I'm new and worried about my veiled's eating...

[Jensen2082]

Hi there,
I'm new here and was looking for some advice/ direction regarding my female Veiled Cham. I got her from a pet store in September, not sure of her age. She currently weighs in at 157g. She's in an all screen 18x18x36 enclosure.
She was on crickets daily dusted every other then went on strike in December. Got her on super worms and she would eat 5-7 a day. She's gone on strike again so I thought I'd try wax worms for her, she won't go after anything right now. I mist her twice a day and humidity is usually around 40%. She has an 18" UVB along with a 75w day bulb and a 60w night bulb for her. I'm worried about her and the local pet store suggested I try Zilla Caloric Supplement for her and keep up with the wax worms. Thought I'd come here and get some experienced advice! Any and all suggestions would be appreciated, thanks in advance for your help!

 

[DirtyDubbz]

Welcome I would try sticky tongue minerall because it's berry flavor my chameleons love it 2x a month and calcium d3 also 2x a month if he isn't getting any outdoor activity calcium no d3 every other feeding or so and I use repashy superload/bugburger mix for my feeders my chams never went on strike they seem to love the taste I Guess also some fresh fruits and veggies when I can for the feeders it seems that the cage is a bit small she looks defiantly over a year old healthy though so your doing a good job.try horn worms to break the strike some of our sponsors sell them but only as a treat do you have a mister or do you hand water

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. She might be ready to lay eggs. They stop eating right before laying and she is definately old enough and as much as you are feeding her that could be what's going on. Do you have a laying bin for her? Do you have more pictures of her?
A few blogs for you below that you might find helpful.
General veiled care:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
Female veiled care: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
Egg laying and the laying bin: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html#comment2073
How to make a laying bin video: https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/

 

[Tonystandman]

Why do you have a night bulb?

 

[xraygirl]

... try horn worms to break the strike some of our sponsors sell them but only as a treat

Actually, hornworms are great for using as one of your staple feeders. They have no exoskeleton (easy to digest, no impaction risk), are juicy (great for hydration), and are a great source of calcium!

Wax worms, butter worms, supers, etc should be used occasionally as a treat.


PLEASE, use periods in your responses. It's difficult to read paragraphs with run on sentences in them. (Not trying to be a jerk, FYI)

 

[AmenBrotherBen]

Hi there,
I'm new here and was looking for some advice/ direction regarding my female Veiled Cham. I got her from a pet store in September, not sure of her age. She currently weighs in at 157g. She's in an all screen 18x18x36 enclosure.
She was on crickets daily dusted every other then went on strike in December. Got her on super worms and she would eat 5-7 a day. She's gone on strike again so I thought I'd try wax worms for her, she won't go after anything right now. I mist her twice a day and humidity is usually around 40%. She has an 18" UVB along with a 75w day bulb and a 60w night bulb for her. I'm worried about her and the local pet store suggested I try Zilla Caloric Supplement for her and keep up with the wax worms. Thought I'd come here and get some experienced advice! Any and all suggestions would be appreciated, thanks in advance for your help!

Hands down best lookin enclosure I've seen yet...

 

[Jensen2082]

Thanks for all the information! Living here in WI it's been awhile since she's seen the outdoors, it's the same for me! I mist her by hand twice daily and she also has live plants in her cage, she especially loves to nibble on the kalanchoes I give her. All are untreated and bug free. She does have a night bulb as our house gets down to about 66 during the night.
I thought she was ready to lay eggs back in December when she did this so the pet store said to put a bin of wood chips in with her and she showed no interest what so ever. From my further reading it sounds like damp sand is the way to go?
I'm going to see if I can find some hornworms, I'm not sure where I could get them locally but that might do the trick! I've got one more recent pic her, took it last weekend. Thanks again for your help!

 

[zsazsa85]

Laying bin with wet playsand! And no light bulb at night at all! It can drop even under 60. For hornworms I can send you links, i just have to go on my computer.
So here are some sellers, thanks to Sandrachameleon: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs...rs-online.html

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Chameleons need total darkness to sleep. They can handle temps much lower than 66. It is preferable to have a 10 degree drop in temps from day to night.

 

[Denverbug]

Try as many different types of feeders as you can Dubais,worms,cirx. What ever you can get. See what she will eat then start mixing up. She may just be picky. She looks beautiful. One of the prettiest females I've seen. Hope she starts eating soon.

 

[Jensen2082]

Great news, she's eating again! Not sure what did it but I did put one plant back on the wall that I had moved. I also stopped using her night bulb! She's a finicky one I guess! Thanks again to everybody who gave advice, I still have hornworms on their way so I hope she enjoys them! Looks like my picture is going to post sideways too, I guess I'm better at taking care of my pets!

 

[carol5208]

Glad to hear she is eating again. Sometimes they are just plain weird and refuse all food. I still would get a bin in here cage just in case. As stated, they can take temps far lower than people think. 50 is about the cut off, but I know of someone on here who left their veild outside due to an emergency and it dropped into the 40's and it survived. Maybe not something you would want to do everyday, but 66 is not too cold at all, so not to worry.