Size

[Ellron]

My six month old veiled chameleon is really tiny.
I'm concerned about under feeding.
Here is a picture:
He is about 42 days since his last shed.
Just curious.


For size reference the chain link by his head is 1 inch.
I was concerned about over feeding, but maybe in turn I underfed!
Help!
Thanks.

 

[JaxyGirl]

I'm not sure about what size he should be by now because I don't have a veiled but (from what I've read) I think you should be feeding him the appropriate size crickets as much as he wants everyday until he's at least 6mos old. Hopefully one of the Senior Members will jump on here to help you out

 

[Ellron]

Thanks Jaxy.

 

[pssh]

Eh, he seems a little small, but not like super small. Have you been monitoring his weight? That's the best way to tell if he's getting enough food.

 

[Ellron]

No, I have a pretty hard time getting him out. I will start to monitor his weight.
I have a scale.
He is eating about 2 or 3 one inch silkies a day a some crickets. Is that sufficient?
How many grams should he be at this age?

Thanks!

 

[bridgofaith]

No, I have a pretty hard time getting him out. I will start to monitor his weight.
I have a scale.
He is eating about 2 or 3 one inch silkies a day a some crickets. Is that sufficient?
How many grams should he be at this age?

Thanks!

It's hard to say a specific size that he should be at this age, they vary from cham to cham because they all grow at different rates. I would feed him as much as he wants for now, until about 6 months old. Then, check his size again. I weigh mine weekly to be sure they are gaining properly and steadily.

EDIT: DUH! He is 6 months old. I would still be feeding him a little more than what you are offering for now because he is a little smaller.

 

[Ellron]

It's hard to say a specific size that he should be at this age, they vary from cham to cham because they all grow at different rates. I would feed him as much as he wants for now, until about 6 months old. Then, check his size again. I weigh mine weekly to be sure they are gaining properly and steadily.

EDIT: DUH! He is 6 months old. I would still be feeding him a little more than what you are offering for now because he is a little smaller.

Ok, thanks.
So about four silkies or 25 crix?
Should they gain about 5 or 10 grams weekly?

 

[bridgofaith]

Ok, thanks.
So about four silkies or 25 crix?
Should they gain about 5 or 10 grams weekly?

The silkies is fine. 25 crickets could be to much, depending on their size. I would offer him food, when you see him pause and just kinda look at them, take the feeders away, he's had enough.

Again, it's hard to say how much he should or will be gaining each week, but, a couple grams per week wouldn't be abnormal. They grow very quickly at this age. Just monitor his weight so that you know he is growing.

 

[Ellron]

We just weighed him.
Our scale weighs in 5 gram increments, and it put him at between 15 and 20 grams.
I will continue to monitor his weight. At what point should I be concerned? What is the minimum he should gain weekly?

 

[pssh]

Yeah. That sounds small for that age. I would get a more acurate scale to monitor him.

 

[bridgofaith]

We just weighed him.
Our scale weighs in 5 gram increments, and it put him at between 15 and 20 grams.
I will continue to monitor his weight. At what point should I be concerned? What is the minimum he should gain weekly?

To me, that is VERY small. BUT, my 13 week old male weighs 53.3 grams. The 13 week old female weighs 44.1 grams. I would be feeding him according to his size (feeding more) and not his age. If you haven't done a fecal recently, I would do that as well. Also, maybe get a better digital food scale (Walmart has them) to get a more accurate weight.

 

[Ellron]

Alright, ill look into a new scale. Thats just leftover from my guinea pig days...
So the very most he is is 20 grams. What is the average size for his age?
Also,
Its been 45 days since last shed, is that an issue?
I feel real badly now that he bas been so underfed...

 

[Elizadolots]

I think your scale is off because I have a recovering dwarf hamster who's only about 2 inches long stretched out. She looks like an Auschwitz victim she's so thin. The vet (yes) weighed her at 30 grams.

 

[Ellron]

Did you see the picture?
That scale has always been perfectly accurate.

 

[bridgofaith]

Alright, ill look into a new scale. Thats just leftover from my guinea pig days...
So the very most he is is 20 grams. What is the average size for his age?
Also,
Its been 45 days since last shed, is that an issue?
I feel real badly now that he bas been so underfed...

I would get a different scale and weigh him again before getting to worked up. If the second weigh-in says the same thing, yes, that's very small for a 6 month male veiled. He isn't shedding as much because he isn't growing as much.

Check the scale.

 

[Ellron]

We weighed one of our hamsters and she was 95 grams.
That is accurate because we were just at the vet and she was 94 grams.

Hes very tiny..

 

[bridgofaith]

We weighed one of our hamsters and she was 95 grams.
That is accurate because we were just at the vet and she was 94 grams.

Hes very tiny..

OK, the next thing then is to review your husbandry. We have already suggested to increase the feeding. I would also get a fecal done. There may be parasites that need to be treated. He can get parasites a number of ways including through his feeders.

 

[Ellron]

Ok.
Is there any parasite that could manifest its self this way?
I know I've been supplementing correctly.
Hmmm.
By the way, a couple of hours ago he was walking on the bottom of his enclosure. Weird. Just thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[Elizadolots]

Yes, he looks about 2 inches nose to vent. To get my dwarf hamster to 2 inches I'd have to hold her by her front and back feet and pull...and, as noted: she's skinny as a rail.

Any scale can go out of balance with time and you were weighing guinea pigs (which could eat my little dwarf hamster) so the subtleties between 20 grams and 25 grams were probably not a big concern. I'm not saying your chameleon weighs 50 grams or anything like that, but I suspect it's more than you think it is.

And, just based on length, he's small. However, there have been stories of small chameleons on this board many times so while it's something to be aware of and even concerned about, it's not something to be upset over at this point.

It does seem that there are some chameleons who take awhile to jump start the growing. And, it seems there are some chameleons who are just smaller than most.

While chameleons might not vary in size quite as widely as humans, they do vary.


On feeding...I'd feed him however much he wants to eat. You might try giving him multiple food opportunities through the day. You need to do your last feeding a few hours before "lights out" so he can properly digest, but if you can offer food 3 or even 5 times a day you might see more eating happening.

 

[pssh]

My panther is like your guy. I thought it was because I didn't feed him enough, but after a month of free feeding and always having food available (eating 15-20+ small-medium crickets a day plus anything else I offered [he was picky as a baby]) when he was 16-18 grams (at 5-6 months old,) he only gained two grams! I didn't feel so bad after that. He also didn't have any parasites. He's just a midget. He did go through a growth spurt after that month of hardly any weight gain. He's even sambava and they're known for being bigger. He's still super little (80 grams at 13 months) but he seems to have stopped gaining weight and is voluntarily eating less. You just have a baby for longer