Chameleon ate his own poop? Help

[Emmamendichameleon]

I was perplexed today, watching my male veiled chameleon earlier because I had never actually seen him go number 2. He usually doe that when I am not in the room, but for the first time since I got him 7 months ago, this was my first time actually seeing him do this. This wasn’t what concerned me however. What really concerned me was that, after he did this, he turned around and ATE IT??? I don’t understand why he did this, he has never done this before because when I check his cage, I always see his poops and clean them up (this doesn’t bother him, I spot clean when I see them). He never had unhealthy looking waste, always looks healthy, I take good care of him. I fed him 5 crickets yesterday in the afternoon, so I don’t think it was out of hunger? Help!
Extra

• Chameleon Info:
  He is a male veiled chameleon aged around 1 year old, maybe a couple months older (I bought him already mostly grown up)
• Handling - I don’t handle him often, maybe once a month when I let him free range in our orchid flower branches. I let him keep his space.
• Feeding - I feed him 4-6 crickets (depending on how many I have or if I also want to feed him something with a couple crickets like a hornworm or a couple meal worms, I give him variety but don’t over feed or under feed) dusted with Flukers calcium powder and a touch of the Cham vitamin mixture powder. Usually feed in the afternoon. I gut load the crickets with greens, usually spinach
• Watering - I manually mist his cage 4 times a day for 30-45 seconds with 3 hours in between. I see him drink water daily, his eyes are not sunken in and he shows no sign of dehydration.
• Fecal Description - not too soft not too hard and with a healthy looking and amount of urate. Entirely healthy and normal consistency and appearance
• History - Adopted from Petco

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - screen cage approximately 3 feet tall, 1 and a half feet wide
• Lighting - I replaced his uvb and heating lamp when they reached 5 months old. He loves the lights he has. I turn on his lights in the morning when I wake up and they stay on for 11 to 12 hours, he moves around to adjust according to his preference throughout the day.
• Temperature - Under his heating lamp, temp is about 88°F. Top of cage is around 75 and bottom of cage is 70°
• Humidity - I manually mist his cage, humidity through the day is about 60%. I last must his cage before his lights turn off.
• Plants - he has a live potros in his cage. It helps with humidity plus he loves climbing through it
• Placement - cage is located 9 feet away from 2 Large windows facing my garden and trees. Some sun comes in in the morning. Not crazy amounts. He likes to look out sometimes at the windows in the morning. His cage is placed on small table. One air vent located 17 feet away, I didn’t want him very close to the air vent.
• Location - south texas

 

[Emmamendichameleon]

Correcting some typos: he has a pothos in his cage

 

[Beman]

Well that is interesting... Maybe he just thought it was food... If it was sliding away... ewwwwww ok but you know what I mean...

As for your form. I am going to put my feedback in red bold.

• Chameleon Info:
  He is a male veiled chameleon aged around 1 year old, maybe a couple months older (I bought him already mostly grown up) How long have you had him?
• Handling - I don’t handle him often, maybe once a month when I let him free range in our orchid flower branches. I let him keep his space.
• Feeding - I feed him 4-6 crickets (depending on how many I have or if I also want to feed him something with a couple crickets like a hornworm or a couple meal worms, I give him variety but don’t over feed or under feed) dusted with Flukers calcium powder and a touch of the Cham vitamin mixture powder. Usually feed in the afternoon. I gut load the crickets with greens, usually spinach You will want to do away with the mealworms they are extremely low in nutritional value. Can you take a picture of the calcium powder and vitamin mixture your using? Feeding in the morning is better as it gives them the day to digest. I would not use spinach, it will bind calcium. I will post an image for proper gutloading variety.
• Watering - I manually mist his cage 4 times a day for 30-45 seconds with 3 hours in between. I see him drink water daily, his eyes are not sunken in and he shows no sign of dehydration. I would increase the evening misting to 2 minutes so he can clean his eyes.
• Fecal Description - not too soft not too hard and with a healthy looking and amount of urate. Entirely healthy and normal consistency and appearance I would advice you get a fecal run to make sure he does not have any parasite issues.
• History - Adopted from Petco

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - screen cage approximately 3 feet tall, 1 and a half feet wide Males do much better in a 2x2x4 foot enclosures.
• Lighting - I replaced his uvb and heating lamp when they reached 5 months old. He loves the lights he has. I turn on his lights in the morning when I wake up and they stay on for 11 to 12 hours, he moves around to adjust according to his preference throughout the day. What type of UVB lighting are you using?
• Temperature - Under his heating lamp, temp is about 88°F. Top of cage is around 75 and bottom of cage is 70° These are fine.
• Humidity - I manually mist his cage, humidity through the day is about 60%. I last must his cage before his lights turn off. Typically day time humidity should be 30-50% max Night time can be as high as 100%
• Plants - he has a live potros in his cage. It helps with humidity plus he loves climbing through it good the more live plants the better.
• Placement - cage is located 9 feet away from 2 Large windows facing my garden and trees. Some sun comes in in the morning. Not crazy amounts. He likes to look out sometimes at the windows in the morning. His cage is placed on small table. One air vent located 17 feet away, I didn’t want him very close to the air vent. just make sure he does not get direct sun because this can heat up the cage quite a bit.
• Location - south texas

some great links
www.chameleonbreeder.com
https://chameleonacademy.com/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/

 

[The Wild One]

I know that dogs eat their poop when they are missing a vitamin or nutrient in their diet. Chams do this when they eat soil some times. So maybe it’s another version of that?

 

[Brodybreaux25]

This is a first, now you got me curious...

 

[Carlton]

Goes to show you that some people (or pets...) will try anything ONCE!

 

[The Wild One]

I did a bit of googling and found this website that has a lot on the subject surprisingly. I dont know how reliable it is.
Quote-
Chameleons eating their own poop? Eww! Sounds disgusting right? Although this sounds surprising, chameleons do eat their own poop. If your chameleon eats its own poop, it is not a very good sign. As you may know, dogs sometimes eat their own poop when they feel the nutrients from their food is insufficient. There are a couple of reasons why your chameleon may be eating its own poop. It could be that its feces still contains some undigested food and there are still some chunks of insect parts. Furthermore, there is a possibility of bugs being attracted to the feces and your chameleons try to feed on them. It may be attracted to the movement of these bugs and while striking at them pick up its own poop. Also, it may have a parasitic infestation which causes it to behave this way.

Whatever the cause, try to feed it adequately and increase the variety of meals and gut load it receives. If it continues, monitor the cage to see if your chameleon’s feces attracts some other insects. If you improve on these areas and you will see your chameleon feasting on its poop, it is best you visit the vet for a proper examination.
Website- https://chameleonowner.com/chameleons-poop/