him?

Another thing, I have NEVER seen my chameleon drink. The mister is set to 4 times a day, and I have a dripper that runs all day at all times, and is shut off with the lights at night. Should I be concerned? His poop is regular colored (black and white), and doesn't seem to have any other issues (besides the occasional salt deposits in nose, which I help him clean with a moist q-tip.)

I also rarely handle him now. I hold him daily for about 5 minutes, and if he races across my fingers to go back in the cage, I immediately do so (I just don't want him to be a mean bastard when he's older).

Any tips, or is everything going peachy?

 

[jajeanpierre]

@Poveglia I never see my animals drink either unless something is wrong or they have just laid a clutch of eggs. The better the humidity in the cage, the less water they actually need to drink because they don't lose much from respiration.

Babies can grow shockingly fast, especially veileds.

You can't over feed a baby. Veileds also have a really skinny look to them, plus they are shape shifters and can look fat one moment and skin and bones the next. I don't think any other species can go from looking emaciated to fat in the blink of an eye the way a veiled can.

Because he is growing so fast, his calcium needs are very high. Most veileds found in pet shops come from females that themselves were calcium deficient. The females put a tremendous amount of calcium (and other things) into the egg yolk that is to sustain the baby in the egg and for several months after hatch. If they don't have the calcium to give or the clutch is very large, the eggs WILL not have adequate calcium for the new baby so you can end up with babies hatching with MBD. Assume since he is a veiled that he hatched without enough calcium stores. Add to this few veiled breeders feed, supplement or give good lighting to the babies since they are such a cheap animal wholesaling at $8 apiece.

Make sure he has really good lighting as he is growing. There is nothing like natural sunlight. I suggest you get him out into real sun, even if only for 10 minutes, several times a week to help compensate for his possible poor nutritional status at hatch. (Take care he doesn't overheat or dehydrate!).

You have no idea how happy it makes me to have you write that you don't see your fast-growing apparently super healthy baby drinking. Whenever I see my animals drinking, I immediately think there is something terribly wrong, so to have so many people talking about watching their animals drinking, for me, throws up big red flags about their husbandry.

 

[Poveglia]

@Poveglia I never see my animals drink either unless something is wrong or they have just laid a clutch of eggs. The better the humidity in the cage, the less water they actually need to drink because they don't lose much from respiration.

Babies can grow shockingly fast, especially veileds.

You can't over feed a baby. Veileds also have a really skinny look to them, plus they are shape shifters and can look fat one moment and skin and bones the next. I don't think any other species can go from looking emaciated to fat in the blink of an eye the way a veiled can.

Because he is growing so fast, his calcium needs are very high. Most veileds found in pet shops come from females that themselves were calcium deficient. The females put a tremendous amount of calcium (and other things) into the egg yolk that is to sustain the baby in the egg and for several months after hatch. If they don't have the calcium to give or the clutch is very large, the eggs WILL not have adequate calcium for the new baby so you can end up with babies hatching with MBD. Assume since he is a veiled that he hatched without enough calcium stores. Add to this few veiled breeders feed, supplement or give good lighting to the babies since they are such a cheap animal wholesaling at $8 apiece.

Make sure he has really good lighting as he is growing. There is nothing like natural sunlight. I suggest you get him out into real sun, even if only for 10 minutes, several times a week to help compensate for his possible poor nutritional status at hatch. (Take care he doesn't overheat or dehydrate!).

You have no idea how happy it makes me to have you write that you don't see your fast-growing apparently super healthy baby drinking. Whenever I see my animals drinking, I immediately think there is something terribly wrong, so to have so many people talking about watching their animals drinking, for me, throws up big red flags about their husbandry.

Thank you for that! Really helps! And yes, I do dust my crickets in calcium prior to every feeding, and dust with vitamins once a week.

 

[K_Wolf]

Keep feeding him. Rule of thumb for babies is to feed them as much as they can eat. Just make sure you provide proper supplements with feeder insects and don't overdo the treats, like worms. Veileds will grow pretty rapidly as long as they are in good care, he'll be big soon. Try and not always hand feed, I suggest letting his food run free in the enclosure so that he will have to hunt them on his own which is good exercise.