Question about my veiled

[brooklynelizabeth]

Hm, ok. Well, maybe the gray coloring could be due to puberty?

Actually, I just looked back at the form you filled out, and it could be that he's hungry as well. Most forum members agree that baby chams should be fed about 15-20 crickets a day until they are about 6 months old, and then the amount can be reevaluated based on their growth, how quickly they consume the food they are given, etc. You could try feeding him more. I give my male veiled about 10-12 first thing in the morning and then a few more in the early afternoon.

I was recently at the herp vet, and i have been feeding my 4 1/2 old about 10 Lrg gutloaded crickets a day, and i was told to ease up a little due to over feeding, so unless you are referring to smaller crickets i do not agree.

 

[Olimpia]

My female had that weird color for a little bit as well, we sort of fixed it by taking her outside in the sunlight. Sunlight is super beneficial to them in ways we don't entirely understand yet, but it does things like improve color, immune system function, and cure diseases. Taking him out for a bit in the afternoons couldn't hurt at all!

 

[brandonrx7]

We only feed him about 5 huge man eating crickets lol. We get them from a bait and tackle store down the road from our house. So they are huge lol. I will try taking him outside for a little bit and see what that does.

 

[Elizadolots]

If he's only 4 months old, those might be too big. More, smaller crickets might be better for him.

 

[brandonrx7]

I talked to lllreptil.com, Thats where we got him. And told them how big they were and they said that they would be fine as long as he doesn't choke on them. They aren't to big. They are about the size of your pinky finger from the nail to the first joint. About half an inch long maybe a little bigger. They also told me he might be to cold so I am going to go out and get a 75 watt bulb tonight.

 

[hinoco1225]

I was recently at the herp vet, and i have been feeding my 4 1/2 old about 10 Lrg gutloaded crickets a day, and i was told to ease up a little due to over feeding, so unless you are referring to smaller crickets i do not agree.

My 4.5 month old is not big enough for large crickets. I do think it is different for different chams since they all grow at different rates. 6 months just seems to be the general consensus that I've heard from others about when to reevaluate, unless of course your cham grows particularly fast.

 

[hinoco1225]

I talked to lllreptil.com, Thats where we got him. And told them how big they were and they said that they would be fine as long as he doesn't choke on them. They aren't to big. They are about the size of your pinky finger from the nail to the first joint. About half an inch long maybe a little bigger. They also told me he might be to cold so I am going to go out and get a 75 watt bulb tonight.

I still feel like 5 is probably not enough. Maybe try 7 or 8 at least? From the threads I have read, it seems to me that most members feed their adult chams 5 large crickets every day or 10-12 every other day, but your guy is still growing and needs more than that.

 

[brandonrx7]

We used to feed him about 8 large once a day. By large I mean the ones you get from pet stores. The ones we got yesterday are bigger than the large ones we used to get. I say 5 of them but my wife feeds him since she is a stay at home mom. It could be 5-8 not really sure. She said yesterday he only ate five. He let the other 2 go.

 

[brandonrx7]

My 4.5 month old is not big enough for large crickets. I do think it is different for different chams since they all grow at different rates. 6 months just seems to be the general consensus that I've heard from others about when to reevaluate, unless of course your cham grows particularly fast.

Do you have a pic of your cham? I would like to compair them size wise. Wow that sounded bad, lol oh well.

 

[hinoco1225]

I tried to find a good thread with a lot of different opinions about amounts to feed, but most of them only have a couple of responses. Here are a few:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/i-dont-know-how-much-feed-my-cham-56763/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/what-right-amount-feed-54763/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-many-crickets-too-many-63372/

That being said, if he seems fine only eating 5 and ignores the others, that is probably fine.

 

[Elizadolots]

We only feed him about 5 huge man eating crickets lol. We get them from a bait and tackle store down the road from our house. So they are huge lol.

They aren't to big. They are about the size of your pinky finger from the nail to the first joint. About half an inch long maybe a little bigger.

It might be helpful if you took a picture of your chameleon with something of a known size (a ruler is ideal, but a soda can would do, note: human hands vary considerably in size so don't work for this) and also, a similar picture of an average cricket.

That might give people a better idea of the actual situation.

 

[brandonrx7]

That makes sense. I guess if he doesn't choke on them and he eats only what he wants and lets the others survive then he must be getting full. I just want to see how big others veilds are just to see if mine is about the same size lol.

 

[hinoco1225]

Do you have a pic of your cham? I would like to compair them size wise. Wow that sounded bad, lol oh well.

I don't have a current pic, but I will take one later this evening and post it. He is a lot smaller than yours. Like I said, I'm almost positive he is a runt.

 

[brandonrx7]

I don't have a current pic, but I will take one later this evening and post it. He is a lot smaller than yours. Like I said, I'm almost positive he is a runt.

I will try to get a pic of mine next to a ruler or something that he can be compared to. That is if he doesn't bite me. He hates me, alot lol.

 

[brooklynelizabeth]

I still feel like 5 is probably not enough. Maybe try 7 or 8 at least? From the threads I have read, it seems to me that most members feed their adult chams 5 large crickets every day or 10-12 every other day, but your guy is still growing and needs more than that.

I completely agree that 5 is way under the limit, and if you are doing medium crickets you will have no issue with 15 or more spread out like 8 in the morning and 7 later afternoon, if you are feeding large stick to 8 or max 10, it definitely depends on the cham/ size and appetite. My Veiled had way to big of a appetite and would easily over eat, he was a heavy weight, and although the vet did every test, and checked his blood and fecal, he was as healthy as could be, but the vet still said he was over weight and needed to be on a diet for some time to return to a normal weight. so it really depends. I have never seen my Veiled that dark before, he gets angry sometimes and displays his darker dots and bands bu this colors still stay a vibrant turquoise, green yellow, never gray like that. It must be a temp thing

 

[brooklynelizabeth]

I will try to get a pic of mine next to a ruler or something that he can be compared to. That is if he doesn't bite me. He hates me, alot lol.

Your cham is definitely in the range of 5 months +, his casque is fairly tall, or maybe its just the pic, here is a few pics of my 4 1/2 month veiled for comparison

 

[hinoco1225]

Wait a second... Now that I think about it, I think your cham about 6 months old. If you got him in May or June, and he should have been at least 2 months old when you got him, that would make him more like 6 or 7 months.

 

[hinoco1225]

If he is 6 or 7 months old then it is more understandable that he would be ok to only eat 5 crickets in the morning. I still think he should be offered a couple more after a few hours though.

 

[Banders675]

house bulb

A house bulb is fine. There is no need to spend extra money on a 'reptile' bulb. Just up the wattage of the house bulb to bring the temps up.

have you every heard of the right tool for the job? sometimes a standard wrench fits a metric nut but that don't mean you should use it. Why risk the health of your cham listening to this guy do things right and get a legit bulb.

 

[Banders675]

feet

Here are the other two.

I can't see the back of his feet. but just looking at him he looks like a male. I'd bet on it. but look at the back feet like i said should have a small triangular flap of skin like a spur on a cowboys boot.