Pot Belly?

[amfire125]

Hey everyone, I could use some help. I've had little Pepe (5-6 months old) in my care for a little over 4 weeks now. He's got quite an appetite (15-20 small crickets) and all of his poos and urates have been super healthy looking so I haven't been concerned until I snapped this pic tonight. I thought the pic was ironic because he must be dreaming of food...but is this pot belly possibly a health concern? Maybe it's sign of impaction, or it's just the position he's sleeping in? It just looks concerning to me. The other pic is from just a few nights ago.

The only slight changes recently have been that I introduced one small super worm to him 2 days ago (he's pooed since then) and started giving crickets Bug Burger 2 nights ago.

Thanks in advance!

 

[JoshD49]

Wow that's a lot of crickets. Mine only eats about 8-10 a day. I have read somewhere on here that they can overeat if allowed but the age of when to throttle them down I forgot. Someone will chime in on when that is. My cham will accept a couple more in the evening if I offer it but I don't do it because I want to make sure he has proper backing time after eating.

Do you feed him through the day or only in the morning? It's best to feed them in the morning to make sure they bask to help digest.

 

[amfire125]

Wow that's a lot of crickets. Mine only eats about 8-10 a day. I have read somewhere on here that they can overeat if allowed but the age of when to throttle them down I forgot. Someone will chime in on when that is. My cham will accept a couple more in the evening if I offer it but I don't do it because I want to make sure he has proper backing time after eating.

Do you feed him through the day or only in the morning? It's best to feed them in the morning to make sure they bask to help digest.

It's always seemed like a lot to me too, but I always feed at one time in the morning to allow the basking time. I've been following the common advice I've read to give them as much as they'll eat in about 10 minutes at this age since he's still young and growing. He does poo frequently, mostly every other day. Maybe I should still cut back on the number of feeders?

He's pretty active around his enclosure and all other signs seem healthy. That belly just has me worried. The life of a cham owner! haha

 

[JoshD49]

That photo of him sleeping on the food dish is hilarious. Looks like an addict. Haha.

Before you started the bug burger what was your gut load?

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Defanitly a funny pic! That’s ALOT of crickets! If he is 6 months old I’d say it is time to start cutting back on the food. Nothing drastic, it can happen slowly over the next couple of months. I’d say cut back by two crickets every week or so until you get down to a normal range. As he approaches adulthood he will likely start to regulate himself but not all do...

Since he still poops regularly I don’t think he is impacted. If you look at the first picture closely you can see that he is sleeping in a funny position. Looks like his back right leg is pushing on the right side of his belly causing it to bludge towards the camera a bit. Did you try to touch it or does he still have it today?

 

[amfire125]

That photo of him sleeping on the food dish is hilarious. Looks like an addict. Haha.

Before you started the bug burger what was your gut load?

I know I love the pic haha! What a goober!

Before Bug Burger I was using a home made mixture from the blender I came up with from inspiration from @sandrachameleon blogs on gut loading. I still use some of that stuff too since it has fresh veggies and all the good stuff in it. I just wanted to try Bug Burger too.

Defanitly a funny pic! That’s ALOT of crickets! If he is 6 months old I’d say it is time to start cutting back on the food. Nothing drastic, it can happen slowly over the next couple of months. I’d say cut back by two crickets every week or so until you get down to a normal range. As he approaches adulthood he will likely start to regulate himself but not all do...

Since he still poops regularly I don’t think he is impacted. If you look at the first picture closely you can see that he is sleeping in a funny position. Looks like his back right leg is pushing on the right side of his belly causing it to bludge towards the camera a bit. Did you try to touch it or does he still have it today?

Good to know! I'll start cutting back since I've been reading veileds can just be voracious eaters. He did poo this morning so probably no impaction. I didn't try to touch it since I haven't been handling him at all yet and I'm slowly working on the trust building process. He's VERY shy. I don't see the pot belly today so I guess we're in the clear and he just gave me a scare last night. Yall know me to worry a bit much.... haha.