Veiled chameleon eats A LOT!

Hi guys!
I have 10-11 month old veiled male cham Winston and recently he grew up quite an appetite )) i was feeding him 8 crix every day (with required supplements and stuff) but now he eats 12-15 and it seems like still not enough. I've read here that by the age of 1 year they'll eat much less and every other day, but I'm not quite sure how I suppose to feed him every other day when he's constantly literally begging for food.. Otherwise, he's aavery active guy and walks around my room all day long, mainly climbing on a huge ficus near the window (with extra uvb bulb right on top of it), recently got used to handling and looks more than healthy. I weighted him yesterday: he was 158 gr and 42 sm in length. But this food obsession looks strange.. Any thoughts?
 
Have you done a fecal on him to rule out the possibility that he has worms or other parasites? Veiled (well most of them), will constantly look like they are hungry, but it's important not to over-feed them. That will lead to obesity, and actually their bodies can get so fat they will start to squish their internal organs. You can check out the Chameleon Breeder's Podcast - their latest episode is about feeding veiled chameleons, and it might be helpful for you. Good luck!
 
Thanks for the reply! Just finished listening to the broadcast, it was very educational indeed! But the main answer i would love to get about obesity is what is approximate weight of a normal healthy adult veiled cham.. Since it's not easy to see the signs of obesity while itsi still on the early stage it would really help to know the approx. weight, like as i wrote mine is 158 & 10 month old, is it loke a lot or ok? Cos he doesn't have those signs of puffy casque or not visible ribs or others and i definitely don't want him to start showing any of it..
So for that age (10-11 month) 8 large crickets per day and occasionally superwarm or mealworm is ok or should i reduce the amount of feeders? Would really appreciate your response
 
I would start feeding him every other day. You don't have to make the change all at once, you can ease him into it. For example, feed Sun, Mon, Wed, Thurs, Sat., Sun. for the first week. Then the next week eliminate one of those days. Then, the following week eliminate another day, getting you to every other day. 8 Large crickets is a little much, but you really want to have more variety in his diet. So, add the superworms one day, get some hornworms for one day, get silkworms, or roaches for one day, etc. I'd feed either 6 large crickets, or 3-4 superworms, or 2 large hornworms, or 2-3 roaches (depending on the size) as a portion size each day. At 158g., I think your boy is at a good weight, however could you please post a photo of him just so we can be sure?
 
I would start feeding him every other day. You don't have to make the change all at once, you can ease him into it. For example, feed Sun, Mon, Wed, Thurs, Sat., Sun. for the first week. Then the next week eliminate one of those days. Then, the following week eliminate another day, getting you to every other day. 8 Large crickets is a little much, but you really want to have more variety in his diet. So, add the superworms one day, get some hornworms for one day, get silkworms, or roaches for one day, etc. I'd feed either 6 large crickets, or 3-4 superworms, or 2 large hornworms, or 2-3 roaches (depending on the size) as a portion size each day. At 158g., I think your boy is at a good weight, however could you please post a photo of him just so we can be sure?

Yeah gonna do that, will start with small steps, just like you suggested, though it will be hard, cos Winston can look at you with such accusing eyes, pretty much all the time, like I owe him something )))
And about feeders variety, that's a bit of a problem where i live, so maximum i can get him here is superworms, mealworms, crickets and cockroaches. They just don't sell anything else here :/ and I'm not sure about giving him any wild caught insects, cos of parasites and such..
and here's Winston ^^
 

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He's a beauty! Can you get different feeders shipped to you where you are? Mealworms aren't great - they have a higher ratio of chitin to meat than the superworms do. If necessary you can just rotate through the crickets, roaches and supers and he should be fine. Wild caught bugs carry the possibility they were in fields that were sprayed with pesticides, which is a bigger concern than the parasites. Winston could get parasites even through bugs that you buy for him, it's just a fact of life unfortunately. Good luck!
 
He's a beauty! Can you get different feeders shipped to you where you are? Mealworms aren't great - they have a higher ratio of chitin to meat than the superworms do. If necessary you can just rotate through the crickets, roaches and supers and he should be fine. Wild caught bugs carry the possibility they were in fields that were sprayed with pesticides, which is a bigger concern than the parasites. Winston could get parasites even through bugs that you buy for him, it's just a fact of life unfortunately. Good luck!

Thank you! ^^
I live in Georgia (country) and unfortunately shipping is not an option here, cos they don't let any living insects through the boarder :/ Like if i order any kind of bugs or something from Amazon they just gonna throw the whole package away, so all I'll get will be a letter informing me that my package was infested and they got rid of it ))) So i have to buy from locals and there are not so many either :/
Actually today i saw him eating some leaves (ficus benjamina), i guess he's trying to digest stuff (another useful info from the podcast), cos he hasn't pooped for 3 days already.. anyway hope he's fine, he looks like he is in any rate. Gonna keep an eye on him.
Thanks again for your reply!:)
 
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