Weird Poop?? Very Large??

[CrazyChameleon5]

Ok so my female has been eating like she is starving to death(seriously) she is eating anywhere from 25-30 1/4 inch crickets a day i split them up and feed her the first half in the morning at 8 am and the rest about 4 pm i was told to feed her as much as she wanted because she is young and still growing. from what the store told me she is almost 3 months old I have the Reptisun 5.0 tube and a 75 watt basking light temps in basking area are about 95 she is in a 24x18x12 screen cage. She is constantly on the hunt for crickets she goes to the bottom in search of any she has missed if there are no crickets she will look at the fake plants, Also if i don't get to her poop right away and she is on the hunt for crickets she will eat her poop(so gross) her urates are nice and white but i noticed yesterday she looked really fat to the point it concerned me a little so i watched her she seemed fine so i let it go, Well she pooped the biggest poop possible for her tiny little body this poop is about 1/2 inch long and almost a half inch around it's HUGE and also she pooped again the same day it wasn't as large but it was a lot. Is this normal or should i be worried about impaction? How many times a week or day should they poop? Am i feeding her to much? She seriously acts like she is starving and can't get enough do they know when to stop or will they just eat what is fed to them? Sorry guys prob dumb questions but i have had her 3 weeks now and she seems to be thriving so i don't want to chance anything.

 

[pedro92]

how old. That seems to be alot of crix a day.

 

[CrazyChameleon5]

how old. That seems to be alot of crix a day.

she is about 3 months old i was only feeding 20 crickets a day but she was on the hunt all day long so i upped it and she is still hunting for them all the time?

 

[dodolah]

post a pic of your "fat" chameleon.

I suspect your cham is like mine. Some cham just have a daster metabolic rate than the others.
when he's that age, he is only content when i feed him 27 crix/day.

now, he is 5 months old. and, i'll be lucky if he eat 10 crix.

 

[CrazyChameleon5]

post a pic of your "fat" chameleon.

I suspect your cham is like mine. Some cham just have a daster metabolic rate than the others.
when he's that age, he is only content when i feed him 27 crix/day.

now, he is 5 months old. and, i'll be lucky if he eat 10 crix.

well i posted some pics the other day here in this thread https://www.chameleonforums.com/some-new-pics-my-8159/ this was before the enormous poop lol. The pics aren't great but she seems to be back to normal now, I guess i am just concerned at how big and how much poop it was i am scared of her getting impacted. She is on the roam right now as i type looking for crickets she is always wanting more hahaha. I'm glad to hear that other small ones are eating a lot to. I swear i could put a 100 crix in there a day and she would eat them haha

 

[dodolah]

if that's her, she doesn't look fat at all.

 

[pedro92]

that seems to be to many crix for that age i would cut down to 10-15 but wait for some more expert advice

 

[dodolah]

consult to the breeder you bought it from.
and if you are still worry, bring her to a vet.

I did it too. and both breeder and the vet agrees that I should give him that much.
I say enjoy her voracious appetites while it last. and just give him that much (not more, not less).
27 small crix/ day is not that big of a deal (especially looking at your current pics).
If you really want to make sure, just take the poop and have it tested for parasites.
and have the doc weigh her.

making a chameleon to be overweight is tougher than you think, y'know.
Usually these creatures know when to stop eating.

A general tip that you can do is to gutload your crickets with super nutritious foods.
I use cricketfood.com gutload + orange cube flukers for the water + (veggies and fruits of the day)

such as Kale, Collard green, Dandelion (very very much recommended), apples, etc etc (just avoid broccoli and spinach)

 

[LunaC]

Please be aware that an overfed female will cycle eggs earlier, more frequently and result in larger infertile clutches than a female whose diet is more regulated. Cycling eggs is extremely taxing on a female and can certainly shorten her life span. Unfortunately, I learned that the hard way with my first female Veiled some years ago.

