I ordered my first chameleon from the Newton (if I remember right) bloodline and he ended up looking nothing like his sire. I think it's a roll of the dice
Gotta make a drainage system or go bioactive (use the search bar for either of these - there have been many threads about it). Plain ol' substrate is a big risk of impaction and bacterial growth
It could be, but it's hard to tell without pictures. If your feeders became opaque white ghosts, then it is too much. I like to dust them in a solid cup and then transfer them to something with mesh on the bottom to gently shake off excess dust