Should I be feeding him more?

ChamyLove

New Member
So I have an 8- 1/2 year old male panther chameleon, and he has grown a lot since I got him, but I see pictures of chameleons around his age and they look so much bigger.

I currently feed him between 12-14 1/2 to 3/4 inch crickets a day (the amount depends on the size), and about every other day I will treat him with 2-4 regular sized mealworms. At his age should he be eating more? :confused:

He sheds about every 3- 1/2 to 4 weeks.
 
At that age, ten full sized crickets a day sounds reasonable.
what else are you feeding him besides crickets and the occasional mealworm?

they all grow at different rates.

You want him to have a rounded oval shaped tail (not entirely round as that's too fat, and not narrow as that's too thin) and slightly protruding pads of fat on his head.

post some photos and we'll have a better idea if he's okay.
 
I just re-read my post, and my bad, I meant month old. Not year old :eek::eek:

I don't feed him really anything other than crickets and mealworms. I haven't been able to find anything else at my pet store, and I'm trying to find space for buying bulk online. Do you think he is big enough to eat superworms? He eats the bigger regular sized mealworms but those are still quite a bit smaller than a superworm.

I heard that full sized crickets aren't the best because if they weren't gut loaded growing up, then their stomach is already developed and gut loading wont do anything

I'm mainly worried because the breeder told us that he was the biggest of the bunch, and now he doesn't look so big compared to the others.

In the pictures I'm attaching, I could only use my camera phone, so sorry for the quality. One of them I tried to take through the screen so I hope you can still see him.
 

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I just re-read my post, and my bad, I meant month old. Not year old :eek::eek:

ah. that does make a difference. but Im confused. Is he a month old, or 8 months old?
if less than 6 months, Feed him as much as he can consume in 5 minutes, three times a day. if 8 months old, 10 full sized crickets a day is likely plenty.

do try to get more variety, but he's unlikely to be big enough for superworms yet if he's only a month old. If he is 8 months old, superworms should be fine. so long as they are no wider than the space between his eyes, and no longer than about twice the length of his head. but don't give too many of those!

I heard that full sized crickets aren't the best because if they weren't gut loaded growing up, then their stomach is already developed and gut loading wont do anything
that's nonsense.

I cant tell anything from those photos - no sense of scale and not very good pictures.

they all grow at different rates. Which one was biggest of a clutch at the beginning has little to do with which will be biggest in 6 or 8 months. Females are smaller than males (I cant really tell from the photo what you have)

do you weigh him? so long as he is gaining while growing, and not loosing weight, its safe

this blog entry will tell you what type of calorie intake your cham needs: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...s-day-required-maintain-chameleon-weight.html
 
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Thank you for your response. He is 8 months. Sorry for the confusion. Male. I don't weigh him, just for the reason that he isn't entirely tame with me yet. I've been moving slow, and i'm not to the point where I can handle him. I hope to start tracking his weight once I can get him used to handling. I went out and bought larger crickets. I'm ordering phoenix, silk, and horn worms on Monday to start varying his diet.
 
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