what to feed chameleon

L

larrynevitt

New Member
Hi there

i wrote a week or so ago about my chameleon

he has made an improvement since last week but i have noticed he wont eat any of his crickets which is making me panic as they are gut loaded with all what he needs at the moment he will only take wax worms ( i know some can get addicted to these but it was the only thing he was willing to eat whilst he was ill) he will eat the odd calci- worm and he happily will eat oranges at the moment im dripping water from a syringe to make him drink as he has stopped drinking from his dripper to me i dont think hes on food strike because he will eat but only if i hand feed him

he hasnt fell from his branches for a good while but he does dangle himself down and moves about at the bottom of the tank ( he cant be too hot because i am monitoring his temps and humity which are at the correct temps i have found sometimes he likes to sit on the floor ( like a dog ) and he seems happy his grip is strong and he legs seem fine so i dont think hes broken anything he has made an improvement in the last couple of weeks he has been the toilet which he didnt do for a week and his toilet was perfect along with his wee which too showed hes hydrated etc

i dont know if its old age with him but i dont know what else i could feed him until he starts eating his crickets again

i am looking to get some reptaid which i hope will boost his appetite does anybody know what else i could be giving him?? i was going to get that vertark critical condition food do you think thats what he needs??

Please someone help
 
well first, stop feeding the wax worms. you ahve to tough it out.
chams, especialy veileds, are stubborn and wont eat when they know you will feed them their dessert before eating dinner.

how old is your cham?

Can we see photos of him>
I think it would be best if you filled out th ehow to ask for help form, and psoted photos,l so we can try to assist you bette.r
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
 
Hello
I dont know if I read the previous threads. I dont know what the original problem was.

But the easy answer about how to get him to eat crickets is to STOP OFFERING WAXWORMS. They are a very poor choice, nutrition wise. But its not at all suprising that your chameleon will choose to eat only those, and not eat crickets while he waits (probably doesn have to wait long, from the sounds of it) for you to offer fatty worms instead. If you stop offering waxworms, he will eat other bugs when he gets hungry enough. IF he is healthy and not a really young chameleon, going a week or two without eating while you wait for him to accept crickets etc is not a problem. The calci worms /pheonix worms / soldier fly maggots are gutloadable, so if he will eat those you can offer a few of those along with the crickets (and other choices).

Here is a link to list of feeder prey choices that you might consider beyond crickets and those awful waxworms: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html

The chameleon (what type is it? how old?) shouldnt be sitting on the floor of the cage "like a dog"

You should fill out the "how to ask for help" questionaire (if you've already done that on another post, copy and paste it here).
 
Hi i am looking for some advice to help my chameleon i have filled in the information you need to know about him below


Veiled Chameleon 5 years old had him since he was 6 months old

is handled on a regular basis he is very tame he happily approaches me when i open his tank and has a little crawl about for the past two weeks he has been handled everyday up until he was ill he was handled a few times a week

Feeding- i keep crickets in a keeper which are fed water (gel) and t-rex calcium food and vitamins- sometimes give veg and fruit to them but mainly keep them on t- rex food they are then fed to Larry after two/three days
larry will eat oranges himself little pieces cut up for him he does like wax worms which i try not to feed as often as he becomes obsessed with them, i did use to feed meal worms but i have read they can cause blockages so not so often. he has locusts aswell some food will be dusted with calcium powder but recently i have bought vertark d3 liquid calcium to put in his water which he drinks he also has calci- worm

supplements t-rex food - crickets, vertark d3 liquid calcium, calci dust did have reptaid but ran out been told he can have a few drops direct once a month to keep him healthy or to be used as herbal medicine

watering- has a zoo med dripping system which he drinks directly from with no problems mist tank once a day to keep humidty up

toilet- was going to the toilet everyday up until a few weeks ago where is was every other day recently he went once a week faeces did look normal but the last one he did was solid but with mucus on it not been toilet for 7 days 1/11/2012

History- had one occurance when he was two years old when he seemed unwell but he recovered a few days later - changed uv bulb and moved him out of sight of other reptiles i was looking after

cage type- currently in exo terra glass viviarium height of 3ft not sure on width
i am purchasing a repti breeze flexium

Lighting - exo terra rainforrect uv 5% 60 watt bulb, have a 75 watt basking red bulb

Temperature - vivarium temperature between 29 -32 degrees basking spot goes up to 32-35 when directly basking underneath

Humidty - changes from 70% up to 80% changes through the day

Plants- he currently has fake plants in his tank but he does have a devils ivy plant he sits in when he comes out the tank in the summer as he has a exo terra flexium he likes to sit in a madagascar tree aswell i am looking to plant ficus plants and others in his new tank

Location of tank is in the main bedroom so no traffic throughout the day or disturbances on top of drawers so he's roughly 5ft 1/2 up from the bedroom floor

