Feeding

[Pistachiochameleon]

My Cham is about a year old. I primary feed dusted crickets. How many and how often should I be feeding her now?

 

[The Wild One]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think at that age it’s every other day

 

[janjan20]

I’ll tag some members with females, sometimes it depends on whether or not they are gravid. @Brodybreaux25 @JoXie411 @snitz427 @jannb @kinyonga
I’m sure one of them can get you on the right track.

 

[Kaizen]

What kind of Cham? In any case, using one feeder alone is, so I understand, less than ideal. In my very limited experience, a philosophy of variety is always beneficial.

That being said, you asked a particular question here, and I’ve yet to answer it. At a year old, I think most common species do well on an every other day feeding schedule. How many crickets? How big are the crickets, what are they being fed?

 

[snitz427]

Clarice is about 10-11 months old now. She gets fed every other day, same as the boys. She will easily out eat them - combined - so I dont feed her until she is full. I give her between 6-10 feeders every other day. I keep her to about 6 healthy feeders if she seems like shes looking for a mate or is gravid.

Clarice typically gets any combination of silkworms, hornworms, supers, bsfl, crickets, and dubia. Some are a heavier meal than others so I take that into account. BSFL should be a regular addition for females imo - for the calcium boost.

 

[JoXie411]

Imelda is over a year and I feed her ever 3 days medium feeders about 4. She’s a little over weight from her old owner so I have to control her weight and her first clutch was huge!!

 

[Pistachiochameleon]

I feed hornworms too just not everyday. She won’t touch roches or other worms. I currently feed her 12doz every 2-3 days but I wasn’t sure if that was ok? They are medium

What kind of Cham? In any case, using one feeder alone is, so I understand, less than ideal. In my very limited experience, a philosophy of variety is always beneficial.

That being said, you asked a particular question here, and I’ve yet to answer it. At a year old, I think most common species do well on an every other day feeding schedule. How many crickets? How big are the crickets, what are they being fed?

 

[Pistachiochameleon]

I feed hornworms too just not everyday. She won’t touch roches or other worms. I currently feed her 12doz every 2-3 days but I wasn’t sure if that was ok? They are medium

12 not 12dozen

 

[snitz427]

Its worth noting that roaches and silkworms are kinda heavy meals, whereas crickets are a little “lighter.” So she may eat less if she gets roaches vs more if eating crickets

 

[snitz427]

I think a dozen medium crickets every other day would be fine, but try to throw another bug or two in there. A hornworm is a good addition. Maybe try silkworms - they are similiar to hornworms but healthy enough to feed regularly.

 

[Kaizen]

What kind of Cham? Also, try bsfl, silkies too.

 

[Pistachiochameleon]

What kind of Cham? Also, try bsfl, silkies too.

Veiled, still hasn’t laid her first clutch

 

[Kaizen]

A female veiled heh, I applaud you! She’s probably fine on an every-other-day feeding schedule, but as many smarter people than I have said, at the year mark, a gram scale is your best friend. If she begins gaining weight, and ballooning with no increase in food, she’s probably getting ready to lay. I always have lay bins in with my females, but so far, they’ve all needed to be put in an escape proof bin of sand and left alone.

As for food, I give all my veileds a steady diet of roaches, bsfl, crickets, locusts, and hornworms. The locusts are wild caught, but there’s been a chemical pesticide ban here for like a decade, so the only worry is parasites. And just to add a data point: all my chams tested negative on pathenogenic parasites this week. They’ve been outside all summer, tagging every manner of wild caught insect—including garden snails, earwigs, and even wasps—and they are doing great.

As she’s a year old, some tough roach love might be in order: just don’t offer her anything else until she eats.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

4-5 well gut loaded adult feeders every three days. Most captive chams are over fed.

 

[snitz427]

4-5 well gut loaded adult feeders every three days. Most captive chams are over fed.

I think it really depends on the insect. 4-5 grasshoppers is a helluva lot more than 4-5 large crickets. And 4-5 silkworms would be more substantive than the same number of hornworms, crickets, or supers. I think it is hard to put a number on it.

No clue what the appropriate wild diet would be, so not arguing the overfed comment. Humans are severely overfed, too... we could (and used to) follow a similar diet of only eating every few days. But I like snacks too much!

 

[BECHARD4]

We feed our chams- Monday’s , Wednesday’s and Friday’s. Crickets - 4 to 5 per feeding. Phoenix worms a pinch of worms, all other worms would be less and depend on size of worm too. This would be our schedule for females. Also after egg laying, we are a bit more generous until Ladies are back to normal. After about 5 days, they will go back to regular schedules.

 

[snitz427]

OP - when you say medium crickets, how large are we talking? Are they large enough to mate/chirp? If so, they're probably "large" from my vendor... whereas the mediums are about half that size (and why a few more might be ok vs. large crickets). I'm sure you get the jist though from everyone - time to cut back

 

[Pistachiochameleon]

OP - when you say medium crickets, how large are we talking? Are they large enough to mate/chirp? If so, they're probably "large" from my vendor... whereas the mediums are about half that size (and why a few more might be ok vs. large crickets). I'm sure you get the jist though from everyone - time to cut back

No not chirping they are definitely a small medium. Only the beardies got large