Veiled chameleon not growing

Roger.bowen

Roger.bowen

Established Member
I'm not 100% sure I have this under the right forum, but anyways I need help to determine if this is normal.

I got my chameleon on April 13 of this year. It is now about 2 months later and he still looks the same. I'm guessing he is around 3 months old but he sure doesn't seem like it.

Any comments would help cause I'm frustrated from this. Thanks guys

image.jpeg

The photo above is a few days after I got him.
image.jpeg


This photo, is from today. I can't even see a difference in size.
 
He looks thin to me. Does he eat good....is his food gut loaded. Do to dust his food with calcium. Have you weighed him. Sometime they grow more than you think. Make it a point to weigh him (a food scale should work) once every week or so and keep a record. That's a start.
 
Feeding schedule is most likely your issue.
Feeding:
Veiled chameleons are more omnivorous than most chameleon species and many enjoy munching on plant leaves and fruit in addition to using their long sticky tongue to catch live insects. Great feeder insects include crickets, silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, dubia roaches and superworms. Waxworms and mealworms are high in fat content and harder to digest so should only be used on occasion. The rule of thumb is to not feed insects that are longer than the width of your chameleon's head.


Neonates: as many small crickets as they can eat several times a day
Juveniles 3-6 months of age: 10-12 small crickets daily
Juveniles 6-12 months of age: 10-12 medium crickets every other day
Adults over 12 months of age: 7-10 medium-large crickets every other day


Chameleons should be fed in the first half of the day to give them time to bask and digest their food properly. Crickets need to be properly gutloaded with calcium rich vegetables several hours before being fed to your chameleon. Inadequate dietary calcium leads to metabolic bone disease, a very serious illness. Commercially available gutloads usually aren't properly balanced or sufficient for good nutrition. SeeChameleon Food for more information.


Supplementation:
Calcium and other vitamins are very important to your chameleon's health. Feeder insects should be lightly dusted with powdered supplement before being fed to your chameleon. Many keepers successfully use calcium (without D3 or phosphorus) at nearly every feeding, multivitamin once every 2 weeks, and calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks.


Hydration & Misting
The cage should be misted at least twice a day, drying out completely between misting sessions. This raises relative humidity as well as stimulates your chameleon to want to drink. Water can be provided by means of a dripper (not a waterfall or water bowl). The dripper should be placed on top of the cage so that the water droplets drip down and accumulate on plant leaves. Other watering options include manual and automated misting sytems. Chameleons do not recognize standing water as a drinking source. See Water & Humidity for more information.

Right from the care sheet. I would suggest reading the care sheet for Veileds or rereading it.
 
Fiona's Mom said:
He looks thin to me. Does he eat good....is his food gut loaded. Do to dust his food with calcium. Have you weighed him. Sometime they grow more than you think. Make it a point to weigh him (a food scale should work) once every week or so and keep a record. That's a start.
Click to expand...
I give my chameleon 1/8 crickets (as many as he can eat), They are gut loaded with a dry mix from the cricket breeder, I dust he feeders with calcium with d3 (2x a month), multivitamins (2-3x a month), calcium w/o d3 daily. Unfortantly I dont own a scale, I will buy one tomrrow when my pay check comes in.
 
JGuinan007 said:
Feeding schedule is most likely your issue.
Feeding:
Veiled chameleons are more omnivorous than most chameleon species and many enjoy munching on plant leaves and fruit in addition to using their long sticky tongue to catch live insects. Great feeder insects include crickets, silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, dubia roaches and superworms. Waxworms and mealworms are high in fat content and harder to digest so should only be used on occasion. The rule of thumb is to not feed insects that are longer than the width of your chameleon's head.


Neonates: as many small crickets as they can eat several times a day
Juveniles 3-6 months of age: 10-12 small crickets daily
Juveniles 6-12 months of age: 10-12 medium crickets every other day
Adults over 12 months of age: 7-10 medium-large crickets every other day


Chameleons should be fed in the first half of the day to give them time to bask and digest their food properly. Crickets need to be properly gutloaded with calcium rich vegetables several hours before being fed to your chameleon. Inadequate dietary calcium leads to metabolic bone disease, a very serious illness. Commercially available gutloads usually aren't properly balanced or sufficient for good nutrition. SeeChameleon Food for more information.


