Veiled Chameleon feeding tips requested from a beginner

[illiam]

Howdy folks,

I've just got my first chameleon, a six week old veiled chameleon, on Wednesday. I work at a research institution that does a lot of work with reptiles so have been fortunate enough to be able to borrow a lot of equipment and get a few starting feeders, etc.

I just have a couple of questions that I haven't been able to find definitive or satisfactory answers to via google, etc. and that I'd therefore like to ask you knowledgeable folks.

First of all - I've read a varying estimate of a juvenile veiled chameleon's diet ranging from 4-5 crickets a day to 15. What sort of volume of crickets should he eat?

Secondly - I've read that crickets should constitute 80% of his diet with the other 20% varying other feeders. Currently I have mealworms that I got from my research institution but have read that these are not ideal feeders. For this reason I'll try and vary the other feeders and rotate between various worms, bugs, etc. Is this the correct approach?

Thirdly - is it the case that he absolutely also needs fruits? If so, which are the most suitable? I've read recommendations of every imaginable fruit, but I was wondering if there is any form of consensus on e.g. a few slices of tomato a week, etc.?

Fourthly - I was of course neurotically concerned with his welfare the first few nights and so put a small tupperware container suspended from the upper branches with a few crickets in it and observed him eating from there on his second night. Today, however, he watches it but isn't interesting in eating from it. Am I making a mistake in installing a plastic container with a few crickets in the branches of his cage? This is sort of connected to my next question:

Namely, fifthly - the substrate on the ground of his cage is pieces of bark. He'd stayed his first night at my institution and this is the setup they use there. When I got him there were many crickets and a few mealworms moving through the bark (is bark a good ground substrate?). Now, there are very few because I assume he has eaten most of them. All well and good but this leads to my question - should I "stock" up his cage with a dozen or so crickets and let him chow his way through them? Or should I aim to only put in five or six a day and just assume he will find and eat them? In other words should I work towards maintaing a relatively consistent stable population / availability of crickets or should I put in x per day? I observed him hunt around on the ground and eat one of the crickets down there just as I was writing this post so I know that he enjoys / is good at foraging / hunting down there.

Sixthly, I've read about gut loading and am going to spend some time getting it right. Is there any particular container / storage set up recommended for crickets, and what precisely should they eat? What do you guys recommend? Should I be keeping the crickets at room temperature or cooler / warmer?

Finally, I'm going to my local reptile specialist shop tomorrow to get my own UV light, some more crickets, some other feeder, a proper mister and some more foldable branches, etc. Is there anything specific I should consider buying, especially with regards to feeding?

PS. Just a final quick question to see if I've understood his habits correctly - he seems to go down to the ground to eat a cricket then climb back up and sit in his basking spot to digest it before going down once more to repeat - is this regular healthy behaviour?

 

[jamest0o0]

1) feed him as much as he will eat early in the day. When they are adults they slow down

2)you're about right, you can use roaches as a staple as well. And yeah don't bother with mealworms

3)I don't have veileds, but they mainly eat vegfies/fruits for hydration purposes. Stuff high in sugar probably isn't that good for them, but I'll let a veiled keeper answer this.

4)do you mean like a feeding cup? That's fine

5) absolutely remove that bark, it's an impaction/choking hazard. Bioactive substrate with small particles that won't be choked on or barebottom are the only viable options for the most part. And it's good to let crickets free roam sometimes and let him hunt, throw as much as he will eat in. If there's some extras, just leave a piece of carrot in the cage for the crickets to munch on through the night.

6) room temp is fine, I suggest banded crickets
Give them a nice large bin, cut sides and top out and hot glue screen in for plenty of ventilation. Use egg flats and paper towel rolls for plenty of hiding. Gutload with tons of variety, primarily greens(dandelion, some kale, romaine, etc), low sugar fruits(berries, papaya, little Apple and oranges), some nuts, seeds, and bee pollen to top it off. You'll have to check out some comprehensive gutload lists.

7) they bask to digest their food, normal. Id get a good mist system, get a reptisun 5.0, you need proper supplementation(plain calc, calc with d3, multivitamin), I'd get branches from outside

 

[kinyonga]

Is it a male for sure? Females need slightly different care.

Include veggies in the food/gutload for the insects. I feed/gutload the crickets with dandelion greens, kale, endive, escarole, carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, and a small amount of fruit...berries, melon, apples, pears.

 

[illiam]

1) feed him as much as he will eat early in the day. When they are adults they slow down

2)you're about right, you can use roaches as a staple as well. And yeah don't bother with mealworms

3)I don't have veileds, but they mainly eat vegfies/fruits for hydration purposes. Stuff high in sugar probably isn't that good for them, but I'll let a veiled keeper answer this.

4)do you mean like a feeding cup? That's fine

5) absolutely remove that bark, it's an impaction/choking hazard. Bioactive substrate with small particles that won't be choked on or barebottom are the only viable options for the most part. And it's good to let crickets free roam sometimes and let him hunt, throw as much as he will eat in. If there's some extras, just leave a piece of carrot in the cage for the crickets to munch on through the night.

6) room temp is fine, I suggest banded crickets
Give them a nice large bin, cut sides and top out and hot glue screen in for plenty of ventilation. Use egg flats and paper towel rolls for plenty of hiding. Gutload with tons of variety, primarily greens(dandelion, some kale, romaine, etc), low sugar fruits(berries, papaya, little Apple and oranges), some nuts, seeds, and bee pollen to top it off. You'll have to check out some comprehensive gutload lists.

7) they bask to digest their food, normal. Id get a good mist system, get a reptisun 5.0, you need proper supplementation(plain calc, calc with d3, multivitamin), I'd get branches from outside

Thanks for all the recommendations and help! I've got all the items I need from the local repitle shop now and have a cricket pen for keeping his food in.

Is it a male for sure? Females need slightly different care.

Include veggies in the food/gutload for the insects. I feed/gutload the crickets with dandelion greens, kale, endive, escarole, carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, and a small amount of fruit...berries, melon, apples, pears.

Yep - he's definitely male. I actually was recommended a nutritional jelly thing from the chap at the reptile shop so have given this to keep my crickets well-loaded. I'll put the odd piece of veggies into his enclosure though to keep the crickets off him at night.

 

[jamest0o0]

That stuff from the shops is pretty much useless. It can't replace fresh fruits/veggies/nuts/seed/bee pollen. The jelly you're talking about are probably those hydrating orange cubes or something similar. I wouldn't even use them.

 

[illiam]

That stuff from the shops is pretty much useless. It can't replace fresh fruits/veggies/nuts/seed/bee pollen. The jelly you're talking about are probably those hydrating orange cubes or something similar. I wouldn't even use them.

Oh, I see. The chap in the shop seemed pretty favourable towards it, but I'll pass on it hereafter then and go for the mixture laid out by the other poster in this thread.

 

[jamest0o0]

Want to post a pic just to know for certain?