So I've been looking all over the forums for a topic like this and I haven't been able to find one so I thought I'd post my question.
I currently own one male veiled chameleon that I purchased from a breeder (Tree Top Lions) back in September. He was only about 4 weeks old or so, I'm guessing, and he's doing very well now.
He's well hydrated, he eats like a horse (crickets and mealworms, I'm unable to find silkworms or hornworms that are small enough for him) and his food is always gut loaded and calcium dusted. He's also extremely friendly, I have no problems taking him out or with petting him, and he seems to be friendly to others as well (but he seems to like his mommy best but I think it's cause I handle him daily ).
Now before Carl (that's his name), I had a female Veiled named Karma (store bought) and I discovered that she had a growth defect. She too was healthy but when she was a year and a half she still looked like she was six months old. And I think that's one of the reason she became egg bound and in the end she died.
Now Carl seems to be growing well and he's shed several times since I've brought him home and got him settled in and I just want to know one thing. How quickly do veiled chameleons normally grow? I understand that they'll all grow at different speeds, but from what I've read they're normally pretty much full grown by the time they're a year old (please feel free to correct me if that's wrong).
I just don't want something to happen to another one of my babies so any help would be great. I've tried looking at user galleries as well to see if anyone has a sort of stage by stage of a chameleon's growth spurts, but again I can't seem to find a large number of good photos (like where the chameleons are walking on a ruler, etc). So again, any help on the subject would be awesome, or if you could direct me to somewhere that can answer my question that'd be great too.
Thanks.
I currently own one male veiled chameleon that I purchased from a breeder (Tree Top Lions) back in September. He was only about 4 weeks old or so, I'm guessing, and he's doing very well now.
He's well hydrated, he eats like a horse (crickets and mealworms, I'm unable to find silkworms or hornworms that are small enough for him) and his food is always gut loaded and calcium dusted. He's also extremely friendly, I have no problems taking him out or with petting him, and he seems to be friendly to others as well (but he seems to like his mommy best but I think it's cause I handle him daily ).
Now before Carl (that's his name), I had a female Veiled named Karma (store bought) and I discovered that she had a growth defect. She too was healthy but when she was a year and a half she still looked like she was six months old. And I think that's one of the reason she became egg bound and in the end she died.
Now Carl seems to be growing well and he's shed several times since I've brought him home and got him settled in and I just want to know one thing. How quickly do veiled chameleons normally grow? I understand that they'll all grow at different speeds, but from what I've read they're normally pretty much full grown by the time they're a year old (please feel free to correct me if that's wrong).
I just don't want something to happen to another one of my babies so any help would be great. I've tried looking at user galleries as well to see if anyone has a sort of stage by stage of a chameleon's growth spurts, but again I can't seem to find a large number of good photos (like where the chameleons are walking on a ruler, etc). So again, any help on the subject would be awesome, or if you could direct me to somewhere that can answer my question that'd be great too.
Thanks.