Supplementation:
Calcium and other vitamins are very important to your chameleon's health. Feeder insects should be lightly dusted with powdered supplement before being fed to your chameleon. Many keepers successfully use calcium (without D3 or phosphorus) at nearly every feeding, multivitamin once every 2 weeks, and calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks.


Hydration & Misting
The cage should be misted at least twice a day, drying out completely between misting sessions. This raises relative humidity as well as stimulates your chameleon to want to drink. Water can be provided by means of a dripper (not a waterfall or water bowl). The dripper should be placed on top of the cage so that the water droplets drip down and accumulate on plant leaves. Other watering options include manual and automated misting sytems. Chameleons do not recognize standing water as a drinking source. See Water & Humidity for more information.

Right from the care sheet. I would suggest reading the care sheet for Veileds or rereading it.
Click to expand...

As said in another comment, I feed him as many as he will eat (about 15 1/8 crickets). I have attempted to give him butter worms in hope to fatten him up (He turned a pale green and ran) I ordered silkworms and horn worms they ended up coming too big for him, I gave him a meal worm as a treat and he isn't a big fan of them either. I have also attemped to give him mangos, watermeleons and apples, he turned them all down and he has a live plant but doesn't seem to eat it

I have a calendar with a dusting schedule (calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks, multivitamin once every 2 weeks, and calcium every feeding)

I know he is getting plenty of water from his dripping because he urates are white.
 
jannb said:
I highly recommend a fecal. He may have parasites. Cociddia will stop their growth.
Click to expand...
He fecal doesn't look as smooth as in the poop 101, could this mean he has cociddia. Also how do they get that, mine was from a breeder and I got him at a fairly young age.
 
Like Jann said, it could be parasites. What kind of UVB light are you using? Some of the coil type / compact type bulbs are too weak and don't put out enough UVB for the best growth.
 
KLowery88 said:
Like Jann said, it could be parasites. What kind of UVB light are you using? Some of the coil type / compact type bulbs are too weak and don't put out enough UVB for the best growth.
Click to expand...
I'm using a zoo med 5.0 uvb bulb. I am using it because I have seen others use it and have success.
 
Also from looking at other chameleons my guys legs are super skinny, they have been like this since the day I got him
 
KLowery88 said:
I'd recommend switching to one of these: https://www.google.ca/search?q=zoomed+5.0+uvb+bulb&rlz=1C1ASRM_enCA549CA549&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=955&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiy5evOwJzNAhVLIlIKHce6Bq8Q_AUIBigB#imgdii=WlwVNa8FfvCfnM:;eFRYpIFgpyoHuM:;eFRYpIFgpyoHuM:&imgrc=eFRYpIFgpyoHuM:

Or even the 10.0 version of that bulb. The tube bulbs are much better for them.

It's likely since he's eating but still skinny, that he does have parasites. I'd get a sample of his poop and take it to a vet to be checked.
Click to expand...

I will probably do a poop sample when I get onto summer holidays (2 weeks) The closet herp vet to me is an hour away. School plus work makes it almost impossible for me to take in a sample for him
 
JGuinan007 said:
Chameleons should be fed in the first half of the day to give them time to bask and digest their food properly.
Click to expand...

I feed him when I get home from school, this is around 3pm and his light goes off at 7pm. Should I start giving him food when I wake up at 7am?
 
Roger.bowen said:
I will probably do a poop sample when I get onto summer holidays (2 weeks) The closet herp vet to me is an hour away. School plus work makes it almost impossible for me to take in a sample for him
Click to expand...

Until then, I would work on giving him a lot of food and even more importantly, water. If he does have coccidia, the medicine could be hard on him. You want him as hydrated as possible if he has to take them.

Really try to get that sample in as quickly as possible, and it should be as fresh as possible.
 
KLowery88 said:
Until then, I would work on giving him a lot of food and even more importantly, water. If he does have coccidia, the medicine could be hard on him. You want him as hydrated as possible if he has to take them.

Really try to get that sample in as quickly as possible, and it should be as fresh as possible.
Click to expand...

Also you know when they are pooing and, normally they have like a clear liquid follow their fecal ( https://gyazo.com/87a5604e4bbe65a794cbce03ef4f0e4f ), my guy has like an orange liquid but the urate is still white
 
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