Gone off crix

[Adam1979]

Hi all, I recently got my first Chameleon (veiled). The guy I bought him off had him in a small Exo Terra glass tank. He was mostly fed on meal worms. I got him eating crix while he was in the Exo terra by just throwing a few in and he would eat them off his plant when they got close enough. I have now moved him into a bigger enclosure with screen back and front and released a few crix in with him but one of them chewed straight through the screen so free range is not an option. I have cut a milk carton in half and have placed it in several locations around his enclosure but he just sits on the end of the carton watching them but wont eat them. He has not eaten them for a few weeks now and will just eat mealworms and waxorms out of his bowl. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Adam

 

[Chamero]

Hey Adam, That behavior is definitely abnormal. Young chams should be eating daily. His lethargic behavior is most likely a sign of another illness that has progressed to this stage. What type of UVB lighting do you have. Do you also have heat source. You will need both. Off the top of my head this is all I can think of, others on the forum will be able to help, but pls provide us with more info on both your cham and his/her home.

 

[Justin Carl]

hello Adam,

here is my concern.
your veiled was first in an all glass cage. UV light cannot pass into glass, so this can be a serious issue. Second, your new cage has two sides of screen. is the top screen? what type of UVB light are you using? mealworms and waxworms are not a good daily feeder and should be replaced with dusted crickets, supperworms and/or dubias.

 

[Adam1979]

Thanks for the replies. He is not lethargic in any way. He sits most of the time under his basking light, but does have a wander about his viv and climb around on the plant quite often. If I put some worms in his bowl he will be down to eat them in minutes. I have (hopefully) put some pics up of his enclosure. The UV tube is an Exo terra repti-glo 10.0 and he has a 100watt Exo terra sun-glo for a basking light. If you look at the pics the tube is inside his viv and the basking light is outside with metal mesh on top of the viv so he can not touch the bulb. He has a dripper system which you can see in front of the tube hich drips over the leaves of the plant and into a catch tray at the bottom which has mesh over it to stop him falling in.

The exo terra tank that he was in had a screen top so the UV ligh could get to him ok.

If you need any more details or if I have done anything wrong please let me know.

Many thanks

Adam

 

[PardalisGirl]

Eating Issues........

Your boy is a very nice looking one Adam. You need to get his diet changed ASAP though in order to keep him healthy. Mealworms and Waxworms are very very low on the list of nutritional feeders. You have to find a way to get him to eat things like crickets, hornworms, silkworms, butterworms or roaches. Superworms are fine for treats, but not as a staple. They are high in fat and lower on the nutritional scale. The problem with your cage is that it does not have enough screen surfaces for the crickets to climb on. The crickets would mostly stay on the bottom. I gave up on cup feeding a couple of years ago because some chams would adjust and some would not. Some of my chams would starve before they would eat out of a cup. I would think about changing your cage in the future so you have more open screening. I would start getting some other insects immediately though.

 

[Adam1979]

Ok thanks. I know if I could release the crix then he would eat them. He just dont like feeding outta a carton. But if I release them they will be everywhere in my house and I hate the damn things. Good screen cages are very hard to come by over here, apart from those flimsy exo terra things and I aint having one of them. I'm in a bit of a rut really aint I !!!!!

 

[PardalisGirl]

Screen Cages........

Other members on this forum might be able to help you locate a good screen cage at a reasonable price. I've seen them offered or traded here before. Is there no way to "plug" the holes in your current cage? I've used sealant and weather stripping on a few of my cages. I've got a bunch of juvie chams now and the small crickets seem to be able to get out. In fact, this morning, I need to vacumn some up with my hand vac. The cats normally catch and eat most of them but not this weekend. I must be feeding my cats too much

 

[Adam1979]

There is no holes. They eat through the screen

 

[Justin Carl]

yea crickets can chew a hole in regular porch screen
that is why i recommend aluminum screen.
it is far superior to most other screens.

 

[Adam1979]

yea crickets can chew a hole in regular porch screen
that is why i recommend aluminum screen.
it is far superior to most other screens.

I have looked for aluminium screen, but only found it in one online store and the price was absolutely crazy. Would have cost me about £300 ($600) to do the front and back of my viv.

Adam

 

[Scotty]

Hi Adam,
LLLReptiles will send a screen enclosure to the UK at a reasonable shipping cost, they are great to deal with. I had the same problem finding a viv where I live too, search my previous posts!
You can get wire flyscreen from any hardware store and it's not that expensive. I'm not sure of the one your referring to, but that sounds like the "full on" security mesh to me for that price!
I would probably put some more plants in there as well, to make your cham feel a little safer by providing more places to hide. Also add some tree branches, not too big so your boy can grip them easily, the bits of timber you have there, are a lttle too big for him to comfortably climb up.
How long has he been in his new home? He may be a little pissed going into a bigger enclosure, which is pretty sparse and he maybe stressed.
I'm assuming the container at the bottom left of the pic is his feeder cup, correct? Place the cup higher in his cage, OR better still, search the forum for feeder cups alot of us have, which is basically a 2litre milk container with 2 sides cut out and flyscreen mounted on the back. Essentially this gives your crix a ladder to climb so you cham will see them moving and zap them straight up...well that's the idea anyway! Again search for it and it will show you how to make one.
The basics are there mate, just work on that for now, BUT definately as Catherine said, get yourself a better enclosure.
Good Luck and keep us posted.
Cheers
Scott.

 

[Adam1979]

Ok cheers. I have contacted LLL reptiles to see how much they will charge for shippping one to the UK. Would make my life much easier with one of the aluminium screen mesh enclosures. Can not seem to find them anywhere in the UK and if I could they would probably be silly money!!!

Thanks mate

Adam