4 1/2 months/need diet.--

[JoshCrane1]

my 4 1/2 month female veiled is on a diet(starting 2 days ago). she has grown very fast in the past two and a half months i have owned her. her growth seemed normal until the past 3 weeks when i introduced silkworms as primary feeder and a occasional superworm treat. the reason for the feeder change was i want to get away from crickets, and the only crickets i have are reserved for my 3mo male. supplementing didnt change and she continues to look healthy except for her accelerated growth and now her girth. she just looked really fat so that why i decided to cut back.

daily previous diet: 3 large silkworms, 1 superworm every other day.
new diet, or until she slims down: 1 large silkworm and 1 occasional super.

anyone see any problem with this? im scared she will start producing eggs young and have complications from doing so, like my last chameleon.

heres a pic of her i snapped before i decided to put her i a diet.

 

[Kat77]

Pretty little tennis ball!

 

[CleanLineChameleons]

What are you using for your gutload with your crickets? 1 silkworm daily for a 4.5 month old is definitely too little. It appears that she has some edema, are you feeding your crickets potatoes? Do not cut her diet to those numbers...they are suppose to grow very quickly at that age.

-chris

 

[JoshCrane1]

i havent fed her crickets in weeks, i have been using supplemented very large(for her)silkworms,about 2 inches long. 1 of these silkworms is about 5-6 crickets to her and would take her all day to eat em all. and thats not to mention the supers. u dont think one big silkworm is enough to feed her and get her back not lookin like a tennis ball.lol. she was sitting funny in the pic, no edema, just fat.

 

[JoshCrane1]

..ne more opinions? i think im gonna bump up the diet to 2 large silkworms a day.

 

[Julirs]

Hey Josh-I wouldn't limit her too much at this age. I would still be feeding her everyday for a few more months also. Are they silkworms that have just grown to like 3"? I use crickets and silkworms, that way there is a little variation and it doesn't seem like quite so much to feed. Maybe 5-6 1/2" crickets and a big silkworm is what my female gets. My female at 4-5 months was HUGE but she was not fat. I also see that she MAY-hard to tell in pics-have a little gular edema-so maybe lighten up on supplements a bit-that powder really sticks to silkies.

 

[JoshCrane1]

thanks, yeah ill TRY to take a look at her today and see if she has a lil edema. also ill give her some crix to mix it up too. she is soo huge right now, it seems like she grew like 4 inches in the past few weeks. IF i can find and catch her, ill snap a couple more pics. she is really hard to find, i rarely see her, only in the mornings and sometimes i can spot her when she's sleeping. needless to say im fancying my male a whole lot more cuz he aint a skiddish biaatch.

 

[JoshCrane1]

ok, i was able to examine her on my lunch break, her gular area is fine, no signs of edema. and she even looks not so plump, she actually looks very healthy now. i guess im being a worrywart, she will be fed normally starting tomarrow.


thanks everyone.