i recently started a job at petco and found i really enjoy retiles. i then went to a local retile store and bought a female chameleon(because i dont know the credibility of petco on their animal care and purchase). i know she can become egg bound and she will not have as much coloration as males. my question is how much should i be feeding her? i turn on her lights around 7am. then i feed her around noon, and maybe periodically throughout the day. she is probably between 5-7 months old. which i realize she needs more food as she is growing, my question is should i offer her more food than she is willing to eat? at her current feeding schedule she eats everything i place inside her cage and or dish. i normally do around 4 crickets at noonish and maybe three to four before i go to work at normally 330. and then about 5-7 large meal worms when i come home, and generally throw in some crickets as well. i come home anywhere from 830-945. i realize that as a growing chameleon she needs more food but am i feeding her enough? she has yet to ignore any of the food i am giving her.
new to chameleons!
- Thread starter algeb
- Start date
summoner12
Avid Member
Hello and welcome! If you could do us all a favor and fill out the form in this: thread. Filling that out as best you can and then posting a copy of it in this thread will give the members here an idea of how your chameleon is set up. We can give you some tips on care and feeding.
It would be a good idea to check out Brad Ramsey's site to get a good overview of the care involved in keeping chameleons. He even talks about female care.
In general it is best not to over feed females. Overfeeding can lead to large clutches of eggs and a greater chance of her becoming egg bound if not given the proper care. To keep you female from becoming egg bound it is a good idea to keep an eye on her belly, if it looks like a bag of marbles, she has eggs and should be provided a laying bin. Just in general it is a good idea to have some sort of 'laying' bin in her cage. This bin may not be very deep... but, when you see activity in her laying bin you know it is time to put her into a proper egg laying bin. The bin in the cage only needs to be a couple of inches. The laying bin where she actually lays the eggs should be about 12" deep. The bin should be made up of dirt and play sand. The mixture should be wet enough that it holds form when you female digs into the dirt to lay her eggs. She will most likely dig the full depth of the bin, so it is important to have a good solid mix of dirt that won't cave in.
Good luck!
eisentrauti
Avid Member
Please do a lil research. The links are very good for this. Your calyptratus eats just everything because it's living in a desert like region some generations ago. In those areas animals never know when they get their next meal so they eat always as much as possible. Instead of the nature in captivity they get regularly food. It's now the task of the keeper to give them enough that they grow without problems but they shouldn't get too much. The majority of the pardalis and calyptratus specimens which die in captivity have a fat-liver. Other inner organs will be damaged too
PedroANDAshley
New Member
This should help some.
If your chameleon is a VEILED female chameleon.
Maybe I miss that but I didnt see it in your post.
If you keep the temps just right and the food just right your chameleon may never even lay eggs for a long time.
BUT you should still have a laying bin.
So heres the link,
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
This should help if your female is a veiled
If your chameleon is a VEILED female chameleon.
Maybe I miss that but I didnt see it in your post.
If you keep the temps just right and the food just right your chameleon may never even lay eggs for a long time.
BUT you should still have a laying bin.
So heres the link,
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
This should help if your female is a veiled
