Please I need to know if she is Healthy looking

[Chameleonlove5]

She is about 8months old veiled chameleon named Jewel. Working on getting her a lifetime screen cage soon. She eat a handful of kale and 11mealworms a day. Some crickets gutloaded and calcium dusted.

 

[Cait0420]

I wouldn't feed so many meal worms. Their shell contains chitlin which can cause impaction

 

[Chameleonlove5]

okay thank you so many 6 a day ?

 

[Cait0420]

I would try to vary the diet more, start with a staple of dubias or crickets, properly gutloaded, try waxworms pheonix worms silk worms hornworms (as treats) and the mealworms as treats instead of a staple

 

[ZiggyStardust]

Could I ask what the bowls on the floor of the viv are for?

 

[Chameleonlove5]

One bowl holds worms and the other kale

 

[ZiggyStardust]

I'd take the bark out of the bottom of your viv when you do your first full clean and just have a plain bottom or a few paper towels. When I bought my male Veiled, everything was set up for me at the breeders and he unfortunately put substrate in the vivarium, which, as you can imagine after about a month of being sprayed twice a day and a dripper on for hours at a time, turned to mud. Your viv will be a much cleaner and hygienic environment for your Cham without the bark.

Perhaps also a few more plants or a couple of bendable jungle vines would be good so that she can climb around the entirety of the top half of the vivarium - a good dense area of plants at the back is great for when she just wants to hide away for a while, especially when she's getting established.

Try and offer as much variety in prey as you can - hoppers (juvenile locust) are an excellent feeder and my lad loves them - also small Dubia roaches, calci-worms, Silkworms and curly wing fly are all good to feed. Steer clear of waxworms apart from as a treat, as they are very high in fat.

 

[Chameleonlove5]

Thank you so much Ziggy

 

[ZiggyStardust]

You're most welcome - I am still very much a novice myself and have only had my Cham for 3 months but I have learned much from the forum and my little guy appears to be thriving, so stick around and have a read of all the great and helpful information on here. I had no idea that substrate was evil for chams until I joined the forum.

 

[Chameleonlove5]

my 1st 3month old male died This is a female but I got her around 8months seems well and thriving )

 

[qdude46]

Do you plan on a bigger screen cage in the future? Like ziggy said, no substrate.

 

[heather89]

I would definitely cut back the meal worms. They are like people eating Big Macs all the time. Not very good for your cham in such high quantities, more of a snack. If you are looking for a worm that could make up your staple feeding I would say silkworms. Crickets are an easy go-to and very readily available, but they can be a pain for the nutritional payoff (imo). I still keep them around for my panther who likes both, but my Jackson's eat mostly silkworms.

You can look at nutrition charts like this one: http://www.homesalive.ca/media/wysiwyg/Reptile-Learning-Centre/2012/May/feeder-insects/reptile-feeders-chart.jpg

That will give you a better idea of what's in your feeders. I get silkworm eggs from Coastal Silkworms. Their eggs ship free and they are fairly inexpensive for how many you get. The only problem with the eggs is it takes a little time for the worms to get good size. I keep mine in a 30 gallon breeder aquarium with a screen lid with plastic craft mesh in the bottom. They are great! My chams love them and they are easy to place on the screen of the cage or anywhere in the cage to let your cham have some hunting experience.