Feeding Questions

[Lilbunny1]

I just got my nosy be 10 days ago and it has been a learning process. He is still just eating small feeder crickets at this time and I have started introducing salad that I just started spraying calcium on daily, although, I think I may should spray the crickets instead because I have no idea if he is even eating his salad(collared greens and parsnip). I dusted his crickets with calcium with d3 2 days ago. I have some herptivite I'd like to give him too but it says to mix it with the calcium dust. Why? My dust has d3 in it and I don't want to give him too much by having to mix it with herptivite. Can I dust with herptivite by itself? My calcium only supplement is a spray since it is so hard to find one without d3. I also need to add another feeder to the mix, but I'm having trouble deciding on what. I prefer an insect that's easy and non infesting. I have mealworms that I normally give my bearded dragon, but I haven't found the proper placement yet in the Cham cage where he will pay them attention. At least he's hunting the crickets down and eating them right now. Also, I would love to know what is everyone's supplement schedule for their Cham. I'm concerned about not giving enough or overdosing him. I'm sorry for the ramble. Very new to chameleons and reptiles in general. My little guy is a male nosy be named Rocco. Thanks! ( I've already learned the hard way that he doesn't like night lights. He started falling asleep early so we took his night light away and now stays awake all day. Always learning something new )

 

[SocialNumb]

It's goes like this generally:

Dust everyday with calcium without D3. By itself.
Dust once every 2 weeks with calcium with D3. By itself.
Dust once every two weeks with multi-vit. By itself.

More info here https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/

 

[MamatoElvis]

Panthers do not normally eat greens, veiled chameleons eat fruits and veggies.
The most common supplement schedule
Calcium with no d3 daily
Calcium with d3 2 times per month
Multivitamin 2 times per month
Each of these should be given alone on that day. Do not combine them.
For example on the days you give the multivitamin skip the calcium.
You should really order a dust calcium online. I don't believe the liquid is very effective. Supplements vary greatly in effectiveness between brands. You want to skip brands like Flukers and go for brands like Rep-Cal or Repashy.
Mealworms are not a good feeder for chameleons. Unfortunately you will most likely need to order online. Most pet stores only carry a few options crickets, mealworms and sometimes super worms. That means if you want a wide variety you need to order online. To keep a chameleon healthy you want a lot of variety.
Crickets, roaches (there are many non infesting varieties ), silkworms, hornworms, butterworms ( a treat because they are fatty but high in calcium) blue bottle flies, and stick bugs just to name a few.
Chameleons need darkness for 12 hours at night, no night lights.
You didn't mention what lighting you are using. You can use a regular incandescent lightbulb for heat. It's best to use the long linear UVB bulbs. Zoo med 5.0 and Arcadia .are the most recommended for a Cham. Good luck.

 

[kinyonga]

How old is your nosy? Panther chameleons are pretty much insectivores...most don't eat much in the way of greens and veggies.

They do have a reputation for chewing on branches though.

To keep you chameleon you need to have good husbandry...feed it well-fed/gutloaded insects and water it by misting the cage a couple of times a day and when it's old enough provide a dripper.

It's important that they have good cover in the cage and that the branches and greenery come up high in the cage.

Appropriate temperatures provided by a basking light will allow for proper digestion and thus indirectly in the nutrient absorption. You can use a regular household incandescent light bulb of a wattage that produces the right temperature. Young panthers need temperatures in the low 80'sF.

The chameleon needs exposure to UVB light so that it can produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in the system. Exposure to the UVB light will not cause an overdose as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB when it wants to. The most often recommended UVB light is the reptisun 5.0 long linear tube.

Proper supplementing is needed too. It's recommended that you dust the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phosphorous - free calcium powder at most feedings to make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous found in most feeder insects.

It's recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving the chameleon to produce the rest of the D3 from its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to overdoses and health issues.

It's recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A cannot build up in the system and lead to overdoses like prEformed sources can and will leave it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs prEformed or not.

