Crickets too large?

[richpass6]

hey i have a 5 month panther chameleon. he eats, drinks, and does everythign a chameleon should. i was feeding him 10 small crickets an dhe would eat them all but i decided to get large ones to see if they woul dwork and fatten him up alittle more. i noticed when he would grab a large cricket he would let it sit in him mouth (halfway) and then start to eat it after a minute. does this mena the crickets are too big? yesterdya i gave him around 9 or 10 large crickets and there are 5 left over. is this ok? would it be ok form him to eat 5 large crickets as opposed to 10 small daily????

 

[pssh]

Five large is usually quite a bit bigger. Do you only use crickets? Try using silkworms, roaches, hornworms, waxworms, butterworms, stick bug, mantis', flies, superworms, and phoenix worms.

 

[richpass6]

that snot really answering my question though lol im jsut seeing maybe they are too big for him? i know what they can eat and i iwll give it a try but i noticed he didnt eat what wa sleft over today and is realyl showing some dark ass colors, very gloomy shads of grenn/gray/ and dark blue. could he be sick or stresseD? idk how to tell

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

that snot really answering my question though lol im jsut seeing maybe they are too big for him? i know what they can eat and i iwll give it a try but i noticed he didnt eat what wa sleft over today and is realyl showing some dark ass colors, very gloomy shads of grenn/gray/ and dark blue. could he be sick or stresseD? idk how to tell

The cricket should be no larger than the space between the chameleons eyes.

 

[luevelvet]

It's normal for them to hold an insect in their mouths for a bit. Our melleri will hold larger roaches in his mouth for up to 45 mins at times before continuing to chew and take it down.

Now, that doesn't mean the crickets are of an appropriate size. Just make sure he can get the cricket down without much struggle. If it looks too big, it very well maybe be and you may have to start with medium sized feeders before going to large adults.

It makes sense that 5 large crickets would fill him up as much as ten small, well, more so in my opinion, but I've always liked med-med/large crickets over the larger adults.

Regarding the colors, well, take a photo so we can see what you're seeing and maybe we can make a stab at it from there. Also, there is a questionnaire that helps in identifying any potential issues on this site. It helps everyone, including yourself, to get an idea of what we're talking about. If he was acting normal yesterday but today is showing different colors etc, I wouldn't worry about it too much just yet. It could be anything at this point. They do darken up while basking to absorb the heat more efficiently and such.

Here is the link to the questionnaire:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Thanks,

Luis

 

[AMGChams]

The cricket should be no larger than the space between the chameleons eyes.

This might be a dumb question but by no larger than the space between the eyes do you mean the lenght of the feeder or the width? I am assuming width.

Ok after reading my post I am some what a dork ... yeah it would be width not length lol long day at work.