slow growth?? need help

[Lovestospooge]

Ok my friend and I bought two 2 month old Veiled Chameleons boy and girl,
so far the female has been growing but the male looks like it hasnt grown to much. The male is at my friends house. he takes care of him by feeding him gutloaded crickets and also dusts them 2 times a month. hes trying to get a stand for his cage becuase its kind of close to the ground. The basking light is a 75 watts, the UVB light he had to get rid of because it was a COMPACT UVB light bulb and we heard that there not to good for the chameleons eyes.
the pant he has in the cage we dont know what it is but we're sure its not harmfull. He eats 8 - 10 crickets a day and hes very active. he mist's the cage 4 mins 2 times a day.

 

[Zilla005]

how long have you had him?

 

[sharkey]

that cham in the pic looks skinny and w/out a uvb bulb it will develop health problems ( like MBD) unless you live in a sunny, tropical type climate like FL.

does your friend free feed, cup feed or what? the cham should be able to eat his fill - and reject the extra. 2 mos old is still very much a baby.

 

[Julirs]

You definitley need to replace the UVB light as Sharkey said. They all grow at different rates so don't worry about comparing them, but he does look a little skinny. Mybe get some silkworms to help fatten him up!

 

[Rexquando]

This is my Cham spooge is talkin about. I would say 3-4 mths old now. He eats like crazy, I'm going to order the bulb today. He's very active and seems like he's doin ok. How many crickets should he eat a day? and how do you keep them alive? I have a cricket keeper and I put 6 crickets in there every couple hrs, i used to put all of them in the cage but they would die really fast.

 

[Rexquando]

I just put a shit load of them in there and he ate 6 within 3 min. How many should i get for him and where can i find silk worms

 

[Julirs]

Order the UVB bulb pronto-your cham needs it. As for crickets, with one chameleon you can buy them at your local petstore a few dozen at a time or order 500 at a time from a cricket supplier. I keep my crickets in one of those large plastic totes. I cut the center of the lid out and replaced with screening. If you keep the crickets dry and clean and fed they will stay alive for a long time. I feed cricket food from Coastal Silkworms (you can order silkworms there too!). I also feed then green leafy lettuce, sweet potatoes, oranges, etc. on a rotating basis. As for supplementing you need to have 3 things, Repcal with D3 (use 2-3X monthly), Repcal without D3 (use 5-6X weekly), and Herptivite (use 1-2X monthly). If you are only supplementing 2X monthly it is not enough.

 

[Julirs]

I would put 6-10 crickets in at a time. A "shit-load" is not necessary and not a healthy way to feed your cham. If he eats them all, put in a few more.
Remember-the crickets must be gutloaded to be a good food for your cham.

 

[Rexquando]

A shit load is like 15 at one time. I just watched him eat 12 today so far. I ordered the bulb today. I use the other 1 for a little bit while i wait for the bulb. should i use maybe the med size crickets? I'm using the small right now. thanks for the help.