Vegetables and fruits!

[Meezerkoko]

Hi there, I'm new to the board but not new to Chams, however I am curious what fruits and veggies they can eat and what offer the best nutrition? My 12 month old male veiled will pretty much eat whatever I give him so I'm pretty sure as long as it's good for him I could get it in him Just looking for some variety as he mostly eats dubia and crickets but occasionally snacks on the plant he lives on. He zapped a small handful of romaine from my hand a piece at a time yesterday so I know he likes his veggies too

Thanks in advance for your help! Sorry if this topic has been posted to death!

 

[VigilantSpearIII]

Despite popular belief, most Veileds will only eat veggies when they are dehydrated. Some might eat things other than insects, but I would advise against it. There is not too much information on chams eating fruits, but I don't believe their digestive system could handle the amount of fiber or fructose. I had a cat that would go crazy for papaya fruit. It would give him real bad diarrhea though and despite his insistence on eating papaya, we should remember that cats have become domesticated and many of their latent instincts have been altered. An animal doesn't always know best. Chameleons, while not considered domesticated, can show signs of bad judgement and foolish instinct. I suggest as a responsible owner, don't take the risk and feed him what has been tried and proven. Insectivores is what they are.

 

[Meezerkoko]

Maybe I'm mistaken then, I've always read that veileds will sometimes eat plant matter and mine does, and if he is a bit dehydrated and not getting enough moisture from his food (he used to drink from the dripper but doesn't seem to like to anymore) then since if even in nature they sometimes eat leaves then why would that not be a possible supplemental food?

And many sites (including this one) have indicated that plants are acceptable as a supplement. Which I suppose leads to my confusion.

 

[camimom]

What was said above. not true. at all.

Veileds eat bugs AND fruits and veggies.

They don't just eat dehydrated stuff.

Many members on here give their veileds strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, lettuce, dandelion leaves, etc etc.

While a cham should not be fed ONLY fruit and veggies, a small piece every day wont do anything to them.

 

[tdismang]

camimom is right. veileds are omnivorous so as long as the plant is chameleon safe, it is perfectly acceptable for your guy to eat it.

 

[Ferrah88]

My veiled starts going wild on her plants if I don't give her some fruits or veggies every now and then... she seems to feel the need to vary her diet with a bit of plants. (I had to remove all dry leaves form her free-range tree... for whatever reason, the browner and crunchier they are, the better they taste. She goes looking for them as soon as I put her on her tree now! Bad Yuki )

Just make sure when you feed fruits and veggies that you slice them accordingly. When I give small pieces of apple, I usually cut them smaller than the feeders she gets because it's a bit harder. I might just be over-cautious, but I don't want to have her choke on an apple! As for what kinds, well, I'm sure almost anything goes. There are obvious, toxic things like tomato leaves that you shouldn't feed, and nutrition-less things like most lettuces. Yuki goes crazy over blueberries (I cut them smaller because she has a tendency to try and take 4 feeders out of her cup at once when she eats...) and I sometimes shave small pieces of carrot. Celery leaves are also nice, although she finds leaves boring. I basically give her a bit of anything I know won't do more harm than good while making salads and food in general