First week since my Veiled arrived

[rummbo]

Started this new hobby 2 weeks ago. Took me a week to build and dress up the cage (21x21x48). I have an umbrella plant and a bonsai ficus along with lots of vines and sticks. Once I got everything set up I then got in touch with a breeder and purchased a 2 months old Translucent Veiled Male $60 last Friday. He is the largest in the bunch (2" from head to base of tail). So I being a first timer decided to go with him to be safe. He ate 5 pinheads from my make shift cup that I hung on the vine within the first hour upon arrival. He is a good eater and hunter. I threw in a house fly(not sure if its a good idea) I caught and he ate it within 5 minutes. The past 3 days he has been eating small crickets and he eats about 5 a day. So far its been a joy to observe his behavior and personality. My lil dinosaur. I named him Chong Li. Though he is a shy guy he seems to be very aware of his surrounding. By that I mean he hides as soon as he sees anyone approaching the cage. Also he noticed when feeder cup is hung with food in it quickly and within the hour the crickets would be gone. Haven't seen him climbed anywhere below the top half of the cage yet. I am thinking maybe the cage is too large for him right now.

I have had many other pets before like snakes, lizards, birds, fish, turtles but I think chameleon is by far the coolest! Well my dogs are fun too. Learned a lot from reading up on the care resources. Just want to express my appreciation to forum.

Thank you.

 

[Tannervan20]

personally I wouldn't say the cage is to big.. if he can find his food then he should be perfectly fine just make sure your using calcium without d3 every day and with d3 twice a month along with the multi vitamin twice a month... this can really screw a cham up!!!! hope he does great

 

[thephotoprincess]

A chameleon that age should be eating much more than 5 small or pinhead crickets. More like 15-20 a day.

 

[Nicole1982]

I'm also a new baby Cham owner. I agree he should be eating more than 5 a day. My baby veiled is roughly 5 to 6 weeks old..i think, and she eats 15 to 20 fruit flies/pinheads per day. Sometimes closer to 25.

 

[thephotoprincess]

I'm also a new baby Cham owner. I agree he should be eating more than 5 a day. My baby veiled is roughly 5 to 6 weeks old..i think, and she eats 15 to 20 fruit flies/pinheads per day. Sometimes closer to 25.

by 5-6 weeks old they should be on larger crickets and over fruit flies. My 6 week old babies are eating 1/4 inch crickets.

 

[Nicole1982]

I was actually planning on introducing larger crickets tomorrow once the shipment arrives. I'm still unsure of her age. She's pretty tiny. Only had her for a week. I was told by the place I bought her she was 2 months, but she seems awfully small for 2 months. Others have said she looks more like 4 weeks. She's about 2 inches head to base of tail. I'll post a picture in a few minutes..if I can get ahold of her. She's still quite skittish..

 

[rummbo]

Chong is just about the same size as yours. He is on 1/2" crickets now and I will keep his cup full all day and see how many he eats.
Any idea if regular house fly is okay to feed? I know he enjoyed hunting it down.
I got the vitamin schedule from the breeder and its the same as what I learned from here.

 

[Nicole1982]

I'm not sure about the house flys. Your baby does ok with the 1/2 inch crickets? I've got some 1/4 inch ones coming in tomorrow. I've just been nervous bout giving anything much larger than the pinheads since she's soooo tiny. Guess I'm just a paranoid mom lol...but on the other hand I'm anxious to see her grow, and I know that wont happen with only fruit flies and pinheads!! Lol

 

[Decadancin]

Hi, and welcome to the forums! I was going to ask if that was a "Blood Sport" pic in your avatar, but then read the post. Great name!!! I would look into Blue Bottle flies (which I will be trying to feed my veiled next) rather than house flies. I just don't trust wild caught feeders unless you are pretty certain that they aren't into stuff that can hurt your chams. Probably O.K., but I personally wouldn't do it.

As for feeding, I'd try to put about 10 small crickets in there and see how many he eats within 10 or 20 minutes. If there are none left over you can try feeding a few more in a couple of hours. Remove the ones not eaten and try again later with a few more. If your cham wont eat right away, I'd put about 5 in at a time and see what happens. I would agree that at least 15 would be "normal" at that age.

 

[rummbo]

Thanks Decadancin. Since I started with the 1/2" crickets, he seemed to only eat 2 to 3 at a time. So far today he had eaten 5 from 2 sessions. Each session leaving one uneaten cricket. Will put 4 in for his next feeding later today.

 

[Lukie Pookie]

New Red Bar Ambilobe Panther Chameleon

I just got my new baby too. XD I dont know about you, but this past week has just been so awesome. I hope you're enjoying him just like I am mine

 

[rummbo]

your baby is real cute. and yes this past week has been a blast.

@Nicole, I was a bit concerned at first about feeding him 1/2" but he gobbled it down just fine. So far only ate 5 1/2" crickets a day for the past 2 days. I know its not as much as he needs to be eating. I think maybe he is still adjusting to his new living situation. Will post pics soon.

 

[rummbo]

Not sure if Chong is eating enough. He only ate 4 1/2" crickets today and yesterday 5. I know other members had already mentioned that a growing baby should be eating 10-15 pinheads. But these are half inch. I think volume of 4 half inchers looks pretty good in relation to the size of Chong.

Should I be concerned and what can I do?

 

[Nicole1982]

4 doesn't seem like a lot but like you said compared to pinheads ..1/2 inchers are pretty big. I offered my baby some 1/8 inch crickets today..tho they looked like 1/4 or 1/2 inch. I gave one of the smallest in the bunch and she struggled to get it down. It was quite scary and awful to watch . Has anyone else gotten crickets larger than what was ordered? Guess Ill be ordering more pinheads until she's a bit larger.

 

[Nicole1982]

Can you post a picture? My Cham must be much smaller than yours if yours can eat those 1/2 inchers while mine had trouble with a 1/4 inch one. You could offer some smaller ones and see how many of those he will eat? Maybe he is having trouble digesting the big ones? Just a thought

 

[rummbo]

@Nicole, hope these photos help. Chong is 2 months old and 2 inches long from head to base of tail.

 

[Nicole1982]

Thanks for the pics. My baby is definitely smaller. She's probably around 4 to 6 weeks..or perhaps a slow grower. I haven't been able to get any good pics yet. She is still quite scared so I'm giving her space..but if u look through my other posts there's a couple photos the day we got her. Not great photos. Hopefully I'll get some better ones soon!

 

[Lukie Pookie]

You mentioned that you cup feed. I do this as well. Just try to fill your cup with like 20 or 15 crickets that you have and just let him pick at what he wants to eat. If you are feeding him bigger ones then he will probably eat less crickets. If you're very concerned then go buy some smaller crickets for your Cham to ensure that he can eat what you're feeding. I remember hearing someone say that in the wild chameleons will eat whatever they see moving and that they aren't picky with size and such, but when you have a small baby chameleon it is important to know that they get enough food in their little system. My baby eats about 13 crickets that are 1/4 inch erryday.

Hope this helped.

 

[rummbo]

I am going to try something I saw from a member's photo on another thread. I built a small structure using wooden chopsticks for him to perch on. The structure will be placed inside a plastic basin where I will put many crickets for him to hunt.

 

[rummbo]

Chong ate total of 7 from 2 sessions today. I left him under the sun (controlled free range) for about an hour and he seemed to really enjoyed it. I am gonna pick up a reptarium from LLL so he gets to enjoy the outside when the weather is nice. Even though my balcony only gets about 3 hours direct sunlight. Thats better than nothing.

Chong gets really skiddish when being handled. Couple times he jumped off my hands which freaked me out. Luckily he was alright.