Feeding / gutloading the insects ensures a better diet for your chameleon. Insects such as crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms can be fed / gutloaded with a wide assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

Hope this helps!

 

[Andee]

Your kind of chameleon, panther chameleons, don't usually eat greens. That is mostly a veiled trait and I have never heard of another type of cham doing it, though I may be wrong here. I would buy a calcium without D3 dust online. Those sprays aren't good, they don't give nearly enough calcium.

No feeder is going to be "easy". Mealworms are bad for feeder usage, they have a chitin ratio and tend to be rather fatty. Superworms are OK but I rarely use them because they can injure your chameleon with a nasty bite unless you mutilate their mandibles. Dubia roaches are the easiest feeder I have ever taken care of. Don't just look at the title of ROACH. These roaches are tropical and if you raise them on a certain temperature they tend to die quickly if the temperature drops below it too fast. They breed better in higher temperatures, don't cannibalize each other like crickets, have higher proteins to fat ratio than most other hard bodied feeders, don't bite or chew on your chameleon like crickets, are easy to breed and raise, don't smell hardly at all. I could sing praises of them all day. And as long as you have them in the right kind of container/bin they won't infest your house because they can't get out.

Crickets I refuse to raise until/unless I start breeding because babies kind of need them. However I absolutely HATE the creatures, I only feed them as treats.

I suggest getting some soft bodied feeders in the mix, something like a silkworm or a hornworm.

Stick insects are also a possibility though they take some time but are really easy to breed.

If you were looking for a reptile that had a simple and easy diet of insects you should not have gotten a chameleon, I'm not try to be mean just saying the truth. Chameleons get bored of having one feeder or even just two over and over again. I find they need at least three in rotation, preferably more, and one of those must be a soft bodied worm.

Can you fill out the how to ask for help questions? They are stickied in the Health Section, we will be able to tell you more husbandry tips after that.

 

[Lilbunny1]

We have a uvb lamp for him and a he has a basking lamp and I believe the temp is in the 80s and he has a 2x2x4 screened cage with a monsoon mister. I plan to give him the vitamin tomorrow. We are having a hard time trying to figure out what is best to feed him. I will probably end up having to look for a dust online without d3 online. We are limited by what our pet store has. We are giving the crickets flukers Orange cubes, but it seems like most people aren't impressed with them. Do you guys let your worms free roam or put them in a bowl? We have a large golden pothos in his cage with some fake vines designed for reps and yes he likes to bite it. I will try to fill out the specs form on him in a bit. It is just feeding him properly that I'm still trying to work out before I have any issues with him that I don't want to occur. Thank you for the supplementation guidelines. I guess i need to find a vendor that sells food that he will like.

 

[MamatoElvis]

If you go to the top of this forum in The right hand corner you will find "our site sponsors" you will find places to sell feeders on there. If you want to try a couple different feeders try "Linda's gone buggy" ( just google it ) they sell sampler packs of multiple different feeders. Some worms I just place on the screen or hand feed like silk or hornworms. If it's something small like Phoenix Worms I put them in a feeder cup.

 

[Wowbango]

If you go to the top of this forum in The right hand corner you will find "our site sponsors" you will find places to sell feeders on there. If you want to try a couple different feeders try "Linda's gone buggy" ( just google it ) they sell sampler packs of multiple different feeders. Some worms I just place on the screen or hand feed like silk or hornworms. If it's something small like Phoenix Worms I put them in a feeder cup.

I second this. Linda's variety packs are a great way to keep a small amount of several different feeders and gives you an opportunity to try them out with your Chams to see what they like.

 

[Lilbunny1]

Thank you very much everyone for the recommendation of the sample packs. I don't want to keep too many of one kind at one time due to wanting variety and I'm not sure what will work for Rocco. I dusted his crickets this morning with his multivitamin and I know he has already picked one of them off. I'm just hoping he will be okay until I can get some more tasty treats in for him. Also, thanks for the advice regarding his salad. He didn't seem too interested in it, but the lady at the pet store said hers ate it. I imagine hers are probably of the veiled variety then.