small crickets in cage overnight?

[El classypenguin]

I purchased a baby veiled at about 2 p.m and when i brought him home, i thought i would put about 15 small crickets in there (gutloaded with apples and oranges about 12 hours before and lightly dusted with calcium w/o d3), he is very active and likes to hide but i didnt really see him go after any of the crickets. Honestly, i feel like petco does a crappy job with chameleons and feeder insects because i feel that the small crickets i got from there, (the pregutloaded ones) were loaded with crappy green cubes. I read a lot on the forums that it isnt a good idea to leave the crickets in there overnight, but they are small, will they do any harm to Corvo? i am also afraid they are too big for him so that might be why he didnt shoot at them. where should i order crickets if i dont want to get them at petco and what exact size of cricket should i get? any suggestions?

 

[Kate]

Hi and welcome to the forum. You dont say how old your baby is. I try not to leave them in the viv overnight . As far as possible i cup feed crickets just soni know where they are. Mine would go under the paper towel on the bottom of the viv. Left loose they may annoy your baby and if still in viv in the morning they will have lost their gutload. You are probably correct about your observations regarding petco. Dont believe them, do your own gutloading. Sandrachameleon has some great blogs on here. A gereral guide with feeders is no bigger than the space between their eyes. Do you have any pics of your little one?

 

[El classypenguin]

i will post some pics later but he is just a little guy, the worker at petco had no clue how old he was or how to handle him and didnt really know. but i said, "i want the male" because i saw the nubs on the back of his feet and the sales associate didnt know what i was talking about. how soon can you sex young chameleons? i am glad i got him though because they just got them in. they really wouldve messed them up if they stayed there im sure. but should i try cupfeeding him? he is only about 4-4.5 inches long maybe? i was thinking pinheads or fruitflies would be to small for this guy. is ghanns.com a good place to get crickets? im sorry i dont have a picture up, i will put one up today

 

[dom1959]

all chams are diff, but it might take him a couple days to a week to acclimate to new surroundings. be patient, lotsa love. i cup feed my chams, both of mine took to cup feeding easily and then you don't have to worry what crix are up to at night.
good luck and welcome to the forum.

p.s. read a lot, it will help!
oh and pics...

 

[Kate]

Veileds are usually quite easy to sex. They are the only type with spurs on the back heels. I have two babies just now. They are a bit big for fruit flies but its fun watching them catch them. Cant tell you where to get food as im in uk. I would look on line for small silk worms and small dubais. Dont get many cause he may not like them.