He pooped!

[FirstTimeChameleon]

I was scared there.

My guy (bout 5 months old) hadn't taken a crap since Saturday or Sunday (like five days ago). I was pretty worried. I sprayed him a lot when I first noticed the lack of poo on the terrarium floor two days ago, and I bought some cod liver oil and went home today to give him a warm bath over my lunch hour. Thankfully, when I arrived at my pad and looked in his terrarium, I noticed a huge pile of fresh crap on the floor.

I have literally never been so happy to see a big pile of shit.

Anyways, I looked closely at the poop, and I noticed that the white part of the poo (I don't know what it's called) was
a) particularly large... though the poo was pretty big I'd say the white part was proportionally bigger than normal
b) particularly solid

My guess is that the white part was clogging his vent/rectum. Now, I had been feeding him more mealworms than usual. Usually I just give him one or two to supplement his crickets (put about 8-12 crickets in there every morning, dusted with calcium on weekdays and vitamins on weekends), but this weekend I fed him about four on Saturday and another four or five on sunday.

My question is this: could the extra mealworms have clogged up his system? Or am I giving too much calcium supplement?

I mist him a bunch each morning and evening, and my girlfriend sprays him a bit whenever she's there and I'm not (so on average I'd say about 3 sprayings per day). I also set up a homemade dripper on the top of the cage (yoghurt container w. pinhole method) so I don't think he's under-hydrated at all.

Also what's the deal with fruits and vegetables? I hear after a certain age you're supposed to give them some chopped up fruits once in a while. I put some finely chopped apple in his cage this week, and he seems to have eaten some of that. Could that have been the problem?

 

[desultadox]

The white part is the urate, basically their pee. Mealworms are very chitinous and not recommended for chameleons both due to inferior nutritional benefits as well as the threat of impaction. So this is a likely culprit in your chameleon's difficulty passing waste. I would recommend superworms over mealworms. As far as fruits go, I have never owned a veiled but I'm pretty sure they generally start accepting fruits/veggies around 6 months, but it can greatly vary from one chameleon to another.

 

[FirstTimeChameleon]

So no mealworms ever not even as a treat? Cause he really likes them. I usually dip them in vitamin powder or calcium powder too, to enhance their nutritiousness.

I think he's still too small for superworms. Plus, superworms are gross. I might have to set something up for silkworms or something....

 

[moody232002]

mista wont touch anything but locusts and the odd waxworm.the locusts along with his daily mistings seem to be keeping him well hydrated.i wish he would try other things but whatever i have tried ie dubai roaches,phoenix worms,crickets etc he wont touch

 

[liquidsweetness]

mealworms...no, not really a good addition to a chameleon's diet. Although if he really likes them, then he will love phoenix worms. They have great nutritional value without dusting or gutloading, and look similar enough to get him started. My female panther loves them and comes running when she sees the cup. Just make sure to get the small ones, so they last longer. I have to limit her, because she will eat as many as she has access to. I wish my male would realize they are food! He won't eat any type of "worm" so far...he just doesn't think that they're food, as far as I can tell. It took me a week or so to get her to eat them, and after that she has eaten anything I offer her, just hoping its a phoenix worm.

As far as superworms, if you think they're too big... I have run across a few websites lately that offer small superworms, which is something I hadn't seen until recently. I think Mulberry Farms has them now...as well as alot of other feeder options.

 

[dodolah]

So no mealworms ever not even as a treat? Cause he really likes them. I usually dip them in vitamin powder or calcium powder too, to enhance their nutritiousness.

I think he's still too small for superworms. Plus, superworms are gross. I might have to set something up for silkworms or something....

i see nothing wrong using mealworm as a TREAT.
If you want to feed him mealworm, the best one to feed is the one that just mold.

 

[Docility]

supers look just like mean worms to me so i dunno why you dont like them lol, but anyway you can get baby supers, and they can eat them if you feel the size is not right. supers look like they would be fun to feed since the freak out and will create a lot of motion for the cham so you could hand feed