Was the diet too successful?

[SueAndHerZoo]

My rescue male veiled was a bit overweight when I got him so I put him on a diet. He went from 105 gr. to 99 grams. Now he looks skinny to me. Does this look like a good weight or did I go too far with his diet? (Wish I could be as diligent with MY diets!)
Sue

 

[Beman]

How are you getting your weight? Because 105 would be what a female weighs not a male.

 

[Beman]

Can you also take a picture of his face straight on so I can see how thick the casque actually is? And try to get a total length tip of nose to end of tail with a ruler.

 

[Chameleoking]

He looks at a perfect weight in pics. Great work!

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

They're all different, and there's a range.

Veiled chameleons are not heavy-bodied lizards, with males weighing in at about 3 to 6 ounces (85 to 170 grams) and females at 3 to 4 ounces (85 to 118 grams).
https://www.petmd.com/reptile/species/veiled-chameleon

Species	Average Male Weight In Grams (ounces)	Average Female Weight In Grams (ounces)
Veiled Chameleon	85-170 grams (3-6 ounces)	85-113 grams (3-4 ounces)

https://oddlycutepets.com/chameleon-weight/

6 grams out of 105 is only about 5% (and 5 paper clips).

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

They're all different, and there's a range.


6 grams out of 105 is only about 5% (and 5 paper clips).

Sure wish I could lose 5% of my body weight that easily!
Sue

 

[MissSkittles]

Do you know about how old your guy is? 99-105 Gms really is more like the weight to expect from a female. That’s close to what my adult girls average weights are, and they are much smaller than a male. There can be a big variance in what males can weigh. For example, my male is 164 Gms and has gotten chunky - his casque is starting to puff out. One of his brothers is about 200 Gms and isn’t chunky at all…just a big beautiful guy. I have my guy on a diet, but have been told by a very experienced keeper that it will probably be difficult for him to lose some of the puffiness of his casque. There are a few different ways to determine if your veiled is overweight, underweight or just right. Maybe this will help. If you don’t know who he is, Petr Necas is one of the biologists (not sure of his actual degree) who have been instrumental in guiding our current husbandry practices.

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

I have watched his videos and learned so much - thank you for sharing. Still hard for me to know if I'm doing right by my fella but he's definitely not in the "obese" category. We think he's between 1-2 years old. I got him from a person who wasn't taking care of him. No plants (just branches) in a very small cage, was feeding mealworms and water from bowls on the floor, and had no UVB or supplements. So his growth may be stunted but I'm having a hard time getting an accurate measurement of him from nose to tail.... will keep trying. But here's a close up, head on, so you can see his casque. Thanks for the help!
Sue

 

[MissSkittles]

He looks ok to my eyes. If he wasn’t getting proper care, that certainly could have stunted his growth. It’s hard to go by length in my opinion, as like us they are all different...bone structure, muscle mass, etc. The important part is making sure he’s getting all he needs to be healthy.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

He looks ok to my eyes. If he wasn’t getting proper care, that certainly could have stunted his growth. It’s hard to go by length in my opinion, as like us they are all different...bone structure, muscle mass, etc. The important part is making sure he’s getting all he needs to be healthy.

+1. For the same reasons, IMO it's hard to go by grams.

https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-medical-obesity/

Maybe we need a BMI (Body Mass Index) for chameleons...