Feeding and supplementing

[EarlMT]

Hi I have a 2-3 month old male veiled chameleon. I've only had him a little over two weeks and I've done a lot of research but I find lots of contradicting things. I was wondering how often to supplement him with calcium with/without d3 and vitamins. I'm in Montana so he hasn't seen the sun yet and probably won't that often. I have a reptisun 5.0 UVB and a basking bulb that's about 8" above the highest branch where he likes to bask (it's about 80-85 degrees F). I have been giving him calcium with d3 once a week and vitamins once a week. What do you guys recommend? Also he eats about 3-6 small-medium crickets per day that I've gut loaded 2-5 days in advance with apples and oranges. I see all of yours eat tremendously more than that so should I be worried? I got him off of flchams(I've read good things about them) so I was hoping he's healthy. Thanks in advance!

 

[Remkon]

Hi! Welcome to this forum and congratulations on your first chameleon!

supplement calcium w/o D3 daily
supplement calcium with D3 1x a week on alternating weeks
the other 1x a week you supplement a multivitamin

If your multivitamin already has D3 in it you won't need calcium with D3!

I don't think you should be worried, not every chameleon has the same appetite and temperature also plays a big role in how much he will eat.
As long as he eats it will be fine... If he doesn't eat for a few days don't panic either, he may just be coming up with a shed which seems to lessen their appetite.

As you are fairly new to chameleons I'd advise you read the resources page of this site, also print the caresheet and study it.
Pay special attention to the following:
- https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
- https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/
- https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/lighting/
- https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/enclosures/

 

[EarlMT]

supplement calcium w/o D3 daily
supplement calcium with D3 1x a week on alternating weeks
the other 1x a week you supplement a multivitamin

If your multivitamin already has D3 in it you won't need calcium with D3!

Is supplementing with calcium too often bad though? I've been giving him calcium with d3 once a week and multivitamin without d3 once a week. I just don't want him to develop MBD it looks aweful.

 

[Remkon]

well we most likely supplement to much calcium but it's not harmful in the dosis we provide. (lightly sprinkled feeders)
We have to take in account that the chameleon will not eat everything, feeders will lose supplementation from misting or just climbing around rubbing it on leaves.
Only thing that's really known to be harm full in larger dosis is D3 so it's best used sparingly amd even avoided on times that the chameleon lives outside or gets a lot of outside time.

 

[EarlMT]

Ok. Thankyou!

 

[Graves923]

As far as appetite, your chameleon is probably still settling in. I got my Veiled from FLChams as well and the first few days he ate maybe 4-8 small crickets per day out of the 10+ i would offer. Now that hes settled in, I offer 8-10 small crickets twice per day and he will eat 90% of them. Whatever he doesn't eat out of the feeder cup I free range for him to hunt.

 

[EarlMT]

Ok thanks!

 

[Extensionofgreen]

Crickets have a very short digestive tract and the best gutloading would be done hours before feeding them to the chameleon. Fruits are ok as part of a gutload, but apples and oranges alone are pretty bad, as they are low in pH and high in phosphorus, which negates the calcium the chameleon needs. There are plenty of reasonable good gutloads sold through the site sponsors, that make it much easier to provide a decent platform for good nutrition. I'd suggest you invest in one and use the fruits sparingly as a moisture sources, but dark, leafy greens are better and cheaper.