one month old veil

Lil nasty

Lil nasty

Member
new owner here, have a one month old veil in a screen tank about one foot wide x one and a half, and about +2 feet tall. my question is the best way to feed him. The tank seems pretty big for him now but he will grow into it fast i think. ive put crickets directly into his enclosure but he moves super slow and it doesnt seem often enough when a cricket passes by on a close branch, they seem to migrate to the top edge of enclosure. He doesnt really hunt them down, jus grabs em if their close. its only my 2nd day with him so maybe hes still adjusting. Ive tried a little cup but seems like the crickets jus end up jumping out. i have all the vitamin powders for calcium and multivitamin, but i dont know how to make sure hes getting it? if i powder the crickets and put em in their i dont know if he will get them?? and theres no way to regulate which one hes getting and when?? please help.. should i put him in a smaller cage till he grows?? thanks!
 
you can try hand feeding. my cham will usually take crix or worm etc out of my hand but not all will. Your enclosure size is fine.
 
My young veiled does well with a food dish. I did not want a clear dish because he could see the feeders and tried to shoot at them through the sides :eek: I wanted the dish to be deep enough that crickets would not think to jump out and shallow enough that the cham would be able to climb out if he were to climb or slip in. The dish I found is a ceramic one meant for guinea pigs and chinchillas, painted with a leafy pattern and glazed so the surfaces are smooth (so feeders can't climb out) and the dish sort of blends in with the plants.

I chop apple and (safe) green vegetables into tiny pieces and put them in the dish along with the feeders. This way they are preoccupied, can continue to be gutloaded, and the cham might pick up some fruit or veggies in the process of catching his meal. :D

I also surround the dish with vines and foliage to give the cham something to reach from or to grasp if he needs to get out of the dish. Your cham is very young, so you would have to watch him carefully while he eats and probably remove the dish from the cage between feedings if you wanted to try this out. You might also have to pass on the fruits and veggies for the time being, unless you make the pieces extremely tiny.
 
When I have a new cham adjusting to his new home here's what I do.

I offer cup feed insects at all time. I place them in a see through plastic cup which i have attached packing tape to the inside of the cup so the feeders can't climb out of the cup.

I put the cup in an artificial vine and about half way up the side of the enclosure. That way he can see it at all angels. I also make sure to keep it out of the way of the splashes from the dripper. Just incase water should get into the cup I poked holes into the bottom of the cup so water can drain.

Carefully count the number of feeders you put in the cup when you feed in the morning. You may want to try a large variety as he might be use to eating one or two types of feeders and not just crickets. Offer him food by hand but try not to make him feel threatened. When the chameleons are young they will be pretty hungry and should have a pretty large appetite.

Check his temps and water daily and make sure he has food in his cup, with enough time and when his nerves are settled he will take you up on your insect offer. Good luck and keep us posted!
 
What size crickets are you feeing him? If the crickets are too big he want be able to eat them. Tell us about your lighting and temps. If it's too warm he might not eat.
 
Thanks for the good info, I have a little tub of small crickets, sum do look a little big maybe but others look ok, kinda hard to sort em out tho. There about the size of his jaw line and mouth when looking from above, is that too big?And I have a zoo med or exo 5.0 uv long bulb and a like a 33 watt regular bulb, the basking spot was around 90, I tried a 100 watt for a bit but he was opening his mouth so put it back. Thanks!
 
Are the crickets as thin as or thinner than the area between the cham's eyes? That's a better way to judge than length. :) If they are, they should be safe. Just remember to remove any that haven't been eaten after a while if they're loose in the cage or could become loose since they (especially adult crickets but any can cause damage) can chew on and injure young chams.

I hope that's helpful. :eek:
 
Hey lil nasty im in the same boat as you, i just recently got a 2 month nosy be and its in a 16x16x20 cage, and when i put in the crickets he is only able to snag a few before they all disperse and he doesnt seem to like chasin after them haha. Hes eaten about 7 this morning already and im going to put some more in later today. Im feeding it pinheads right now but have a problem of some of them actually being able to get out of the enclosure through the mesh and some gaps in the cage so i almost have to sit by the enclosure for a bit to catch the ones that get out haha, dont want the housemates complaining about crickets in their rooms. Im going to make a feeding cup eventually and see how he takes to it to try to save on the stress of losin crickets, im also feeding fruit flies which it seems to love but now i have to wait cause the second batch just started to pupate. My cham also runs away when i open the door and stick my hand in to put crickets into the cage but he did take a cricket off my finger once when i first got him cause he couldnt see me through the foliage just my hand
 
Liet said:
Are the crickets as thin as or thinner than the area between the cham's eyes? That's a better way to judge than length. :)
Click to expand...

I messed up a bit in my wording here, don't want to give you the wrong info accidentally. It's the length of the cricket that you want to be smaller than the space between the cham's eyes. After all, the cham may catch the cricket from the side, so the width of the cricket wouldn't be the problem there. They can choke on anything bigger, so it's best to be careful :)
 
I think they might be too big then.. Do u have to raise ur own pinheads? Those are little beetles right? Are those available at pet stores? And I saw a little jar of fruit flies at petco but they were tiny. Is there bigger ones? Soo much to learn
 
I haven't seen your exact cham, but mine was probably about the same age as yours when I got him and he ate the small crickets I could get at work. Most pet stores that I know give you a choice of small or large crickets. I don't know of any that sell pinheads, but maybe someone else on here knows of one.

You can get them online here: http://www.ghann.com/store/store_product_detail.cfm?Product_ID=1&Category_ID=1

I haven't personally used fruit flies but other forum members have. I'm pretty sure they are all really tiny. Two common species are D.melanogaster and D.hydei. Neither can fly. The hydei are larger, but still only 1/8 of an inch.
 
ive used fruit flies and my chameleon seems to like them so id suggest giving them a try, they are really cheap too! and you get a bunch to start and they just keep coming, i just finished off the ones to start out with and there are ALOT of maggots and alot of them have pupated now and its only been 4 days!
 
i think he's doin good, after work 2day i put sum crickets in his feeder dish, a lil plastic dish in the branches, he came over and ate a couple, he's shedding and i saw a big poop at the bottom so everything looks good. thanks everyone, everyones chameleons in their avatars look awesome also, cant wait to get there
 
So when I got my chameleon I was given a little white tub with a pink label of reptile-cal calcium with d3 and told to use it sumthing like 4 times a week, and a tub of reptile-cal blue label multivitamin and told once a week. After reading on here their is a conflict of information. So I guess I need another calcium with no d3?? And So how often d3?? Thanks
 
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