How to supplement chameleon?

[xephyr17]

I'm new to the chameleon world. I have a 8 or 9 month old Veiled chameleon.

I've been feeding him crickets, the occasional superworm, waxworm and roach since I've had him. He seems to be doing alright, but I saw him eating dirt today and I looked up why he'd be doing that. I guess it could be because he's not getting the right supplements? He also, since last night while I was watching him eat, kept missing his food. I've watched him eat a couple times today and he seems to not be missing anymore, but he missed like 3 out of 4 tries per cricket for about 3 crickets last night... weird.

What should I be using to gutload my crickets and roaches (I don't gutload superworms or waxworms)? I use different fruits, lettuce, kale, carrots, etc. and I add avocado for the roaches.

And I keep reading how people "supplement" their chameleon with D3, calcium and multivitamin. I know I could dust the crickets before I put them in the cage, but how do I give my chameleon the rest of these supplements? Should I just get some sort of supplemented cricket feed and put it in their box for them to gutload on? I have a cage for them and put about 180-200 in there at a time and just feed them constantly until I'm out and get more.

What are the best methods??

Thanks, everyone!

-Dillon

 

[carol5208]

You supplement by dusting your feeders. d3, multi and calcium can all be dusted onto your feeders. Can you post some pics of your chameleon and your set up. I would not recommend dirt at the bottom if that is what you have. If he is eating plant dirt, then cover that up with large river rocks. Large enough so he cannot swallow them.

 

[SaintJimmy]

Those are all dust. Multivitamin, D3, and regular ol' calcium are still dust. Just take a little container and put a bit of the dust in them (have 3 separate containers for your dust and label them) and shake the feeders up into the dust until they are lightly covered, then feed.

 

[zsazsa85]

What I do and what I think most of us does:
-I use every feeding calcium without D3
-once every two weeks (which are Sundays in my case) Calcium with D3 and Multivitamin with D3
I use a tall juice jug which I bought in a dollar store. I just pour a little supplement in the jug and drop the crix/feeders in it. Lid on, shake them a bit and pour them in a little sieve just to shake off the excess.
I gutload all my feeders. Sandrachameleon has a great blog about that:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/835-simple-gutload-bug-food.html
I hope I could help!

 

[xephyr17]

You supplement by dusting your feeders. d3, multi and calcium can all be dusted onto your feeders. Can you post some pics of your chameleon and your set up. I would not recommend dirt at the bottom if that is what you have. If he is eating plant dirt, then cover that up with large river rocks. Large enough so he cannot swallow them.

I've posted a few pics of Ender and his cage... The bedding is coconut shavings. The people at the pet store said that should be fine. He was eating the dirt out of the plant pot and right after I saw it happen I put some mesh over the top of it so he couldn't do that anymore. I'll go get some rocks from the creek near my house and clean them off real good and put them in there instead...

Good to know that they're all dusts! I'll go get those from my local pet store before they close for the night and give them all to him starting tomorrow to begin my two week wait on the D3 and Multi and will continue with the Calcium daily from now on.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. I have a few suggestions to help you keep your little one healthy. He needs more plants and a few horizontal branches. I keep veileds and they eat everything. I recommend removing the coconut fiber before he becomes impacted. Here's my blog for how I have successfully kept veiled and panther chameleons. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

 

[xephyr17]

Welcome to the forums. I have a few suggestions to help you keep your little one healthy. He needs more plants and a few horizontal branches. I keep veileds and they eat everything. I recommend removing the coconut fiber before he becomes impacted. Here's my blog for how I have successfully kept veiled and panther chameleons. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

Thanks, I'll take a look at your blog

What should I put on the bottom? I feel like anything I put down there, he could accidentally eat, regardless of what it is... So unless there's something that's either good for him or doesn't do anything, I don't know if it would make a difference, so long as I keep an eye on whether or not he's accidentally eating it or anything, right?