UK warrington northwest

current problem:
recently Larry has become lethargic and at one point kept falling of his branches grabbing his back legs and wont drink his water unless u drip it into his mouth directly with a syringe he will eat out of my hand a few days ago he was eating himself he is shooting his tongue out no problems with legs ( no broken bones or fratures) i have come home to find him sleeping like a dog at the bottom of his cage but since i changed all his bulbs and gave him liquid calcuim this has helped at the moment he seems less energtic but i have put that down to not eating properly - well i say not eating properly its like hes being picky he will eat but just not as much as he use too. he is climbing about his tank but then the next day he wont as much he has improved within a week but i am still concerned that he hasnt gone the toilet but that could be due to the fact he wont eat his crickets at the moment just calci worms and wax worms and oranges
his grip seems the same but sometimes its like hes too tired to try and pull himself up from where hes sitting but get him out the tank and hell crawl about on the bed with no problems i bought some vines to wrap round the current ones i have as i feel he cant grip the bigger ones as much which could be causing him to fall he tail seems in tack but he has stopped curling it up at night since he has been ill

he is a lovely glowing green so mood hasnt changed his eyes are full not sunken i have recently been bathing him in warm water to help him go toilet and for extra rehydration i am looking to get reptoboost to give him an energy kick to see if this helps i have spoken with a few specialists who have advised me he may have slight calcium deficinancy which i am treating him for his legs are all intact not bowed or mishapend and he can use them all but when hes dangling from one of his branches he will grab his leg instead of a branch sometimes this is because he cant reach from where he is if you know what i mean
does anybody know what i can do to help him does anybody know what else i could use to help him go the toilet he isnt bloated at first i feel due to not eating as much as he usually does this could be why he hasnt gone so often he is drinking water from a syringe every morning ( mainly so i know hes had his water usually i could rely on his drinking from his dripper but he must be too tired too can anybody help me
 
i was only giving him wax worms as a last resort because he wouldnt eat anything else i wasnt giving him wax worms before he was ill since eating them and giving him his medicine he is now accepting orange slices but he wont eat his crickets at all
 
i dont know how to upload pics i have uploaded them on the album i have created are you able to view them from there??
 
sorry for posting constantly i have read the link for other bugs etc what i could feed him the shops online and in the uk dont really supply most that are listed i have been looking for silkworms for a while but all shops i have tried they only stock calci worms
 
Sounds like your animal needs a vet. Could also be hardships adding up from the past are perhaps catching up with him?
Im about to dash to work, so cant provide a long answer. However I do know many feeder options are available in the UK. SIlkworms, butterworms, locust, roaches, ... Try some of these places:
http://www.butterworms.co.uk
http://www.roachshop.co.uk/
www.livefoodsdirect.co.uk
http://www.silkwormstore.co.uk/
http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/
http://www.theroachhut.co.uk/
www.rickslivefood.co.uk
http://www.thelivefoodwarehouse.co.uk/
plus a trip to the country (in season) could find you termites, terrestrial isopods (to start a breeding colony, not to use direct), snails (also not direct) ....

Waxworms are not a good choice. But if he is eating one, how about you slip something better into his mouth while he chews.
 
Thank you for getting back to me.Today he seems alot better he has been the toilet which looks good and hes hydrated hes had a drink today and hes eaten some orange today i am going to try him with some different fruit so he has a varity h and order some silkworms etc from the links you sent me thank you very much.

What do you mean by hardships catching up with him? He hasnt fell from his branches now for nearly a week but i have caught him climbing down and moving the plantation soil about ( i am going to be removing this as i understand this isnt what i should be using as sugested by the pet shop i bought him from ) he hasnt veen on the floor today yet

I am still waiting for his reptaid to come in the post i feel he may stopped going on the floor because i think he feels weakdue rather than too hot his temps are 27degrees and basking spot is now 33 degrees humidity is 77% reptaid will give him an appetite boast and energy boast too so hopefully should start eating his crickets again then locusts

Let me know what you think and what you mean by hardship

Thanks have a good day
 
I copied and pasted my first post i did on larrys problems 1/11/12 the current problems have changed since that pist it included all the questions when you ask to explain his husbandry
He has made a huge improvement since then he doesnt grab his legs anymore his balance is much better so not falling he has been the toilet and it was good he appears much better but the only problems left are hes not eating his crickets so hes not getting all his supplements nutrients etc but he is eating orange slices but what other fruits could i give him and veg until hes willing to eat his crickets etc
Thanks
 
I cannot see a photo album when I go to your profile page.

By hardships, I meant any injuries, issues (infections, parasites) or deficiencies in care (inproper supplementing, wrong temps, inadequate water, poor gutloading, etc) up to this point.

