Worm strike

[Squishy]

I have a 6 or 7 month old Veiled Chameleon who has gone on a worm strike over the last week. ( not to worry, she is still eating crickets)
She wont eat meal worms, super/king worms, butter worms, wax worms, or horned worms. I have not tried silk worms because they are a pain to get in my area.
She is also pacing her enclosure, and trying to climb out of the glass.

Is it possible that she is gravid? or maybe unhappy? or just a normal growing Cham thing?

2 Weeks ago I switched her umbrella plant for a larger pot with ficus plants.
Enclosure is H 4' x D 4' x W 2' - the top foot around the enclosure excluding the doors is mesh, the rest is glass. She has a full spectrum bulb for her and the plants. A UVB basking bulb, repti sun 5.0, and a ceramic heat emitter for the night. her basking area is 85 degrees, her cool area is about 70 degrees during the day, about 10 degrees lower at night.

I have a monsoon that mists 4 times a day for 1 min, which keeps it at about 60% humidity

She eats calcium dusted food 3-4 times a week and vitamin dusted 1 a week. She also grabs a bite of a leaf once a week or so.

She stopped enjoying being handled about 2 months ago. She hisses at me and pretends that she is going to bite me

 

[Chris1648]

mine is the opposite. He only eats worms now. crickets are overtaking his cage but he eats dusted worms from my hand.

 

[ridgebax1]

Well first off she should only get vitamins twice a month and she needs two types of calcium. Plain calcium daily and calcium with D3 twice a month. Sometimes they do go on hunger strikes if they are bored with the food or sometimes just because they can. She is getting to be nearer an adult and they don't always eat everyday some folks feed adults every other day. About a month ago Omar went on a bit of a hunger strike and he got over it. He has a variety of feeders, phoenix worms, black soldier flies, butter worms, silk worms, horn worms, dubia roaches and I am getting turkistan roaches to feed and start a colony. I am moving away from crickets as a staple. There are lots of other feeders too. Also if she is pacing her cage she may be looking for an egg laying place so maybe she needs a laying bin. I don't have any personal experience with females but others here do. Lots of info on the forum. Olimpia, Pigglett79, and SandraChameleon all have lots of wisdom, experience and information on all things chameleon. Also ditch the night light, they need a temperature drop at night and complete darkness to sleep. Welcome and good luck!

 

[teejayteej]

I am seeing you say that she is about the age that you need to have her a laying bin ready and available. If you don't already have one I would get one ready and introduce it to her enclosure. I went ahead and placed on in my girls enclosure last week.
there are some great info sheets on here about how to get them ready.

 

[Squishy]

She does not have a light at night, she has a ceramic heat emitter. My house gets as low as 15 degrees Celsius at night 59 Fahrenheit. I have read this is to cold for her.
The pot I have the Ficus in is is about 1' x 1' with small ficus so she could use it as a laying bin. I will read further on the laying bin to see if this is appropriate.
I have been putting her food dish/crickets in the plant so she has to walk in it to eat
I am glad to hear that food strikes are normal. Do chams ever starve them selves to death?

 

[Squishy]

Here are some more photos

 

[Squishy]

She looks agitated because she hates me and really hates my phone

 

[Backtooth]

You have a really nice looking veiled girl!

 

[Squishy]

You have a really nice looking veiled girl!

Thank you!

UPDATE: she has started to sit under her heat lamp and flatten like she is absorbing as much as possible as well as displaying dark spots and has started to sit with her mouth open

 

[ridgebax1]

Generally they gape like that if they are too hot. Even with your low temp of 59 she should be ok without extra heat, so I would keep a close eye on that; she could get thermal burns from the heat emitter; My guy will get up close to his heat source and gape every once in a while. Most of the time he moves him self but if I am by his cage I will stick my hand in and he will move. Omar doesn't like it when I stick my hand in the cage either, I am working on using a long stick to get him out. He does not get upset with the stick and I just pull him out once he is fully seated on it and he is fine, no drama!