crickets in cage

[malsick86]

I free range my 2 baby veileds about 20 crickets in the morning and there is usually still around 10 plus crickets left running around the top of the cage. should i remove these when i go to turn lights off at bedtime? i know i see poops on leaves in the cage but i am still nervous that they may not be eatting enough. please some input on all of this. thank you

 

[ISA my Veiled]

Believe me they will know when to stop. It is hard to even overfeed a baby because they eat so much in the first place. You should be putting in a good amount 3 times a day and letting them eat as much as possible in 5-10 minutes. I wouldn't keep the crickets in there just because they may chomp on your chameleon if they are hungry and the stress from that is not a good thing for your little guys.

 

[WarmGreenandSlimey]

20 for both of them to eat or 20 for 1 and 20 for the other because you are only supposed to feed them around 10 a day is what the breeder told me

 

[pssh]

How old are they and are they housed together? If they are really young and only eating 10 total, one could be bullying the other into not eating or they could be stressing each other out so that they eat less than they normally would.

 

[malsick86]

I put in like 25 in the more and at night there is still quite a few left

 

[malsick86]

It's almost like they are bored with the crickets.

 

[Kamillion]

I usually put in about 20 crickets for 1 chameleon and by night time they are all gone... Plus I also give her about 10 small mealworms a day and she will eat most of them...my Cham is around 3-4 months

 

[malsick86]

Well I just got them a week ago today and they are 2.5 months old and yes housed together but i never see any stress signs from either of them

 

[pssh]

They could still be settling in then. Sometimes they will not eat much if at all when you first get them. You will probably need to separate them soon, especially if one is larger than the other or if they don't start eating normally soon.

 

[Ashlovesem]

I have always been told that you need to remove crickets at night time because they will bite the chameleons when they are sleeping. It is a small bite, but it can still cause them to get infections much easier through the open sore.

also, i dont think they should be housed together :/

 

[Kamillion]

I have noticed my chameleon goes for the mealworms first. Try buying some meal worms and put about 20 in a dish and see if they eat more you can also keep track of how much they eat also..

 

[pssh]

Mealworms are fatty and hard to digest. They can be used fairly regularly but it is best not to use them for more than about 20% or so of the diet IMO. I would not use mealworms too often.