You said history: "had one occurance when he was two years old when he seemed unwell but he recovered a few days later " but you dont say what that "occurance" was - was it an injury? a diagnosis of MBD? or ?

I dont know the animals care history, but I do know some things can get worse over time. For example, feed mealworms and waxworms now and then is okay, but if they form a major part of the diet for a length of time, it could be a problem. A poor gutload regime or failure to supplement properly would matter for a couple weeks, but if it wasnt good enough consistently that could cause issues over time.

Im glad he is not grabbing forelegs with hindlegs anymore, as that is a bad sign. So is falling, obviously.

If he is too hot, it would make sense he'd spend time at the bottom of the cage trying to escape the heat. Sounds like your ambient temp is too high and there is no way for him to get to a cooler location. Correct temps are important for thermoregulation, digestion, general metabolism and health. This is what I believe to be the right range for adult male vieleds:
day basking spot: up to maximum of 96.5F/36C
day cooler spot / ambient range that most of the cage should be at: 70-80F/21 -26C
night: to a low of 60F/15.5C

What are you using to measure temperature? Not all guages are accurate. It would be very unfortunate if you think the temp is 29C at the bottom of the cage (which is already too hot) when in fact it might be even higher.

You havent provided enough detail about how you supplement. How often and how much of what products specifically do you use? It sounds like you are giving him D3 every day? I dont know how much is in that liquid, but chances are that daily is too much.

Im not clear on what you gutloaded the crickets and locusts with, when you were feeding him those.

How large is the terrarium? (dimensions)

What has the vet said about your animals condition?
 
Last edited:
Hi
his tank is 3ft high i dont know how to make my album visiable on my profile so i will try copy and paste the pictures

i have been giving him d3 liquid calcium as recommended by the vet but in very small amounts one drop to a pint glass of water and drip it his mouth so hes only having the smallest amount daily for two weeks which has ended now going back to dusting his crickets once every two weeks but the crickets are fed water (gel) and t-rex calcium supplement cricket food so gut loaded with all the right stuff plus they have veg and fruit once a week and fed to larry every three days he started eating them again today which im pleased about his diet from a young age has been the same but he had his crickets dusted every day when he was younger but now not as often now he eats fruit himself sometimes as well i dont know what the temp at the bottom of the tank is but at the top where he sits is between 26-27 and his basking spot is 28-33 i have rearranged his tank so he has more room to hide or to cool off when he was ill for a few days when he was 2 the vet at the time couldnt find any problems and put it down to being too hot in the tank ( it was the summer as well ) he was fine a few days later but it seemed completely different this time round

he now seems back to his normal self now i will keep an extra eye on him but other than that he seems ok he has no viviable marks or injuries i have watched him crawl along the bed and he doesnt seem he has hurt himself to be fair his legs are seem fine and his back i have checked his body and no bruises or any sign of problems at all his grip is still strong just seemed abit weak recently but with him eating his crickets again this might change
 
i have attached some of the pics
 

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i am using a digital themo and humid monitor to measure temp and humidity

i need to advise larry hasnt eaten many meal worms or wax worms really his main diet has been crickets ( gut loaded) and locasts and every now and then wax worms as a treat but when he became ill he wouldnt eat so i tired him with a wax worm which he did it but then he would only eat wax worms and oranges while he was ill but now hes started eating his crickets he should be ok again diet wise he has eaten strawberries before wasnt sure wether they could have them there wasnt anything online but he mainly likes oranges i am going to try him with other fruits like melon and bananna as the specialist told me if i can hand feed him should try other fruits as well
 
http://reptaid.com/


this is the herbal remedy i have used with larry and it treats parasite problems etc to be fair it helps with alot of other problems but he has had this for a while so i dont think he has any parasite problems

the only thing now that has changed with larry is how often he goes the toilet and by what i have read on other posts for his age once a week isnt a bad thing he did use to go every day when he was younger but now its once a week
 
I can see the pictures on this page, but can't see the album.......he looks good, I think he simply is being fussy. He has no more growing to do, all he needs to do is stay alive enough to have a short wander everyday. He can go a long time with no food if he needs to, and my guy went nearly 3 weeks with only one locust once. That's why he doesn't get to see any waxworms anymore.......At all.
I can usually find silkworms on ebay, which is where I get a lot of supplies from. There are other uk websites that sell them like silkwormstore, but I never actually used them (they always seemed to be out of stock when I looked).
He will be a good boy and eat his nice, healthy crickets again if you stop giving him the waxworms. Mine did :)
 
hi david he has finally haha i know how bad they are with them so i do avoid giving him then but because i was panicking because he seemed weak i gave him then but then created another problem by doing so haha i will try and copy each photo not sure why no one is able to see them was it the link you clicked on?

hes getting old now nearly 6 im so glad he ate his crickets this morning been so worried should i feed him every other day or little bits every day??

Thanks
 
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