Weighing

Tinydino

Avid Member
Is there a chart or something that gives a percentile for growth and weights for veiled Chameleons? Or an average weight.
What is an average weight gain for a growing Cham?
I weighed my female about a month ago (really not easy cause she wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea)
Then again today. (She gained just over 20g)
She is still growing but I wanted to get some practice now so I can monitor her weight when she eventually becomes gravid.
I used a large mkxing bowl with a stick in it for her to grip. Zeroed the scale, then had her grab the stick beford setting her in the bowl with it. She didn't get angry or change colour. But wanted to climb out of the bowl pretty quickly.
Is there a better way? How often does everyone weigh their Chams?
 
get tote with lid, tar scale. Put cham in tote with lid, weigh cham.

But growth rates and final weights can be all over the plate. There have been rumors of 1kg Bull males as an example. And they have growth spurts, they are not linear. So 1 five month old might be double the weight of another, and on month six they may be the same.
 
In 30+ years of keeping chameleons, I don't think I ever weighed a chameleon unless we needed a weight to give it meds. My poor "neglected" chameleons got much different care and attention than people seem to give now and yet they seemed healthy and lived pretty long lives. Things were "primitive" back then...no fancy cages (only aquariums in the beginning) ...no fancy cage furniture...no good UVB lights (vita lites) like there are now....no fancy misting systems (hand held spray bottles)...how did they ever survive, let alone do well???!!!
 
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I weigh my boys monthly and my female weekly since she’s been receptive. You should be able to tell just from their appearance if they are at a good weight too. I have two boys from the same clutch 2 weeks apart that don’t weigh the same but look healthy/normal. My oldest I kept track off too and he weighed more at the age my youngest are now. But since you have a female they should be weighing less than a male. My female is currently around 73g at 8 months old.
 
Is there a chart or something that gives a percentile for growth and weights for veiled Chameleons? Or an average weight.
What is an average weight gain for a growing Cham?
I weighed my female about a month ago (really not easy cause she wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea)
Then again today. (She gained just over 20g)
She is still growing but I wanted to get some practice now so I can monitor her weight when she eventually becomes gravid.
I used a large mkxing bowl with a stick in it for her to grip. Zeroed the scale, then had her grab the stick beford setting her in the bowl with it. She didn't get angry or change colour. But wanted to climb out of the bowl pretty quickly.
Is there a better way? How often does everyone weigh their Chams?
Make sure you account for the weight of the stick... You would want to weigh that separately an take it off her weight.

I have a stand I bought from Tamura designs on facebook. It makes it much easier for my boys. Put the stand on the gram scale zero it out then let the boys climb up on to it.

Weights vary... Supposedly a male Veiled that is a total of 129 grams at 15-16 inches is healthy. I have found though with the clutch one of my boys belongs to that is not an exact science... Some weigh more but have bigger casques. You can tell by their body. The arms should look lean and muscular. Casque should not be puffy and fat but slim.

These are my boys... Beman is a bit overweight for his size and has been on a diet. But this is the stand I use.

View media item 52553

 
In 30+ years of keeping chameleons, I don't think I ever weighed a chameleon unless we needed a weight to give it meds. My poor "neglected" chameleons got much different care and attention than people seem to give now and yet they seemed healthy and lived pretty long lives. Things were "primitive" back then...no fancy cages (only aquariums in the beginning) ...no fancy cage furniture...no good UVB lights (vita lites) like there are now....no fancy misting systems (hand held spray bottles)...how did they ever survive, let alone do well???!!!
Yeah, kind of like us old timers that drank out of the hose and rode bicycles without a helmet. How did we ever survive in such a dangerous world?😨
 
get tote with lid, tar scale. Put cham in tote with lid, weigh cham.

But growth rates and final weights can be all over the plate. There have been rumors of 1kg Bull males as an example. And they have growth spurts, they are not linear. So 1 five month old might be double the weight of another, and on month six they may be the same.
1kg!! Thats huge!!

My girl weighed in at 89g today. She is 4 and a half months.
I'm using a digital scale I have to weight small amounts of wool and foster kittens.
 
Make sure you account for the weight of the stick... You would want to weigh that separately an take it off her weight.

I have a stand I bought from Tamura designs on facebook. It makes it much easier for my boys. Put the stand on the gram scale zero it out then let the boys climb up on to it.

Weights vary... Supposedly a male Veiled that is a total of 129 grams at 15-16 inches is healthy. I have found though with the clutch one of my boys belongs to that is not an exact science... Some weigh more but have bigger casques. You can tell by their body. The arms should look lean and muscular. Casque should not be puffy and fat but slim.

These are my boys... Beman is a bit overweight for his size and has been on a diet. But this is the stand I use.

