Is my veiled eating too little?

[icemom]

Hi everyone,
My chameleon is about two month old, i think. I had him only about a week. He is housed in 4x2x2 screen cage with UVA and heat bulb. Basking temp varies from 105 to 78 depending what spot he'll pick. My screen mesh is too large for small crix so he's being fed twice a day in a glass tank that sits on the bottom inside the cage. What concerns me is how little he eats. He would eat from one to three crix at a time, but mostly two. Is it enough for him since he's so tiny himself or I should be concerned? The crix are 1/2", gut loaded and dusted. He usually eats his couple of crix right away and loses interest in the rest of those that still walk around. Then I put him back into his enclosure. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[maxttu]

Hi everyone,
My chameleon is about two month old, i think. I had him only about a week. He is housed in 4x2x2 screen cage with UVA and heat bulb. Basking temp varies from 105 to 78 depending what spot he'll pick. My screen mesh is too large for small crix so he's being fed twice a day in a glass tank that sits on the bottom inside the cage. What concerns me is how little he eats. He would eat from one to three crix at a time, but mostly two. Is it enough for him since he's so tiny himself or I should be concerned? The crix are 1/2", gut loaded and dusted. He usually eats his couple of crix right away and loses interest in the rest of those that still walk around. Then I put him back into his enclosure. Any suggestions? Thanks

4x2x2 sounds awfully big for a two month old. Maybe try sectioning the enclosure off and try using a feeder bowl attached to the screen. If you're placing him in a tank, this could be stressing him out, thus causing him not to feed. Just a thought...

 

[Jbujarski]

Hi everyone,
My chameleon is about two month old, i think. I had him only about a week. He is housed in 4x2x2 screen cage with UVA and heat bulb. Basking temp varies from 105 to 78 depending what spot he'll pick. My screen mesh is too large for small crix so he's being fed twice a day in a glass tank that sits on the bottom inside the cage. What concerns me is how little he eats. He would eat from one to three crix at a time, but mostly two. Is it enough for him since he's so tiny himself or I should be concerned? The crix are 1/2", gut loaded and dusted. He usually eats his couple of crix right away and loses interest in the rest of those that still walk around. Then I put him back into his enclosure. Any suggestions? Thanks

A few things:
1. He needs a UVB bulb. Most of us use a reptiglow 5.0 or reptisun 5.0
2. 105 is too hot for any chameleon especially one that young.
3. I feel 1/2 might be too big for him
4. Lastly what do you dust with and gutload with
Just a few things I noticed

 

[carol5208]

105 is gonna fry the little guy. What the heck are you using that is causing a 105 deg temp? you say UVA and basking...do you mean UVB and basking light? If not you need to get a UVB. Would like for you to post pics of your set up and your chameleon. Also, 2 months old is young and 1/2 crickets are too large in my opinion. He might be intimidated by the feeders so I would try 1/4 inch. You need to drop that basking temp by about 20 degrees or more. The hot temps could be effecting his appetite. How can your basking spot range from 105-78? Do you have more than one? Or do yo mean the overall cage temps are in that range?

 

[BocaJan]

Definitely go to 1/4" crickets. He should be eating about 10 crickets a day.

 

[icemom]

I meant UVB bulb and basking light. He seem to like to get close to it but he has a lot of space to move away as far as he wants. 105 to 78 is the temp range in the cage. 105 is where my probe is for the temp and kind of his most liked basking spot. Like i said, he likes to get even closer to the light time to time. About the crix... I gutload them with greens, sweet potato, carrots, etc. They are not all 1/2", many are 1/4". But when he eats he takes the biggest ones. And ends up eating only a couple. I was thinking about building small cage just for now with finer screen so i can throw crix in but i like the idea of attaching feeder cup to the side. I have colony of superworms but so far he shows no interest. I tried to offer him tiny ones and he ignores them

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the Chameleon Forums and congrats on your baby veiled. I have a blog linked below for how I keep young veileds and panthers.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

 

[icemom]

Not eating at all anymore

Thanks everybody. today came home to basking temp showing 135. Its not. So I will get new termometer to correct that issue. In the meantime, he stopped eating altogether! Now what do I do? He's bascking, moving around the cage, just wont eat