Over Feeding

mBuxx

mBuxx

Established Member
Hello, I have a couple questions about over feeding. I have a 3 month old male veiled. I just want to make sure I am not over feeding the little guy. I know at this age they say let them eat as much as they want, but holy moley. A couple weeks ago, he started really chowing down, eating about 40 - 50 1/4" crickets a day. So about a week ago, I got a bit larger crickets, 1/2". He still eats about 40 a day! On top of this, he eats about 3 small hornworms a week, and a silk worm every day.

I feel like he would never stop eating. I pour the crickets in his feeder, and he sits there and eats them all till they're gone. As soon as he sees me in the morning he RUNS over to his feeder like hes starving (at this point he knows I'm coming with food) He has grown an amazing amount in these past few weeks as well.
 
Since he is now 3 months I would cut him back to the 12 small crickets everyday. He is just going to keep eating and eating otherwise. It won’t hurt to add the horn worms and silks on top of the crickets. You might want to try small dubia with him. When I added dubia in Beman seemed fuller and would actually leave a few feeders. The chameleon Breeder podcast has a few great episodes on feeding. :)
 
I have added the small horn and silks, unfortunately I think Dubia are banned in Canada? I haven’t been able to find them anyhow.
 
What? 3month? Don't stop feeding him... feed the man his fill! You don't have to worry about overfeeding until he's an adult.
 
The crickets might be too small, I usually go by width of insect smaller than length between cham's eyes. Not length of insect.
 
jamest0o0 said:
What? 3month? Don't stop feeding him... feed the man his fill! You don't have to worry about overfeeding until he's an adult.
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LOL I didn't say to stop feeding him. Everything I read and listened to says to start curbing them back at 3 months because they are no longer a neonate. That if they continue to grow at such a rapid pace that it is not good for them. If I am wrong pleaseeeeee correct me. :)
 
Beman said:
LOL I didn't say to stop feeding him. Everything I read and listened to says to start curbing them back at 3 months because they are no longer a neonate. That if they continue to grow at such a rapid pace that it is not good for them. If I am wrong pleaseeeeee correct me. :)
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I don't think you want to curb them till the 6 months mark. They are still growing at 3 months so I feed mine as long as they keep eating. My panthers we're eating 20 a day at that age. Mine are not over weight.
 
JoshD49 said:
I don't think you want to curb them till the 6 months mark. They are still growing at 3 months so I feed mine as long as they keep eating. My panthers we're eating 20 a day at that age. Mine are not over weight.
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But would 40-50 a day be too much? That was the OP. I was thinking that would be a bit overkill at 3 months. Maybe the caresheets should be edited then as well because they all say the same thing of once they hit 3-6 months to go with 10-12 feeders a day. I too was still feeding Beman about 20 a day at 4 months. He curbed on his own by 5 months.
 
jamest0o0 said:
The crickets might be too small, I usually go by width of insect smaller than length between cham's eyes. Not length of insect.
Click to expand...

Really? A cricket the that width would be a full grown cricket would it not? That seems way to big for my guy.
 
@Beman honestly I didn't see the caresheets. It's good you're going by those, can't hurt, but I always went by feeding as much as they could eat until they were fully grown. 3 months seems very young to curb eating. As long you're feeding nutritious foods like gutloaded crickets, roaches, silks, horns, etc you should be fine. I wouldn't stuff him with waxworms or superworms obviously. Females are a different story due to egg laying.

@mBuxx a large adult cricket is probably larger than the space between your cham's eyes. Like with worms, it wouldn't make sense to go by the length of the worm so much as the width. If it was the length we'd all be feeding adult chameleons baby superworms. Definitely don't need to be larger crickets, but if he's eating that many it's usually a sign you can move up a size if you'd like. I like to offer all sorts of sizes to my chams even as adults.
 
FF96369D-055C-4247-B418-0A6FE5DC159A.jpeg


Got a pic of him today
 
mBuxx said:
These are the crickets
Click to expand...
Yeah I would do that size about a half inch and cut him back to about 20 a day. Just make sure you are gut loading with a really good assortment. You will be able to tell when he cuts himself back at that point drop him back to the 12 a day.
Gutloading 101.jpeg
 
Beman said:
Yeah I would do that size about a half inch and cut him back to about 20 a day. Just make sure you are gut loading with a really good assortment. You will be able to tell when he cuts himself back at that point drop him back to the 12 a day. View attachment 223630
Click to expand...


Thanks Beman! Your always there in a snap.

My gut load consists of sweet potato, collards, kale, carrots, oranges, apples, mango along with cricket crack .

I haven’t been able to find bee polen (but it’s in cricket crack) or mustard greens anywhere locally.
 
mBuxx said:
Thanks Beman! Your always there in a snap.

My gut load consists of sweet potato, collards, kale, carrots, oranges, apples, mango along with cricket crack .

I haven’t been able to find bee polen (but it’s in cricket crack) or mustard greens anywhere locally.
Click to expand...
Lol well I work from home on my computer doing basically the same things all day 7 days a week so the forum has become my mental health breaks lol.
 
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