Cricket size and Chams age doubts

[Andemus21]

Hi guys, first than all, I really appreciate such a great forum this site is. I have learned many things, but ofcourse like everyone else theres a no ending learning especialy about chams.

Ok, so I have a male Panther cham which I think is about 4 months old about 4.5 inches body and a 6 months old 6 inches bodyfemale Veiled cham. Can you guys help me with opinions about they age.

I Have been feeding them 1/2 size cricket but by a mistake from the farm they send me 2/3 , 3/4 and some few adults crickets, would it be ok to feed them those?. I had read about the thumb rule, "dont feed anything bigger than the space between eyes". Which Im comfused how to go with that. When we talk about the space between chams eyes, they referring from the side to side of the eyes or the inside (within)part? Another thing, when talking about the cricket size, we talking about the width or the lenght and those this include the legs or is just the body of the cricket.
Thanks in advance. By they name are Baby Rex (panther) and Blublue(Veiled)

 

[Thehippie]

are you measuring from tail to nose? if so I think that those should be right the 6 month may be a 5 month but not much variation. crickets, if theyre comfortable with eating them then its ok in my opinion. offer it but the panther may not eat it

 

[Syreptyon]

I think your panther is at least 6 months old. He's very colorful already, but may just be an early bloomer. As for crickets, just watch them eat and see what fits in their mouth easily, starting with the smallest options and working your way up.

One big suggestion for your setups: They are much, much too sparse for a chameleon. They will do significantly better if you fill them out with a lot of foliage. Preferably live plants, like schefflera arboricola, ficus, and pothos. Also I would recommend you add in some hard wood branches in there, going horizontally from one side of the enclosure to the other at all different levels of elevation. Chameleons thrive when given a way to maximize the volume of their enclosures. The more pathways you creat, the better!

 

[Andemus21]

are you measuring from tail to nose? if so I think that those should be right the 6 month may be a 5 month but not much variation. crickets, if theyre comfortable with eating them then its ok in my opinion. offer it but the panther may not eat it

From noise to tail base, no whole tail, thanks

 

[Andemus21]

I think your panther is at least 6 months old. He's very colorful already, but may just be an early bloomer. As for crickets, just watch them eat and see what fits in their mouth easily, starting with the smallest options and working your way up.

One big suggestion for your setups: They are much, much too sparse for a chameleon. They will do significantly better if you fill them out with a lot of foliage. Preferably live plants, like schefflera arboricola, ficus, and pothos. Also I would recommend you add in some hard wood branches in there, going horizontally from one side of the enclosure to the other at all different levels of elevation. Chameleons thrive when given a way to maximize the volume of their enclosures. The more pathways you creat, the better!

Thanks, I not sure abour live plants, I work 9 hrs everyday And have 4 kids, honet, Im bad with live plants, but defenitly I need to fill those cages. About the hard wood branches, are thoses more prone to crate mold?

 

[Thehippie]

then theyre much older, I say 6 and 8 months

 

[Syreptyon]

Live plants require next to no maintenance if you simply add a 6500K plant bulb on top of the enclosure in addition to the UVB light. The species I suggested to you are the easiest of the easy. It is not at all recommended to only use fake plants. We're all busy here and have families, jobs, and lives of our own, but that's not a good reason to cut corners on care for your chameleons. Chameleons are high maintenance and will only thrive under the right conditions.

In addition to filling up wasted space, plants increase humidity (Which is very important), simulate a natural living environment, and your veiled will even munch on them. That's another reason why fake plants aren't recommended. Sometimes they will try to eat them and end up harming themselves.

 

[Andemus21]

Live plants require next to no maintenance if you simply add a 6500K plant bulb on top of the enclosure in addition to the UVB light. The species I suggested to you are the easiest of the easy. It is not at all recommended to only use fake plants. We're all busy here and have families, jobs, and lives of our own, but that's not a good reason to cut corners on care for your chameleons. Chameleons are high maintenance and will only thrive under the right conditions.

In addition to filling up wasted space, plants increase humidity (Which is very important), simulate a natural living environment, and your veiled will even munch on them. That's another reason why fake plants aren't recommended. Sometimes they will try to eat them and end up harming themselves.

Like I stated at the biggining of the post, I'm still learning and about cutting corners, believe me, not trying to. But defenitly everything need to be a balance,without been derespecful, I know everyone have a life same as everyone have a opinion. I have read many post about fake and live plants, for now thats what I have. I have learned much and willing to do better.

 

[JoshD49]

By that age they should be in the medium to large cricket range since my 5 month old female panther can handle mediums and my 7 month male panther can handle medium large. My 9 month veiled large crickets so problem but prefers medium large. Like @Syreptyon said watch them and see what they do and you might be surprised that they take the larger ones. My female was eating a lot of small crickets so I tried a medium to see if it would fill her up better and it worked.

Second yes you need more horizontal plants and if possible live plants but you can do this over time and just don't when you can. I have rebuilt my cages a few times to get them closer to what I want. Eventually you will want to get them more cover for hiding. The big one is the veiled because they will try to eat plants. Mine tries to eat fake plants all the time and once he had live plants he was happy as it gets. The pothos plant on the other hand has never looked worse with all the bites taken out. I have offered other veggies but he just loves his pothos haha.

 

[Andemus21]

By that age they should be in the medium to large cricket range since my 5 month old female panther can handle mediums and my 7 month male panther can handle medium large. My 9 month veiled large crickets so problem but prefers medium large. Like @Syreptyon said watch them and see what they do and you might be surprised that they take the larger ones. My female was eating a lot of small crickets so I tried a medium to see if it would fill her up better and it worked.

Second yes you need more horizontal plants and if possible live plants but you can do this over time and just don't when you can. I have rebuilt my cages a few times to get them closer to what I want. Eventually you will want to get them more cover for hiding. The big one is the veiled because they will try to eat plants. Mine tries to eat fake plants all the time and once he had live plants he was happy as it gets. The pothos plant on the other hand has never looked worse with all the bites taken out. I have offered other veggies but he just loves his pothos haha.

Thanks for the quick respond, when we talking about medium, are we refering to 1/2medium, 3/4medium-large and large for full size cricket?

 

[ERKleRose]

As stated, more branches and vines throughout. Pothos is almost unkillable and doesn’t need extra lighting. I’d atleast add it to the veileds and add more plant cover (real or fake) to both cages for ample hiding spots. FL Chams has an extensive cham-safe plant list on their website. Schfflera arboricola isn’t too bad for me, either. With a t5HO or T8 linear fixture and a 6500K linear bulb, you can put basically any plant in and it’ll thrive. Hibiscus is great for veileds, but needs that lighting. The Bio Dude has cheap linear fixtures that already come with a 6500K bulb. He has live plants, as well!

 

[JoshD49]

Thanks for the quick respond, when we talking about medium, are we refering to 1/2medium, 3/4medium-large and large for full size cricket?

Yeah I believe that's the measurements. Some stores don't different but that looks the same as the sizes I feed them.

 

[Andemus21]

My lil guy Rex just shed and show off xD well not a baby anymore, thanks guys