I bought two female veiled chameleons about a month ago. They were the same size when I got them. Now one of them is almost twice as big as the other one. They are in identical but separate screen cages, they have real and fake plants, the lighting is the same, their temp and humidity is the same. They get feed the same amount of crickets and worms. My bigger gal is eating 1/2 inch crickets while my little girl is still on 1/4 inch. They both have only molted once, but yet I can't stop worry why one is not growing when I have been doing nothing different. I am not sure how old they are. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
huge difference
- Thread starter DocsLadee
- Start date
Could be any number of things. Parasites are a possibility. Have you had fecal done to test this?
Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
I agree with getting fecal especially if you got them from a large pet chain store. Veiled chameleons from petco and petsmart or other large pet stores are bred in factory settings. They are sent to the store with mbd, eye issues, vitamin deficiencies, etc. Most of the employees aren't trained enough to know what's wrong or what to look for so that they can tell their superiors to take them to the vet. She likely has never been tested for parasites and depending on the supplier she may have lived in horrible conditions. It depends on the supplier of the store, it also depends on whether she was wild caught or not. Most veiled are captive bred from what I understand, but there are always those people looking to cut losses. There is also the fact that she may be perfectly fine and may just be a runt or a slow grower.
Thank you so much - I have not done the fecal test, did not even know about it. I live in rural Alaska and we don't have a reptile vet locally. Not sure if our vet would even know what to look for. I did get them both from Petco, is it possible that only one of them get parasites even though they were purchased at the same time and the same size? They were both in the same enclosure at Petco, and I separated them about 4 weeks after I got them home, when I noticed the other one hissing at her.
vtcowgirl
Member
Wow I could have written this exact thread! I bought my girls on 8/2 as a birthday present for myself.... Total spur of the moment purchase as I had always wanted one but literally knew nothing about them. (I know, horrible idea!). I was told they were 4-6 weeks old. I was also told they would be fine living together since they have been together since born. WRONG! I had purchased one chameleon kit from them. Within three weeks one was hissing at the other. I started looking online and thank goodness found this forum, it has been a life saver for them and the most valuable resource for me! They now love their separate cages, and like you, one is growing faster than the other, although there isn't a huge difference yet.
So vtcowgirl how is your little gal doing? Is she growing yet? Mine is not. I just don't know what to do.
kelly_girl199
Avid Member
My Panther has been VERY slowly growing since 3 weeks old. Found out he has a calcium deficiency that was causing him to not grow, eat, or stay active. Now that I am consistently giving him calcium dusted on crickets, and carnivore care a few times a week he has been growing like a weed and started another shed the other day. He literally only weighs a little over 10 grams. He has almost tripled his weight in three weeks. Give her carnivore care and I guarantee it will fatten her up and get her growing.
vtcowgirl
Member
They are growing although I think it is hard to notice, but looking back to pictures from last month I can certainly tell! They both just had another shed. Edith is much friendlier than Archie, Archie has been the crabbier one right along (hence the name) but I am not giving up hope that she will at least tolerate me! Edith will now eat a waxworms out of my hand. Archie cuts off her nose to spite her face and would rather hiss! But she still gets it, she just has to go get it from the bottom of her cage because it won't stay on a branch.
