Is there such a thing as “too much” when it comes to basking

[honeyybee176]

My little girl doesn’t hang out anywhere other than her basking branch. With much of what I’ve seen chameleons will go up and down in their enclosure to regulate heat, go from hide to hide, all sorts of stuff. I have a 4 month old female veiled chameleon and she doesn’t really do any of that. She sits basking and has even taken to sleeping there. The only time I see her come down is to eat, as her bowl is much lower than the branch, but she goes right back up.

My concern with this is that she’s been sleeping there as well. Also that I learned recently her heat bulb was too strong So her enclosure was too hot(I’m getting a new one this weekend but for this week I’ve just turned the heat off periodically) and all that time she never went to lower branches to cool herself.

Is this normal? Or sign of something im not versed in? I don’t see any other signs of poor health or worrying behavior.

Thanks for reading, lmk your thoughts?

 

[nightanole]

50/50 shot of a female even getting a basking light, I wouldnt even bother till around 9 months. The only reason for one before hand is if air temps dont hit at least 70f some time during the day.

 

[honeyybee176]

50/50 shot of a female even getting a basking light, I wouldnt even bother till around 9 months. The only reason for one before hand is if air temps dont hit at least 70f some time during the day.

Do you mean just her heat bulb? I can’t imagine not keeping her UVB on.

And are you meaning that the high temp is why she doesn’t want to leave that spot?

 

[nightanole]

Do you mean just her heat bulb? I can’t imagine not keeping her UVB on.

And are you meaning that the high temp is why she doesn’t want to leave that spot?

Im saying girls dont get basking bulbs till they are almost adults, or are adults. You also dont want to over feed girls.

Look here is the life of a female veiled:
hatch
eat like a horse
generate eggs as early as possible
lay a clutch
if you get your clutch in early enough, you might be able to get in a 2nd clutch
die during the dry season

If you are part of the 1%, you will live to see next season


So you as a female keeper are fighting against all these instincts. You want her go go "low and slow". If you treat her like a male and let her eat as much as she asks and let her bask in high temps to digest quickly. You will end up with a female with a VERY early clutch, in a body that might not be big enough to handle it. Over fed females can fire out eggs as early as 5-6 months, when they are not even full grown.

 

[honeyybee176]

Im saying girls dont get basking bulbs till they are almost adults, or are adults. You also dont want to over feed girls.

Look here is the life of a female veiled:
hatch
eat like a horse
generate eggs as early as possible
lay a clutch
if you get your clutch in early enough, you might be able to get in a 2nd clutch
die during the dry season

If you are part of the 1%, you will live to see next season


So you as a female keeper are fighting against all these instincts. You want her go go "low and slow". If you treat her like a male and let her eat as much as she asks and let her bask in high temps to digest quickly. You will end up with a female with a VERY early clutch, in a body that might not be big enough to handle it. Over fed females can fire out eggs as early as 5-6 months, when they are not even full grown.

Okay, I’ve already dialed back her food by half cause I’d noticed her gaining weight in her cask. So she’s now at 8small/5medium bug per day. Should I feed her even less or is that a better amount?

 

[nightanole]

Okay, I’ve already dialed back her food by half cause I’d noticed her gaining weight in her cask. So she’s now at 8small/5medium bug per day. Should I feed her even less or is that a better amount?

My feedings are "fill the feeder till the point there is a few left over after the feeding" or hand feed till they stop eating. Then i remove the food. Then its either every other day, or every 3 days for feedings. I never reduce the amount per feeding.

Once they are adults im a monster. They only get fed on the weekends, and may get a snack or two during the week.