Need help identifying recent change

[Tripp]

I have a five month old vieled cham and I have noticed some recent changes in her behavior. She hasn't been basking as long as usual and seems to stay in the middle of her cage. I have also noticed some salt deposits forming around her nostrils, what causes this? I have recently started feeding her small pieces of celery leafs, she seemed to love it. She was on a strict gut-fed cricket/meal worm diet before that. She has become a lot more aggressive towards movement outside her cage. She has been eating and drinking normally, I recently installed a home made dripper system. I do not pester her often and have for the most part always hand fed her. She has seemed to be quite slow and goes to where she usually sleeps the last couple of days, does it maybe have something to do with the last couple of days being the shortest of the year?

Thank you for any suggestions, there all helpful.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

She is a teenager! They start hanging around lower in the cage and develop quite the attitude! Patience, she will snap out of it again in a couple of months! As for the mealworms! Please only use it as a rare treat! You realy need to work at bringing a bigger variety of bugs in to her diet! White deposits around the nostrils could indicate dehydration. Best of luck! Happy holidays!

 

[Tripp]

She is a teenager! They start hanging around lower in the cage and develop quite the attitude! Patience, she will snap out of it again in a couple of months! As for the mealworms! Please only use it as a rare treat! You realy need to work at bringing a bigger variety of bugs in to her diet! White deposits around the nostrils could indicate dehydration. Best of luck! Happy holidays!

let me assure you that I don't feed her meal worms often. What else would you suggest giving her to widen her variety.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

I sure hope you were not offended by me mentioning mealworms in my previous post. I personally made the mealworms mistake when I started off being a chameleon keeper. Now, I breed a whole bunch of bugs for my babies. I breed dubia cockroaches, lobster cockroaches, snails, superworms, black soldier flies, house flies, and on occasion hornworms and in the summer silk worms. It is a lot of work but so worth it! Please let my know if I can help you get started with these colonies!

 

[Tripp]

No, I was not offended but, I was unaware of them only being an occasional treat, so I must thank you. I have been especially curious about raising house flies, I have seen sites that sell the larva but, I am uncertain about the whole process. How about some safe vegetables or fruits that you would commenly use?

And thank you for the help and advice so far!

 

[aeolis23]

From what I've read, forming of crystals around the nosetrils could indicate over supplementation of calcium. But I guess someone else should have to confirm this or you should do some research about this

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Yup the flie larva comes in a medium they eat till they mature, pupated and turn in to flies.

 

[Tripp]

Yup the flie larva comes in a medium they eat till they mature, pupated and turn in to flies.

Could you be more specific on the whole process please? What should I keep them in and how long does the process take?

 

[Tripp]

Could you be more specific on the whole process please? What should I keep them in and how long does the process take?

And what do u mean by a medium? After I get this median, where do I store them and do I have to give them anything to eat or drink and if so then what? How many would I get at a time and how many flies would I obtain? How often do you feed ur Cham flies and how many?

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

I just posted a picture under my album "Chameleon supplies" with a fruit flie cup. The medium is the stuff/flie food on the bottom of the cup that is green. I have never bought house flies but I would assume that they come in a similar way. They would come with care instructions. (Most likely just the temperature to keep them at). As for how much you should feed. I would just put a bunch of flies in his cage and see how many he eats till he stops showing interest. Now you know how much to put in the next day. How much they eat depends on age and size.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

I only propagate and sell fruit flies and black soldier flies, but I am quite sure the flies will come to you the same way. There are a few kinds of flies on the market, blue bottle flies being the most popular. Hunt around with a google search, you will find them.

 

[MelissaB]

Here's a good post by Dayna with info about the salt crust some chameleons get around their nose.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...-cause-of-the-white-crusts-on-the-nose.75998/