Overfeeding...

[extrajordinary]

I can’t find what I’m looking for on any other thread so I decided to just start a new one. I’m a little worried I’m overfeeding Leo. My cat self-regulates her food intake so I could give her a full bowl at every feeding and she will only eat until she’s full. Do chameleons also self-regulate? I assumed they do, but now I’m wondering if they actually do. Yesterday morning I fed Leo about 10 crickets. A few hours later he seemed to be looking for crickets so I gave him about 7 more. Then around 4 I put another 7 more in his cage (just in case the winter storm Chicago was expecting got bad and I couldn’t get back to him the next day). Each of these three times I fed him he ran down his vine to his feeder bowl. Is this because he was hungry or does eating become a habit? He’s about 5 months old so I’m still trying to feed him as much as he’ll eat but I don’t want to cause him any health issues.

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

Do you feed him like this every day? It depends on their age, as juveniles should be fed quite a lot. Adults don't need as much. For example, I only feed my female adult veiled about 2-3 times a week. But, she often goes down and hangs out beside her food bowl, sometimes mere hours after she has been fed, but males are different from females. I believe it is just a habit or instinct to find and eat as much food as possible. Chameleons are accustomed to eating as much as they can in the wild because they don't know when their next meal will be, or how long they will have to wait for it. They do not have the ability to self-regulate.
5 months is sort of a in-between age I guess, because veileds become adults (sexually mature) in the range of 8-12 months. You probably want to start pulling back the food once he reaches adulthood. I think this thread will be of help to you:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-much-to-feed-5-month-old-veiled.38481/

 

[extrajordinary]

No, I usually only feed him twice a day, about 15-20 crickets total. I’ll take a look at that thread when I get a chance. Thank you so much! It’s good to know they don’t regulate themselves. Knowing that will influence how I feed him for sure!

 

[Brodybreaux25]

5mo chams should be allowed to eat as much as they want. Start cutting back as he reaches adulthood.