Should/Can I Feed Him With All He Can Eat?

[sweetmisery]

Or should I regulate it to a certain amount? The cham book said to feed it a specific number, but my newly acquired(and first) veiled eats A LOT.

Just wonderin what you guys do.

THANKS!

 

[dodolah]

how old is your chameleon?

 

[sweetmisery]

2.5 months.

 

[dodolah]

baby eats a lot.
I generally let them eat as much as they want unless if it obviously eat too much.
How many insects he usually gulped if you let him?

 

[sweetmisery]

He catches 2-3 small superworms in one tongue attack. Munches them, then go or another strike. lol

 

[dodolah]

6 superworms are far from eating too much, really. (i'm guessing from your last post)
Superworms is a good feeder as long as you use supplementation and gutloading to correct the Ca Ph ratio.
Could i suggest you to introduce a much healthier alternative such as silkies and phoenix worm?

my cham used to eat 25 to 30 crix when he's a baby.
I worry so much I get him to a vet.
after series of test, the vet confirm that he has active metabolism and best to let him eat that much until he decrease his appetite.
Enjoy the moment while it last.
When he hits juvie stage, you'll be lucky if he still maintain his voracious appetite.

My cham now has reduce his appetite tremendously to 4 crix a day.

 

[desultadox]

Does anybody have any photos of overweight chameleons? I think that could be really helpful to a lot of people and sort of simplify this topic. If we all knew what an overweight chameleon looked like, we'd have a pretty clear indication that we need to improve their diet.

 

[mika]

My cham eats a lot and he's 5-6 months old but he doesn't look overweight at all. I feed him all that he can eat and he usually leaves some of the crickets that he cant finish alone in his cup.

I did notice recently that he has lost interest in crickets eversince I fed him hornworms & silkworms.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

We have a male veiled cham named Guido. He is about 4 1/2 years old. Initially he ate crickets, and later crickets and superworms with a few wax worms as a treat. He grew to be a nice healthy adult. Well, then, as veileds do, he decided he wouldn't eat crickets anymore, only superworms or waxworms. So, his diet became exclusively superworms (with a few wax worms as a treat now and then). This is before we joined this forum, and before I understood about supplementation. The little chameleon book we bought didn't explain about that. Anyway, below are before and after pictures. The superworms caused Guido's phosphorous/calcium levels to be the opposite of what they should be. He also would literally turn his nose up at any but the plumpest, juiciest of the worms. I'm serious. He would bite into those dudes and juice and guts would spray out. I had to stand back. His nutrition was poor and so he had eye problems. We took him to a local vet, but the vet didn't fine anything wrong with him.

Fortunately, we discovered Dave Weldon, somehow, online. Found out about this forum, and learned all kinds of things. And found a better vet. Got Guido on a decent balanced, well gutloaded and supplemented diet. Two decent sized feeder every other day. It's been over a year now, and He's lost a little weight, but is still quite round for a veiled.

He stores fat in his casque, the cheeks on his face, along his back, and tail. At one time his eyes bulged out unnaturally (as you will see in the photos). The last photo shows him after he lost some weight and his casque was beginning to flatten out.

HERE ARE 2 PHOTOS OF TRIM, YOUNG ADULT GUIDO

AND HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS OF FAT GUIDO

AND HERE IS GUIDO AFTER STARTING TO LOSE WEIGHT

 

[Justin Carl]

Wow Gesang-he is a pig!
Most of you already know about my guy Igor.
He weighs in at 155g, but is also a super worm maniac.
He is currently eating between 4 and 5 supers per week.
I can't get him off his stubborn addiction.
I'll post some pictures of a "healthy or natural Veiled".

 

[mika]

Wow.. that is one big fat cham. That 3rd picture is cute though..

I guess their metabolism are like people. They have a faster metabolism when they're younger and it slows down when they get old?

 

[desultadox]

Wow, he looks like a chipmunk or hamster with those cheeks! My 6 and 7 month old Panthers have pretty good appetites... I feed them 1 superworm, 1 hornworm, and 5 .5" crickets every day. They look very fit and gorgeous if I do say so myself. I suppose once they're older they'll eat less. Good thing too, it's amazing how fast 500 crickets turns into 0 crickets!

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Most of you already know about my guy Igor.
He weighs in at 155g

WIDE MOUTH BASS !

Guido weighed 255 at his heaviest, but only measures 7" nose to vent.