New Cham Owner Troubles Feeding

H

Hollowhead

New Member
Hey guys, So ill start by telling you how I got the chameleon. I was in a local pet store (do not kill me) just looking at some chameleons they had there. I had researched chameleons and actually built a new cage for the chameleon. So once I had an idea on the veiled I liked I went to get a lady in the store to pick it up. She then told me about a 2 year old veiled chameleon she owned but could no lounger take care of and was willing to give it and a set up away for free. So I thought about it and decided on going with her chameleon. I figured hey maybe he would be eating fine and a bit more easy to look after than a baby. So I took it home and put it in its new cage. So it fed off crickets for the first few weeks, than due to escapes my parents told me I could no longer have live crickets in the house. Crap. so after more research i found out that silk and super-worms were an okay stable if gut loaded proper and dusted. So I ordered 250 super-worms and started feeding those to the cham. He was eating those like candy for the first little bit, but now whenever i try to feed him one he (runs) the other way. i am now having to get him upset at me and holding the food in his mouth until he takes a bite. im pretty sure this is not a good way to feed him. anybody who has any ideas on how to feed him super-worms or another type of worm that i can get in Canada that he may like more. Oh and also i guess while he was under the ownership of the other lady he injured his tongue so he can no longer shoot it out. he kind of sticks it out a inch and walks up to stuff to eat it. so any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks
 
wow that is terrible that he has an injured tounge.
your best bet would be a feeder bowl.
Try placing a shallow bowl/tepperware at the bottom of his cage.
place four or 5 supers in there each day. i would also suggest that you glue it down
this way when he steps onto it the bowl dosent tip over.
make sure you dust and gutload your supers.
 
So i force fed him 4 today, and felt like an ass, but what can you do. so should i put some in his cage today also or what?
 
I would definatly try :

Silk worms : High In Calcium, Low in Phosphorus, and easy to digest(soft)
Tomato Horn Worms: Catepillars High in Hydration, and Fat
Wax worms: easy to obtain (big pet stores have em') high in fat
Phoenix worms: Very high in nutrition (get at Mulberry farms) just have to poke them with a pin so that the digestive juices can get inside them to harness the most of the nutrients

all off the above should be supplimented, but are great alternatives to the worms your feeding now, and they dont move alot and your dont have to worry about escapee's
 
i also want to post some pics of my set up to make sure things look ok so here ya go

DSC_0138.jpg

so that has a standard 20w flourescent light just to brighten the cage, and a repti glo or sun cant read second part !!! but the 5.0, and a night light.

DSC_0137.jpg

Thats Boots under his 150w basking light.

DSC_0135.jpg

Boot's upgraded home, i understand its lacking a good live vine up top but cant find one anywhere!!!

DSC_0136.jpg

And Boots!
 
i suggest changing the compact repti glo or sun to a reptiSUN 5.0 Fluorescent tube.
Compact UVB has problems.
They often cause photo kerato conjunctivitis to your cham.

cage looks good.
also i do not recommend putting basking light inside the cage.
you risk a potential burn case.

as far as phoenix worm goes; i found that it is slightly cheaper buying them straight from the source phoenixworm.com (they have free shipping special right now)
 
there is a tube in there the conpact one is just a fancy household light bulb. i just have it in there to brighten up the cage. and i tried putting the basking light outside the cage but it makes the screen smoke. im buying some new screening when i get paid next week. for now i just keep a VERY close eye on that light.
 
I agree with dodolah concerning the lights.
I have two thoughts about his eating.
First, how much are you trying to get him to eat?
2 or 3 well gutloaded superworms or silkworms every 2 or 3 days is plenty for him, especially considering it's winter.
And second, ...oh, did I mention it's winter? A lot of people's chams are behaving this way right now and I really do believe it's the season.
Hey check out the site in my signature (below)
Good luck with him ... he's a nice looking veiled!

-Brad
 
Hollowhead said:
there is a tube in there the conpact one is just a fancy household light bulb. i just have it in there to brighten up the cage. and i tried putting the basking light outside the cage but it makes the screen smoke. im buying some new screening when i get paid next week. for now i just keep a VERY close eye on that light.
Click to expand...

You really are running the risk of him burning himself (VERY common accident with veileds!)
Can you clip it to something outside the cage and position it some distance from the screen?

-Brad
 
AHHHH!

He's right! Get that light out of there. My veiled burnt his head soooo bad that I thought he was going to die. His poor head is now deformed from scarring. He is otherwise a gorgeous veiled. Believe me it's not worth the risk. It took a LOT of care cleaning to get him healthy again.

Kevin
 
If you can't figure a way to rig it right away, you're better off eliminating the basking light until you can get it set-up right.

-Brad
 
well he looks awesome!
the one thing i noticed that needs to be done is you lighting.
You need to move the plants up high, and they need to be within 8-10" of you uvb light.
you also need to replace the compact bulb for a Linear Flourecent Tube.
The compact reptisuns cause eye issues. i dont have the link with me, but if you did some reasearc you would find it.
 
Here's a pic of his head.

Hopefully it will give an urgency to getting the light out of there.


DSCF0228_original.jpg



Good luck with him. :)

Kevin
 
Hey, so cage update. just so everyone knows my uv light is a tube! lol the other light is just there. But i moved his vines etc. up about a foot and also raised the 2 live plants. the basking light now sits on the top of the cage and shines onto his basking stop. i took one of those bird food cups with the hooks and mounted that kinda towards the bottom and put some worms in there to see if he will go for it. so i have a dripper that drips all day long at about 1 drop per second and i mist his cage on average about 4-5 times a day. So i think i might have this cge set up about right. please feel free to criticize anything else that seems wrong! and the light are 12 day and 12 hours night.
 
hey!that looks good! you are fast!
i would add just a little bit more foliage around the top.
this way he can be up as high as possible and not need to be in direct basking light.
all you need are a couple of vines and sticks:D
 
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