Chameleon food intake questions

[SJRG95]

Hey guys!
So currently i am feeding my guys this:
6-12 crickets a day- get dusted with calcium no D3
4 reptiworms (calciworms) a day-
2 hornworms a day
and twice a week I feed them 1 superworms.
My veiled chameleon gets watermeleon 1x a week about a few pieces totalling a square about .5".
And i have roaches coming in sometimes next week that i will be adding 2 to each day.

I just wanted to know if this was a decent "meal" for my two chams, one is a 4 month old little monster and once is my year old piggy.

Thanks!!

 

[kinyonga]

If they are both males feed them as much as they will eat in a couple of minutes every day for the first few months and then cut down to every second day. Make sure the insects are of an appropriate size for each one.

I usually leave a couple of crickets loose in the cage for a snack.

Make sure you dust at most feedings with a phosphorous - free calcium powder, twice a month with a phosphorous - free calcium D3 powder and twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene ( prOformed ) source of vitamin A.

Make sure they get exposure to a UVB light, proper temperatures. and that you feed / gutload the insects with a wide assortment of greens and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, kale, endive, dandelion greens, collards, escarole etc. The same veggies and greens can be fed to the chameleon along with a small amount of fruit such as apple, pear, melon or berries.

If the chameleon's start to get fat cut them back a bit.

Hope this helps!

 

[SJRG95]

Thanks! I do all the other stuff it was just nice to get more bugs. My other male who recently passed didn't eat any and my female veiled can only eat so much. So it's nice to have 2 very hungry chams that love every bug and worm!!

 

[kinyonga]

Do you have a male and a female now then?

 

[SipeCsus]

Yeahh if u have a female u have to limit her intake.. I hadd a female veiled that i overfed nd she sadly passed after laying a very large clutch of eggs..

 

[SJRG95]

I have a male (4 months) and a female(1.5 months). She's abnormally small but eats like a big girl. She usually eats 6 crickets and the worms listed. What should I limit it to? Just a smaller amount?

 

[kinyonga]

You don't need to limit her yet...but once they are sexually mature if you feed them too much...particularly at certain times in their cycle...they will usually produce large clutches, can develop MBD, can prolapse and have reproductive issues like eggbinding and follicular stasis.

 

[jajeanpierre]

You don't need to limit her yet...but once they are sexually mature if you feed them too much...particularly at certain times in their cycle...they will usually produce large clutches, can develop MBD, can prolapse and have reproductive issues like eggbinding and follicular stasis.

When do you know a female is approaching sexual maturity? I have a young female veiled, probably about four months old (40 grams), that is a real Miss Piggy. She is getting big and is very round.

I want to start cutting her way back before she reaches maturity, not after. When is that likely to be?

Here's a picture of her taken yesterday. She is a little puffed up for the camera in her face, but not much. She really is that round. I bought her a month ago and she weighed 28 grams.

http://imgur.com/cREcPRx

 

[SJRG95]

I meant 1.5 years. I believe mine is gravid now.
I had a different thread asking if she looked gravid. And it's been about 2 weeks and she looks like a small balloon and she's much heavier now. She only weighed 22grams but I believe she weighs much more now. I bought a scale but it's not precise enough so I need to get another.