IMO 25-30 crix a day is too many. If she is restless and constantly exploring her enclsoure, there may be reasons other than hunger. Your cage size seems okay for a 3-month old, but perhaps even at that age, she's decided needs a larger/taller cage.
Perhaps she feels insecure due to the location of her cage. Is she above your eye level? Is she in a high traffic area?
Does she get plenty to drink and do you actually see her drinking every day?
Does she spend some time basking under her lamp or always seem to avoid it?
Does she have plenty of "shade" to escape to cooler temps?

Her very large elimination was probably just due to the large amount of food intake.
Are her urates nice and white? Do you ever notice bits of undigested cricket in her fecals?

She does look nice and healthy in your pics (even if PO'd ...LOL).

 

[kinyonga]

From what I've read and been told, overfeeding a chameleon constantly can cause constipation and possibly a prolapse.

It will likely make her produce a large clutch of eggs when she becomes sexually mature....which is also not good IMHO.

 

[dodolah]

generally yes.. but isn't it true that every chameleon has their own unique metabolic rate?
some might actually fine from eating 25 SMALL crix.
and some might get overweight.
I think before she radically reduce her diets, she should investigate the problem.
It might be parasites, might be her cricket gutload is not nutritious enough, or it just might be her chameleon high metabolic rate.

But, i do understand what kinyonga said about overfeeding female is riskier.

My veiled chameleon often times experience this "hunger" when he's about to have a growth spurt. 2 weeks later, he usually shed. after that, he will go back to his normal regimen.

I think this is where crazychameleon should play detective and investigates what is the matter with this sudden "hunger" reaction.
What i learn (I might be wrong) is that chameleon often time knows when to stop eating -better than us humans -
and looking at her chameleon recent pics, it doesn't looked overweight at all, IMHO.

 

[CrazyChameleon5]

Ok i gutload with collard greens,apples, carrots i also put in the blue water gel and green cricket cubes for variety i got her from petsmart(i know bad choice) but they said she was vet checked so i am assuming no parasites her poop has always been fine they were feeding her 15-20 crickets a day there her urates are nice and white. The reason i said she looked fat is because she looked bloated maybe i should have said that, In terms i ment i knew she needed to poop and i felt she was getting impacted she does this thing with her tail when she needs to poop(OMG this is so sad i know this much lol) and i seen her trying with no sucsess. She is not dehydrated and has always had this appitite it isn't something new she is always wanting to eat. As for the roaming she is very distinct when she does it she goes into her hunting colors and you can tell she is searching for food. I guess i was just startled by the size and amount of the poop. I was planning on weaning her down in the next few months as to not have her lay eggs Brad had told me that he was working on this part of his site to keep female veilds from getting eggs so i wanted to try to follow that. I figured when she was a little bigger she could handle bigger crickets so it would be less i would feed her?She does poop a lot almost everyday so i am assuming she has a very fast metabolism. She basks fine she will sit up there till she is good and will roam a little she has plenty of cover if she wants to cool down. The crickets she is on are small not pinheads but just a step up i am thinking the 1/4 she has had a few larger ones that were in the bunch they were prob 1/2 inch mabey that was why the large poop?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Female specific article on the veiled chameleon site is coming soon!!!
I am not writing it, I have enlisted the help of someone much more experienced here.
I will let you know when it's up.
Perhaps you could step up the size of your crickets. Remember the distance between the eyes rule.

-Brad

 

[Jeweledchameleons]

There is no harm in alternating feeling cycles
you can cut her off of food for a day
if she's able to too give her adult crickets
the meat to shell ratio is much better
it will cause less problems with her digestion as well.
(think about it)

the way it stands you're overfeeding her tidbits
a single large female cricket is worth how many small ones?
give her stuff with a gooey center and she'll be better off

also supply her with something else to consume other than crickets
and try buying from breeders vs "pet stores".
you'll be MUCH better off.

good luck.