Feeding question

[DuncanK]

Sorry if this has been answered before (I'm sure it has, but I couldn't find it).

I'm looking for some information on how much we should be feeding my son's now 4 month old veiled chameleon ("Mr Smith").

He's currently being fed about 12-18 small-medium crickets, twice a day (so 2-3 dozen a day total), which are fed on calcium supplement in a large cricket keeper and dusted with calcium/D3 powder before feeding. We (it's usually a 2-person operation!) put most of them into a transparent feeding cup with a few of them scattered around the enclosure (he seems to like stalking his food, but having many of them in a cup helps us to know that he's eating them).

What I wanted to know was, is that a good number? He seems now to eat them all very quickly and it isn't apparent whether we were underfeeding him. Also, should we consider alternatives beyond just crickets?

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions...

 

[xoiceox]

I think that may be quite a bit too many, but if he's eating without hesitation then u should be fine...

You also should not be feeding him this many crickets dusted every day! You need to alternate the supplements u are using. D3 one day regular calcium another.

 

[xoiceox]

And yes silk worms, wax worms, horn worms, fruit flies ... all yummy snacks for them as well

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Amount is fine.
Supplementation seems heavy.
What are you gut-loading with (specifically)?

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

-Brad

 

[RhettusMaximus]

feeding

Generally from my experience you should offer a young, growing cham as much food as he can eat. What I did with my chams was let about 60 crickets or so loose in the enclosure and then just remove the ones left over at night before his bedtime. I only dust once every couple of feedings tho, a properly gutloaded insect will provide just the right amount of calcium with additional dustings about every 2nd or 3rd feeding. That's the routine I use or have used.

 

[DuncanK]

thanks everybody! Much appreciated.

I'll make sure that the supplements are being appropriately modulated.... and maybe add in some mealworms or something like that and see what Mr Smith thinks of them

 

[RhettusMaximus]

woms

give superworms, silkworms, or horn worms a shot, mealies tend to be hard for young chams to digest