Feeding and wattering my Chameleon

[leviw06]

Feeding and watering my Chameleon

I've had Loki, (female Veiled) fior about a week now, She very energetic and moves around her new home quite alot and sems to have settled into her new home nicely.

I feed Loki on an alternating sched. of Crickets one day, and mealworms the next. The pet store wasnt sure exactly how old she is but by her size i have deduced that shes roughly 3 months old. On cricket day i feed her 6 crickets dusted with calcium and a multivitamin. ( i also have a cricket keeper, feeding them flucker's orange cube complete cricket diet). Then on the off day i am feeding Loki 4-6 mealworms at a time not dusted.

i've noticed in other post some people are feeding their chameleons 15+ crickets and mealworms at a time. Am I not feeding her enough? the people at the pets store informed me to feed her what i have been and she seems to be doing fine and sleeping well. like 10+ hrs well. Sleeps like her owner i say.

I also keep the humidity around 70-80% by misting her terra with a sprits bottle 3-4 times a day. Making sure that water droplets accumulate on the fake plants' leaves. My only concern is that she may not be getting enough water to drink. I do see her at times licking one or two drops at a time then no more for a little while. And loki also sometimes grabs a drop of water from a distance as if grabing an insect with her tongue. When i spray her terra she seems very interestied in the water being sprayed and sometimes moves very quickly towards the drops of water forming but still only drinks a few drops at a time.

Not sure how relevant this next thin is but i monitor her droppings and notice that some days her urine part of the droppings is yellow and others its white. Is this a good sign of hydration?

i love little Loki to death and want to be the best owner i can can she is a very active and outgoing and is taking to me very quickly. Which from what i understand is not very common for her species. And Im glad that she is this way.

Oh also.
the first time i fed her both crickets and mealworms i placed them around her terra, and she didnt seem to interested in going after them. Which made me concerned. So i went out a bought a pair of stainless steel feeding tongs and she took to them right away. meaning she fed from the tongs rather than "hunting". Is this a good thing?

Erm i have been looking at making a drip system for hydrating Loki just cuz she seems to like the dropping water when i spray her terra rather than the water drops that just sit there. Is this a good idea?

Wow i typed more than i intended to.

Thanks for reading my post and I hope to hear from You, the community, soon!!!

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on Loki. You should feed her a little more for a couple months and then start cutting back some. I would recommend a different worm besides mealworms because they are hard for chameleons to digest. Try small silkworms, hornworms and supers. I have a couple blogs that I'm attaching for you below. The first is general care for new keepers with a section and a very important link for females. The second is about egg laying and the laying bin because females can and often do lay eggs without a male even being around.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html#comment1143

 

[Solid Snake]

Hi! Welcome to CF!
Jannb has given you great info.
I would strongly suggest making a dripper for Loki. This will ensure she gets plenty to drink. You can also barely spray with the spritzer, to were just a dribble comes out, hold it near her mouth, and give her as much as she will drink.
Again welcome, and please feel free to ask any questions you may have!

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the world of chameleons!

You said..."On cricket day i feed her 6 crickets dusted with calcium and a multivitamin. ( i also have a cricket keeper, feeding them flucker's orange cube complete cricket diet). Then on the off day i am feeding Loki 4-6 mealworms at a time not dusted."...how big are the crickets you are feeding her and how big is she? Your gutloading needs improvement IMHO. Also, there are better things to feed her than mealworms....small superworms, silkworms, hornworms, once in a while waxworms, etc.

As was already said...she could produce eggs once she is sexually mature so its important for her to have an appropriate place in the cage to dig to show you when she needs to. Also, its important not to let her see you watching her when she is digging to lay eggs.

Here's some information I hope will help you with supplementing, etc.....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.

 

[leviw06]

@ jannb - Thank you so much for telling me about the mealworms otherwise i probly wouldnt have known. Do you know of anyplaces in Iowa that i could get silk and superworms from? my local petsmart does not carry them. Also thank you for those links. I have not had a chance yet to read them but and eager to so that im fully prepared for when Loki matures and start to lay eggs so that she doesnt become, whats the term, eggborn? egglocked? erm i think i should go read your blog link so i know the proper term.

 

[leviw06]

@ solid snake - thanks for your reply. today i tried to do what you sugested with my spray bottle and put it close to her but she seemed more scared of it than willing to try to drink from it. but since today is my first day off and i've had more of a chnce to observe her she is drinking. it's only 2-3 drops at a time, but i've noticed when she wants the water she gets it. i am really relieved by this.

 

[leviw06]

@ kinyonga - "Your gutloading needs improvement IMHO" im not sure what you mean by that.

The terra i currently have set up for her is a glass 12x12x18 "cage" for lack of a better term. I went with the glass terra due to the fact that i live in Iowa and during winter it gets rather cold. so it would help me regulate temp. and humidity easier.

For lighting im using the Repti Glo 5.0 compact bulb. You stated that the compact/spiral bulbs can cause problems. What are these problems so that i can keep and eye out for them. And Also can you give me a link to the type of bulb that i should switch to. For basking, i'm using a 60W Sun Glo with a lamp that has a dimmer switch.

DUSTING
Im using Rep-Cal phosphorus-free calcium with VIT.D3 (powder) and Rep-Cal herptivite with beta carotene multivitamins. both container say to mix the two at a 1:1 ratio. I do this with by using a 1TBS measuring cup and putting the powders into a plastic baggy. Obviously i mixed the to powders together thuroughly and then i put the crickets into the baggy give it a shake, and then feed.

you also mentioned dusting with a vitamin A. is that part of the herptivite or is it something i need to get?

Should i be dusting my crickets with both clacium and and hertivite every time i feed loki crickets?

CRICKET FOOD
The Flucker's Orange cube as stated in my previous post contains the "Food, Water, Vitamins, and Spiruluna". if there is something else i need to give my crickets let me know PLZ!!! i buy my crickets from petsmart for the time being cuz i dont know if there is a whole saler of crikets in my area yet. im sure there is just havent found one yet. I buy the 10c crickets which im going to say they are roughly 1/4inch but the last time i went i bought the 11c crickets and they are roughly 1/2inch in lenght. Loki does it both but seems to have to "chew" more with the larger cricket.

Oh! while im thinking of it. Im using plantation soil, is there a problem with using this? I feed Loki with feeder tongs cuz dont want to take the risk of her getting the soil in her mouth. 1) prbly wouldnt taste the greatest 2) chance of making her sick and 3) i really dont want to take a chance of her accidently hitting one of her droppings while trying to eat. (i do look for and remove her droppings daily)

One last thing. I've seen "foggers" on the market for rainforest type terras... Good idea, bad idea, you thought and or opinions on that. And i refuse to put a waterfall in Loki's tank due to the heavy amounts of stagnent/non-filtered/bacteria infested water going through it. wont do it cant talk, me into it , ed of dicussion.

Thanks for you reply and am eager to see what the thinks you gave me have to say!