picky veiled cham!

[seifer]

Hey guys,

i've got a 3yr old veiled and i usually feed him powdered superworms and toss 10 crickets in his cage every week or 2. However, in the past month he hasn't been eating the crickets and it gets to the point where they'll even crawl on him! last time i ended up just catching all of them and throwing them outside...

I've tried silkworms and he wont eat those, i gave him a madagascar hissing cockroach once and he liked that but he didn't eat the second one even after a few days... He's gotten his tongue on houseflies and those big mosquito eater things before but i've always been worried about giving him wild bugs.

I've got a hibiscus in his cage which he munched on a ton initially but has stopped doing it very often.

My question is this - Is it bad to feed him almost exclusively superworms? i powder them with a multivitamin and calcium powder every other day plus he's got a uvb light and he's next to our window which is open most of the time so he gets a lot of natural sunlight.

He hasn't seemed to have any problems, he's very well behaved. Whenever i open the top of the cage he'll jump right out. I put the superworms on top of the screen and he'll go into predator mode and chase them around.

Thanks!

 

[carol5208]

A couple of things. UVB cannot pass through glass or plastic so other than maybe getting some heat from the sunlight coming through he is not getting any UVB. You said he is 3 yrs old. Is that how long you have had him?. Do you supplement him with calcium w/d3 or just plain calcium? You should be doing both, the cal w/d3 twice a month. As far as the superworms, there was a member on here who fed exclusively superworms because that is all his cham would eat and he is surviving. The thing is superworms have chitin(the hard body) and you need to offset that with something softer like a silk, but I see you said he wont eat those either. Hve you tried Hornworms?. They are blue and might attract his attention.

 

[pssh]

How is he being kept? Have you ever tried not offering food?

If you're in the US, I have blue bottle fly spikes (larvae) for sale. They turn into flies rather quickly and are loved by almost all chameleons. I also have some painted lady caterpillars that will turn into butterflies to be fed off. Chams go crazy for the butterflies. I also have dubia roaches if you want to try those. (I have ads in the classifieds.)

 

[seifer]

thanks for the quick reply!

I open up the window every day so he does get the light b/c it comes through the wire, no glass to hinder the sunlight. I've had him for about a year and a half now and he's been surviving pretty much exclusively on the superworms and the hibiscus. I give him the calcium + D3 a few times a month but the multivitamin with pretty much every other feeding. Is that bad?

They were feeding him mealworms (a no no i know!) and crickets every once in a while plus he used to eat stuff like cilantro and basil and parsley (come to think of it i should try to feed him that stuff again)

I'd love to try some flies/butterflies, i'll check that out. I think he likes the thrill of the hunt I'm building him a new enclosure now thats gonna be huge (3x3.3x7) so is it okay to have a wide range of bugs just living in the cage with him or do you think that would stress him out? i dont wanna have to run and catch all the bugs inside the cage again...

In the past i've had to leave for a few days so i got my roommate to mist him and i just let a bunch of crickets in his cage and he seemed to eat them when theres nothing else, but i dont wanna force him to eat something he doesn't really like.

 

[pssh]

No bugs in the cage at night. Use a tub or something if you want to keep the bugs contained but still let him hunt.

 

[carol5208]

No, don't give him the multivitamin that much. Just like twice a month or so would be fine. As far as the crickets left loose in the cage, it is not recomended due to the fact that there have been stories of the crickets biting the chams while they are sleeping! It is better to remove all food at night time. Also be careful feeding wild caught insects as any thing wild has a potential to carry parasties which could be passed on to your chameleon.

 

[seifer]

awesome info! i dont usually feed him wild insects but its good to know. i think im just gonna stop trying to give him crickets b/c im sick of trying to catch them when he gets over it. I'll probably check some of the pet stores around here for some yummy flying insects and if i dont find any i'll probably be sending you a message pssh! thanks for all the feedback