How Much do I feed my Chameleon?

[eriva97]

I recently bought a male, veiled chameleon. He is very young. I'm not exactly sure how old he is. I've been keeping track on how much he eats. He eats about 4-5 crickets a day. Is that enough? I haven't fed him for 24 hours either because he only ate 2/4 crickets I gave him, so he still has 2 in there. Do I keep them in there until he eats them? I only feed him when I notice there are no more crickets in there. I've found 4 dead crickets just laying on the bottom for the past 3 days too. I just want to make sure this is normal or not and how much I really need to feed him. I'm going out of town soon and I need to let my sister know so she can feed him.

 

[MSMorgan]

Eriva,

Your question spurs a lot of other questions regarding your new little boy. If he's under 6 mo., he should be eating a lot more than what you've reported. I'm also concerned with only feeding him crickets and the 4 dead crickets you've found.
Please fill out the "how to ask for help" questionnaire, so we can assist you/your sister in your care of this little guy:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

I'd also like you to take a few pictures of you cham and your enclosure, so that we can "see" how to help you. As they say, "a picture is worth......."

 

[eriva97]

I hope it's okay I copy and pasted it. I didn't want to miss any information. If you have any more questions please let me know. I need all the information I can get! I am a new chameleon owner and I did my research but most of my resources has different answers. So, I thought I should talk to people who actually have chameleons.

• Your Chameleon - Veiled, male, and not sure of age of my chameleon. I've had him for almost a week.
• Handling - I try and hold him once a day for a minute or two, I want him to be comfortable with me...is this okay?
• Feeding - I feed him medium crickets. When I can't find any crickets in his cage, I put about 4-5 crickets in there. I feed the crickets Fluker's orange cubes.
• Supplements - I only powder the crickets with Fluker's Repta Calcium. I don't give him anything else.
• Watering - I spray his plants for water. I'm going to start using a dripping system soon too. I spray in the morning and at night until plants are heavily dripping with water. I haven't seen him drink, but my schedule doesn't allow me to be there from 7am-2pm.
• Fecal Description - Solid white/black. He has not been tested for parasites.
• History - I don't have any history on him.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Screen cage. 3ft tall and 2x2 bottom
• Lighting - WI use Fluker's Sun Dome with a Exo Terra solar glo light bulb 125 Watts. I turn his light on between 6am-7am and I shut it off between 9pm and 10pm but, I just got a timer for him I'm going to use tonight so it turns on at 7am and shuts off at 7pm.
• Temperature -I'm not sure the temperature. I just bought a temperature gauge I will be using next week (coming in the mail).
• Humidity - I recently bought a humidity gauge also, so I'm not sure how well the humidity is. To try and keep the humidity up, I heard spray the plants, so I do that,
• Plants - I don't use living plants. They are all artificial but, they are non-toxic.
• Placement - In my room on top of a small table. It is near a fan, but it's not pointed at the cage, it's pointed opposite of the cage. The top of the cage is about 5 feet maybe a little less, from the ground.
• Location - I am located in mid-Michigan, USA

Eriva,

Your question spurs a lot of other questions regarding your new little boy. If he's under 6 mo., he should be eating a lot more than what you've reported. I'm also concerned with only feeding him crickets and the 4 dead crickets you've found.
Please fill out the "how to ask for help" questionnaire, so we can assist you/your sister in your care of this little guy:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

I'd also like you to take a few pictures of you cham and your enclosure, so that we can "see" how to help you. As they say, "a picture is worth......."