View media item 52553

I definitely weighed the stick prior along with the bowl. And zeroed the scale before hand.
I figured there was no exact science. Your guys are so handsome😍
 
I weigh my boys monthly and my female weekly since she’s been receptive. You should be able to tell just from their appearance if they are at a good weight too. I have two boys from the same clutch 2 weeks apart that don’t weigh the same but look healthy/normal. My oldest I kept track off too and he weighed more at the age my youngest are now. But since you have a female they should be weighing less than a male. My female is currently around 73g at 8 months old.
I feel like my girl is ginormous. She isnt 5 months yet and weighed in at 89g. A month ago 67g
 
Pictures of her today. 89g
4.5 months old.
 

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I feel like my girl is ginormous. She isnt 5 months yet and weighed in at 89g. A month ago 67g
Yeah I dunno. I do not have the hands on experience with females. Just my bratty boys. Female are so different because your charting weights to determine if they are holding eggs..
Are you sure she is 5 months?
 
Yeah I dunno. I do not have the hands on experience with females. Just my bratty boys. Female are so different because your charting weights to determine if they are holding eggs..
Are you sure she is 5 months?
Her hatch date was July 24th 2020.
I brought her home on Sept 25th. (My profile pic of her at 2 months of age)

She came directly from the breeder.
I went to pick her up myself because I wanted to see his set up and his other animals, as well as pick his brain for info. It was a great experience all around.

I had previous experience with a handme down Female that was given to me with MBD.
So I wanted to start out with everything right from the beginning this time.
 
Her when I brought her home. Sept 25 2020
 

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Her hatch date was July 24th 2020.
I brought her home on Sept 25th. (My profile pic of her at 2 months of age)

She came directly from the breeder.
I went to pick her up myself because I wanted to see his set up and his other animals, as well as pick his brain for info. It was a great experience all around.

I had previous experience with a handme down Female that was given to me with MBD.
So I wanted to start out with everything right from the beginning this time.
ohhh ok you have a hatch date. Yeah I dunno but she has some size to her for a 5 month old. what is her feeding schedule now and amount?
 
ohhh ok you have a hatch date. Yeah I dunno but she has some size to her for a 5 month old. what is her feeding schedule now and amount?
I just started to ration her on feeders. Up until a couple weeks ago she was free fed dusted crickets between 8am-noon daily
I would toss in a super worm or a silk worm about 4 days a week.
A few weeks ago i was able to finally get some bsfl.

Her schedule for the last 2 weeks has been.
bsfl x6-8 (some of them are tiny. And I have no idea how many she can eat daily)
crickets x7
Superworm x1 every other day.

I plan to cut back her crickets again next week to x5 a day. And then lessen the number again until I get her down to a few feeders every other day by around 6 months.


When I can get silk worms she will get one daily until they are gone. (I buy 4 every other week when I get to the city)
She gets 2 hornworms a month for treats.
 
I just started to ration her on feeders. Up until a couple weeks ago she was free fed dusted crickets between 8am-noon daily
I would toss in a super worm or a silk worm about 4 days a week.
A few weeks ago i was able to finally get some bsfl.

Her schedule for the last 2 weeks has been.
bsfl x6-8 (some of them are tiny. And I have no idea how many she can eat daily)
crickets x7
Superworm x1 every other day.

I plan to cut back her crickets again next week to x5 a day. And then lessen the number again until I get her down to a few feeders every other day by around 6 months.


When I can get silk worms she will get one daily until they are gone. (I buy 4 every other week when I get to the city)
She gets 2 hornworms a month for treats.
Try to get the larger sized bsfl if your going to feed the larvae... The small ones they tend not to chew and they can pass through and come out exactly as they went in 🤯
 
There are many good threads on this topic in the archives—some with charted growth—but like all living things, individual growth rates will differ quite a bit.

I used a digital postal scale (oz or grams) to track my beardie's growth (weekly) while he was growing; now I do it monthly to check he's not gaining or losing. I figured I'd do the same with my chameleon, but probably only monthly (about 1/4 to 1/3 the size and less handling) while he's growing, and maybe quarterly thereafter.

I recorded it in Excel, so I could chart it, but since they're all different, I'm not sure it would make much sense. 🤷‍♂️

I used a box for the beardie, but I'll probably cobble a stand together similar to Beman's; lots of PVC, dowel, and bamboo scraps around... :rolleyes:
 
Try to get the larger sized bsfl if your going to feed the larvae... The small ones they tend not to chew and they can pass through and come out exactly as they went in 🤯
Yikes. 😬😬😬😬🤢
I've been feeding the little suckers everyday to grow them up.
I pick out the biggest ones that are starting to turn dark.
I hand feed them to her anout an hour after lights on. (8am)
The crickets she gets at 10am when I get back from barn chores. By noon she has started prowling her cage in hunt mode. Lol. Im not sure she likes the new diet much.
 
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