New Chameleon owner! Need advice.

[Kaorin]

I bought a pet chameleon last weekend, a 4 year old female veiled. Her name is Tomo =]

I just wanted some advice on feeding, as I've received mixed reviews from the internet, as well as from different staff members of the place I purchased from!

I was first told to empty a box of crickets in her tank once a week, and she'll eat them when she wants them. There's roughly 12 crickets in each box. I bought a box and she ate the lot in one evening -_-.

I called the shop the next day, a different person answered. She said since my chameleon ate so much on Tuesday evening, I should only need to next feed her on Saturday. From then on I plan to regulate the crickets, putting in just 3/4 crickets each day, as opposed to the whole box.

Would you agree that this is a good feeding schedule? And is leaving her without food until Saturday okay? It's now Thursday, so she ate nothing yesterday, and I'm worrying too much that she is really hungry =[. She seems moody with me today. She probably knows I'm depriving her of crickets =P

Thank you so much for any advice you can give! It'll be greatly appreciated!

P.S. any advice on keeping the crickets alive and well would also be appreciated, as mine seem to die within a day or two (if not eaten first!) =|

 

[allencg101]

well my adults i feed every other day but if there is crickets in the cage i don't put any in till he eats them again. good luck with your girl and post up picks so we can see. you should check out jannb's blog about veiled and having an egg laying bin ready if she starts showing gravid colors and starts getting wide. also dust with calcium with out d3 every feeding and with d3 every other week with reptive vitamens i do that with d3 on the weeks i give them the vitamins so all i have to get is the vitamins with d3 for the week i and feeding for that period.

 

[allencg101]

are you located in the states or overseas. i buy my crickets in bulk from one of the sites sponsors. and i get a big rubber tub or tote what ever you prefer to call it and keep them in there then i gut load them with fruits and vegtables. depending on the size of the crickets if they are big i'd give 6-8 you gotta be careful with adult female chams depending on the circumstances to much feeding can cause a female to make eggs.

 

[mbondy]

At four years old you don't need to be feeding much as overfeeding will cause problems. Are you aware of egg laying, etc? What lights do you have for her and temps? Usually for a female, 80-81 will be perfect.

Here is a blog for new keepers.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

And here is a link to egg laying.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html

And here is another link to a blog just about keeping females.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html

Congrats!

[EDIT] Aww oops, guess it's still too early. Definitely no need to feed very much. In this case I guess the second links would apply to you. Sorry everyone, my mistake!!

 

[kinyonga]

If you overfeed her since she is fullgrown (4 years old) constantly she will likely produce large clutches of eggs and may have difficulties with that and constipation and maybe even MBD and prolapses.

Are you feeding anything to the crickets? How are you keeping them?

 

[DavidBuchan]

Hello, welcome to the forum . This place is the best place I've found for expertise on Chameleon care - all the info you need is here, so enjoy the research on blogs and other threads......and try not to worry too much about what you're not doing right - you can learn on the job, Chameleons are not too hard to look after if you research properly.......you're off to a good start with asking about feeding, so vitamins, gutloading, lighting, variety of food, breeding your own insects, and getting outside for some natural sun........lots to learn/do

 

[Kaorin]

Thank you for the responses!

Allencg101, thank you for the advice! I'll be returning to the shop for crickets on Saturday, so I shall see if I can purchase some of these supplements you've mentioned! I've had her less than a week so far, so haven't got into all this yet! Okay, I will try putting in a few crickets each day and observe her eating habits. If any are let over, I wont add any more. Thank you! Also, I'm located in the UK. I'm not sure buying in bulk will be best for me. I simply go to the shop nearby as and when I need them.

Mbondy, I haven't really thought about egg-laying what should I look for? And are there dangers to this? I'll try to do some more research. I had the temp on roughly 88, as that's how they kept her in the shop. I've just turned it down a little though. Thanks for the links!

Kinyonga, I definitely don't want that happening to her! Can you tell me any signs I should look out for if something was wrong, such as the things you mentioned? The crickets, I don't keep so much myself. I just buy a small box as and when I need them, and pop them in her tank. I put a few potato peelings in the cornet for the crickets to nibble on (if they get the chance) and that's about it!

 

[pantherlover]

As Kinyonga taught me to do, keep the basking spot in the low 80s. This will slow her appetite. Therefore she will not produce too many eggs. I also learned recently to feed a bit extra for a couple days after she lays and after that, go back to the normal schedule and let her beef back up slowly. Feeding the appropriate amount of feeders the following week after a successful egg lay is detrimental and could determine how many eggs she will lay in the next clutch. I I feed 3 to 5 crickets a day or close to an equal amount of different types of feeders. Some choose to feed 6 to 10 every second day, which is perfectly fine as well.
Gutloading your feeders is extremely important. I use collard greens, mustard greens, kale, yams, carrot, butternut squash, prickly pear, apple, orange, dried unsalted oats, unsalted mixed nuts. Sometimes I also use spirulina, bee pollen or a bit of cooked egg yolk.
Happy chaming and good luck

 

[kinyonga]

Here's a caresheet for you...
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
and some more information...
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc.....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it. At that size you only need to feed it every two or three days. Feed it enough that it doesn't get fat (and, of course, doesn't get thin either).

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium). Not sure how to tell you to dust WC insects if that is what you will be doing.

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.

 

[Kaorin]

Thank you!

Thank you very much for all your advice =] I have taken them on board! I've purchased some reptile minerals to dust her crickets with. The guy I originally bought her from instructed me that it wasn't necessary, but I decided against that. Even if it isn't, I'd much rather feel that I was doing the best I can to care for her =]

 

[kinyonga]

Can you post some photos of her please?

 

[Kaorin]

Photos

I'll take some photos tonight and post them up!