Body condition and feeding rates

[cowchick]

Just a few questions to pose as to when to make changes in my babies diets.

My male veiled is 6 months old now and my male and female ambilobe are 5 months old now. I have been feeding the boys about 12 1/2-3/4" crickets & 3 1" silkworms (I have hatched and grown them out myself, so they're not fullsize). The female eats less than that, about 2 1" silkies and 6 crickets.

They are all growing very well and quite healthy, however I've noticed the boys with a fat pad around the tail, and I'm not sure of adequate condition for their size, and I know I have to be careful not to over feed the little girl to help prevent early egg laying.

Please make some basic guidelines. I will attempt some pics of all my kids. Steph

 

[BigTex]

i could use some guidelines as well, my veiled is a few months younger than yours but it would be nice to know ahead of time

 

[dodolah]

me three (mine is about to be a 5 months old)

 

[PardalisGirl]

Body Condition.........

I think I would let their physical appearance be your guide. You want to feed them enough that they have sturdy looking limbs that are filled out. The amount varies from cham to cham and from keeper to keeper because of the different types of food we all feed. Concentrate on variety of foods. I have not really known chams to overeat like people do if variety is given. The "fat pad" you describe on your male's tail is not really fat. It's the normal male anatomy. Their "goods" and glands are in the tail. They need some sort of activity/exercise to keep them healthy. They should either be moving around in their own cage to some degree or you should take them out of the cage and get them to move around a bit. I'm into figuring out health condition through constant observation and not formulas or numbers of this and that. I have enough chams that I can see they are all different. They all have different metabolisms just like people do. They all eat differently, have different cravings and dislikes and different activity levels..........

 

[cowchick]

Thanks Katherine, duly noted and I appreciate your input. They are fairly active and have a variety of plants & vines in different sizes and such to move around on. The boys will be ready for a 4 footer any day now, so that's the new task at hand.

Do these photos help?

Donkey...6 month old male veiled

Lightning McQueen...5 month old ambilobe

Sally...5 month old ambilobe

 

[cowchick]

Ok...perhaps I have to reword this as I understand all inviduals vary.

What should I look for to avoid overweight unhealthy chams (males and females)?

 

[Vibrant Chameleons]

Just feed them cockroaches dusted with calcium Steph. Forget the crickets lol.

 

[davider]

My chameleons love crickets, silkworms, butter worms, and horn worms and since they are young, a couple of worms and some extra crickets won't hurt, but don't let them become too fat lol.
Goodluck

David

 

[Scotty]

Just feed them cockroaches dusted with calcium Steph. Forget the crickets lol.

Your boy looks exactly like mine, although popeye has more of a grey head.

I agree, can the crickets, they are a pain.....vary the diet with roaches worms etc.

BTW Steph, why do you call yourself "cowchick", you don't look anything like a cow, your quite pretty! lol

Cheers
Scott.

 

[cowchick]

Well thanks guys so much! Although Scotty, you're just fueling Derrik, cause he's trying to convince my tenant/roommate into getting roaches and I told her that not one roach will come into this house for her beardie let alone my chameleons. Last thing I need is a cockroach infestation from some critter that gets out! Derrik keeps telling me he's going to build me a shed in the backyard for my chams, and that's when I'll get roaches!

By the way Scott...I'm a cowchick, cause I'm a rodeo girl! Thanks for the nice compliment, but I couldn't get a nice small pic of my chams to put as an avatar!

 

[HiroProtagonist]

Well thanks guys so much! Although Scotty, you're just fueling Derrik, cause he's trying to convince my tenant/roommate into getting roaches and I told her that not one roach will come into this house for her beardie let alone my chameleons. Last thing I need is a cockroach infestation from some critter that gets out! Derrik keeps telling me he's going to build me a shed in the backyard for my chams, and that's when I'll get roaches!

The guy I got my male jacksons from breeds his own bugs for all his herps and always has an overabundance of everything....except roaches. Ironically, they absolutely refuse to breed. Go figger.

 

[Scotty]

Honestly Steph, keeping roaches is far easier than keeping crickets!
I have read that the nutritional value of roaches is better than crickets as well, so for me it makes better sense when you have alot of herps...
I too have a partner that hates most all bugs, except silkworms so I understand the the other half spinning out about roaches, although the type kept as feeders in my part of the world are "bush" type roaches and won't start an infestation in your houise if they happen to escape, there not the scungy rubbish type roach!
Kept in the right enclosure, they are so easy to keep and my cham loved them.
I was teasing about the cowchick comment, i'm a boy from the beach...lol
I gathered you were a rodeo girl.
Cheers
Scott.

 

[Dyesub Dave]

I've been feeding my veiled chams cut up grapes for a treat once in a while. And today I tried pices of stawberry. 3 out of 4 chams say that both are good!

BTW - The 4th cham is on a food strike right now. Nothing but silk, butter or horn worms!

Dyesub Dave.