 

[jannb]

Thanks, I'll take a look at your blog

What should I put on the bottom? I feel like anything I put down there, he could accidentally eat, regardless of what it is... So unless there's something that's either good for him or doesn't do anything, I don't know if it would make a difference, so long as I keep an eye on whether or not he's accidentally eating it or anything, right?

Don't put anything at all on the bottom. It's better for him and easier for you to clean.

 

[xephyr17]

Don't put anything at all on the bottom. It's better for him and easier for you to clean.

Well I guess that is a pretty grand idea ;P

 

[junglefries]

Unless you want an impacted chameleon, keep the bottom plain. Nothing at all. Ugly but necessary. Lowes and home depot sell the self adhesive linoleum like squares. You can pick out a design from those if you must look at something. There are some that look like rocks.

 

[Fogerty]

Home Depot paint dept, sells rolled paper that is absorbent ,you cut square to fit and it makes cleaning a breeze. My veiled eats everything he sees, when outside I have pulled sticks ,leaves, cigarette butts you name it if he sees it he tries to eat it, then I put him back in his cage and he just looks at the crickets , I think he does it to get attention from me ,and it works.

 

[xephyr17]

Home Depot paint dept, sells rolled paper that is absorbent ,you cut square to fit and it makes cleaning a breeze. My veiled eats everything he sees, when outside I have pulled sticks ,leaves, cigarette butts you name it if he sees it he tries to eat it, then I put him back in his cage and he just looks at the crickets , I think he does it to get attention from me ,and it works.

Seems like that's what he's up to now... I've been watching him eat this morning again with all of the supplements on his crix and he litterally just went to the bottom and shot at the coconut and tried to eat it... I ran over and picked him up and pulled it out of his mouth and put him back on the top of the cage (inside). He didn't appreciate it much now, but I know he will later haha.

I'm gonna take out the stuff I have on the bottom before I go anywhere, today... And I'm gonna get more vines and whatnot for him to climb on.

Does anyone have a good website I can order stuff from online? Home Depot, Lowes and all pet stores are 35+ minutes of a drive and I don't want to do too much going back and forth... And I feel like I'd have a better selection for vines, plants, etc. that way anyway.

Thanks!
Dillon

 

[kinyonga]

You said he misses when he shoots his tongue. If you haven't beendusting the insects with a phosphorous - free calcium powder before feeding them to him he may be developing MBD.

Regarding feeding/gutloading insects for crickets, roaches, superworms you can use a wide assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, collards, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

 

[Bush baby]

Well I guess that is a pretty grand idea ;P

I actually put several sheets of 8x11 paper i use for my printer on the cage bottom and just replace them twice a week.

 

[xephyr17]

You said he misses when he shoots his tongue. If you haven't beendusting the insects with a phosphorous - free calcium powder before feeding them to him he may be developing MBD.

Regarding feeding/gutloading insects for crickets, roaches, superworms you can use a wide assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, collards, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

I haven't been doing that, but the crix are on calcium diets where I buy them from so I don't think he's getting MBD... I dusted them today and he's been doing pretty good at catching them. He misses sometimes like two times but he's getting most of them.

I actually never saw him eat until like 5 days ago. I've only had him for about a month and this whole time he's been really shy and doesn't eat in front of me until just those 3 days ago. He may have been missing every now and then this whole time. I know some chams just have bad aim...

I'm no expert though...

I'll be dusting with calcium daily and will do the D3 and Multivits every 2 weeks now though.

 

[xephyr17]

Just so everyone knows, I've gotten rid of the coconut shavings on the bottom and covered up the plant dirt with mesh so Ender can't get to it

I also bought Blue Shop Towels and a 2-layer drop cloth by Trimaco called Catch-All from Lowe's. I have the Catch-All on the bottom of the cage because it's leak resistant absorbance and the blue towels on top. I've been switching the blues out often and about half as often the CA. Easy to clean! Really nice and Ender is happy and not eating dirt...