New owner just some Questions

[ks123]

i recently boucht a female veiled chameleon and she is about 4 or 5 inches long not including her tail. i was just wondering how many crickets i should feed her. could someone give me some info or tips on that? i also have one other problem, she will not drink from a dripper and i have not seen her drink since i have had her.

 

[seanUTD]

Do you not know how old she is.... Because she is well, a she... At a certain point you will want to cut her food back and put a laying bin in because she almost 100% will lay eggs (some arguments out there on infertile clutches)... But if you over-feed females they will lay more eggs, making it difficult for her to recover... Plus laying eggs in itself is hard work and it takes energy, the more energy she uses, the less she'll have... So knowing how old she is is a big part of it

 

[gerhartrx]

Welcome to the forums! Do you know the age? It sounds like maybe 4-6 months old?? If so a good rule of thumb is to feed about 10 crix. Your cham should eat them in about 5-10 minutes. Any left overs remove. How are you feeding? Cup feeding? What about supplements? Also are you varying you feeders?

In addition to the dripper are you misting your cage 3-4 times a day? Is your dripper in a spot that drip onto leaves or does it go directly to the bottom? What does her poo look like. This will help you to determine if she is dehydrated.

 

[ks123]

she is about ten months old and we just set the crickets in there and we give her calcium everyday. we do mist the cage alot and we have tried the dripper in all different places including onto leaves and straight down.

 

[gerhartrx]

What does the poo look like? Any yellow or orange in it? If se then you may have a dehydrated cham. Sean makes a good point too. Do you have a laying bin. You dont want your cham to become egg bound.

 

[ks123]

her poo is brown and we got a couple of days ago and people checked her for eggs and said she is clean.

 

[kinyonga]

Here's some information I hope will help concerning gutloading, supplements, etc.....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium). Not sure how to tell you to dust WC insects if that is what you will be doing.

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here's a link to keeping veiled females...
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleo...le-veiled.html

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.

 

[ks123]

thanks alot but is it bad to dust the crix with a calcium/d3 supplement everyday or should i get a straight calcium supplement and only use the calcium/d3 sup every once in a while???

 

[DavidBuchan]

thanks alot but is it bad to dust the crix with a calcium/d3 supplement everyday or should i get a straight calcium supplement and only use the calcium/d3 sup every once in a while???

It depends on the concentration of d3 in it - can you post the brand name you are using, or the label info that tells the concentrations? Usually the d3 is only given twice a month, with a phosphorous free calcium powder for daily use

 

[ks123]

i use the zoo meds repti calcium.