Time to slow down feeding?

[iPwnedMSCS]

I can't tell if his casque is in starting to be overweight territory or not. He's just shy of a year old and still doing daily feedings of 3-5 dubia roaches (1/2 -3/4 inch) and 1-2 superworms.

Don't want him getting overweight, but I also don't want to cut him back too early.

 

[nightanole]

Generally you go by tail meat. You want to see 1-2 lines down the tail, but not individual vertebrae.

 

[iPwnedMSCS]

By that measure I think we're doing ok then. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Beman]

Typically at a year old you will take them to an every other day feeding schedule of 3-5 feeders. They start to put on fat pretty quickly when growth has stopped. Avoiding that point is important because they will develope a fat layer around their organs before showing visible signs in the casque. This in turn can compromise organ function the worse it gets. And getting them to take off weight is not easy.

 

[Asyaneo]

To bring this topic up, my veiled chameleon starts having quite a fat casque, while all other body for me seems to thin, what do you think? Should I give him less food? He is eating ~5-6 roaches every other day.

 

[Beman]

To bring this topic up, my veiled chameleon starts having quite a fat casque, while all other body for me seems to thin, what do you think? Should I give him less food? He is eating ~5-6 roaches every other day.

Hey there he would be considered obese. With veiled chameleons you base it off the casque thickness and if it is puffing out the back along with their cheeks.

With his current size you would cut him back to 2-3 half inch sized roaches/insects 2 times a week. You want them to gradually start reducing weight.

 

[Asyaneo]

Hey there he would be considered obese. With veiled chameleons you base it off the casque thickness and if it is puffing out the back along with their cheeks.

With his current size you would cut him back to 2-3 half inch sized roaches/insects 2 times a week. You want them to gradually start reducing weight.

Thank you! Any ideas why his spine is so visible? As initially I was trying to make him add weight for this reason until I realized that he is probably added too much…

 

[Beman]

Thank you! Any ideas why his spine is so visible? As initially I was trying to make him add weight for this reason until I realized that he is probably added too much…

Its normal to see that part of their body. Take a look at my albums... It will give you a good example of normal body weight and how their body should look. The album for Bane would be very good for this. The album for Beman he was about 15 grams over weight from 2 years old until he passed away at almost 7 years old. He was on a controlled diet the entire time to ensure he would not gain additional weight https://www.chameleonforums.com/media/albums/users/beman.54198/