Overeating?

AutobotTrixter

New Member
My little Kaiju is an approximately 6 month old male veiled, and I have never for a moment had a problem with him not eating. At about two months old he was eating within hours of being brought home. At this point I am feeding him about a dozen large crickets when I leave for work first thing in the morning and another half-dozen when I get home in the evening (with occasional suppliments of a few mealworms and waxworms and whatnot). There are times when he'll leave a couple uneaten until the next morning, or he'll pursue them more casually, so I'm not too worried that he'll overeat goldfish-style, but this is normal for a growing baby veiled, right?
 
i think it is, when he starts getting full grown or earlier, im hot positive, is when you want to start limiting his food intake. but that seems normal. my little guy eats alot also, i dont worry about over feeding him yet, lol
 
My male veiled ate like a horse until he was about 7 months old.
He has slowed down even more since (now 10 months old).
He eats pretty well (3 to 5 insects) every other day even though I still offer food daily.
Some days he eats nothing at all.
He is very healthy and a good weight.
It appears that they are good at listening to their bodies and only eating only when they need to.

-Brad
 
Do you have any pictures of your chameleon, specifically the casque and/or/ tail?

What size crickets are you feeding him?

What size cage is he in?

What size and weight is your chameleon? If you do not know the weight the length will help.

Unless you are feeding him small feeders I would have a hard time believing your chameleon is not obese. Small feeders would not be optimal as the gut loading passes through their digestive tract quick not to mention they are growing to and are not as healthy. Chameleons, especially veileds will over eat. The last thing you want is a obese, lethargic, short live chameleon.

A hungrary, mean, lean, veiled is one that will live for a long time.
 
kaiju0707-1.jpg

kaiju0707-2.jpg


He's a little mad at me in those pictures for handling him, and it's a cheap older camera, so they aren't as good as they could be. The crickets are about 3/4" at the largest, big enough to make an irritating racket at night. I miss the nice quiet little crickets. He's still in his baby cage, which I realize is a little small at 20"x18"x12", but I plan to get him moved into a much larger one within a couple weeks. He's about 5-6" from his nose to the base of his tail, depending on how stretched out he is. I'm not sure of his exact weight, as I don't have a sensitive enough scale for him. Hopefully that's enough to get an idea of how much he should ideally be eating. I also plan to go ahead and find a good vet for him in the next couple weeks (I've been transitioning between jobs and I'll start getting some nice fat paychecks some August) so hopefully I can get him weighed and talk to a professional about it then.
 
I think he looks good,
Boy does he ever need a larger enclosure though!
Glad you're going to be moving him up soon.
He doesn't look too fat to me. I wouldn't change anything...he'll slow down.

-Brad
 
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I knew when I got the "baby cage" that he'd need a bigger one around now. It's a #1 priority once I start getting the new-job paychecks, definitely, I even have it picked out and know what store in my city stocks it. Thanks for the advice! I'm glad he's not looking like too much of a pig. I'll keep an eye on him over the next few months to see if his appetite slows down.
 
I live in Columbus, OH, and we have a store here called Captive Born Reptiles. From speaking to the owner I got the impression that most of his stock is ether bred there (he proudly showed me his leopard gecko breeding setup) or purchased from breeders he knows in the area. Kaiju and two of his brothers at the store came from a friend of the owner. I spent a while talking about chams with the owner before the babies were even at the store for sale, and when I picked him up the kid running the front of the shop basically quizzed me on the setup he'd be going home to and made sure to remind me to take him straight home since it was cold out. As I mentioned, he was eating within hours of being introduced to his new home and has just overall been a beautiful pet. A friend of mine who used to work for a Petsmart in the Specialty tried to discourage me from getting a chameleon because they had a lot of trouble keeping theirs alive, and he's surprised at how healthy Kai is. I'd definitely recommend the store to anybody in the area.
 
I think you'll find he'll continue to grow with less than half that amount of crickets. You risk obesity with that much food. Probably a less serious, but more likely situation will be hunger strikes. A chameleon that's fed so much so often will start to refuse food for days or longer.

Keep them hungry and they'll never refuse a thing.

Of course, variety helps, but I think food availability is a big cause for these fasting periods people see.

Another thing - wasted food. They can only process so much matter. He's probably not absorbing a very high percentage of what he eats. Just more for you to clean.
 
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