Hello! Chameleon too skinny?

[Wilma]

Hi, I was wondering how you can tell whether your juvinile is too skinny or just right? I am constintly paranoid that Bay Leaf (his new name :D) isn't fat enough. I let him eat as much as he wants with crickets but what if he can't hunt them well enough and actually wants more?

I will try him out on meal worms today, is it alright to leave bran int eh meal worm dish so they don't starve before he eats tehm?

[Trace]

Bay Leaf.... that's an awesome name!

If you can post a pic I can tell you if he is too skinny or not, although he probably isn't! I'm sure he hunts fine. Does his tongue work properly?

When my guys were little they would eat about 18-24 crickets daily. Perhaps count the number of crix that you throw into the cage then you can determine the amount he is eating.

About the mealworms... I'd try not to feed them to your cham, they are nutricious but they have a hard exoskeleton that isn't digested well by chams. This can cause (although rarely) intestinal blockages. But if you do want to use them, I would take them out of the bran and just leave them in the bowl. You can grate up some carrot and throw that in for the mealies to eat if you want.

Hope this helps....

Cheers!

Trace

[lanalizard]

my cham goes nutz for mealies...hehe but its only a treat..and my cham eats about 40 crix a day now.

[Wilma]

lanalizard and trace :) I will start counting how many crix he eats a day... I guess it would of been smart to do that from teh begining to keep track for health reasons.

Lizardlady, I will try and get a pic of him if I can figure out how to work my digital camera.

:)

[Laurier]

hey, your veiled should be eating between 10 - 20 crickets a day.

I highly suggest that you only feed one of 2 meal worms (superworms are better for the chameleon) a week or your chameleon will start to only eat them. This happened to my veiled and what I do now is give him 3 superworms and 10 crickets and hope he gets a couple crickets in with his superworms. this has been a pain but he is doing fine and hopefully one day he will start feeding on crickets again.

also powder anything you feed your chameleon, alot of people become lazy and stop powdering. This is critical for your chameleons health.

Laurier

[Trace]

Excellent points Laurier!

Yep 40 crickets sounds like a bit much to me.... I would try and cut back a little on that. Yes chams can get overweight!

Yes Wilma... dust those crix and mealies (if you are going to use them) daily with a good reptile vitamin supplement. I also gutload all my insects before feeding them to my chams. Are you doing this?

Misting twice daily with hot water is almost equally important too!

Cheers!

Trace

[Wilma]

yup, misting twice a day with hot water, gut loading, and dusting with a good vitamin and calcium powder :)I gave him ten tonight and saw him eat two, so i know is tongue is in good working order... he also shed for the 3rd time since I got him in the september show. :) I havent tried mealies yet but thought I would pick out a tiny just shed one and see what he thinks. I will be carefull not to give him too many of these though!

[Trace]

Honestly Wilma.... he sounds like he is doing fine, and your husbandry sounds good too. But post a pic and I can tell you for sure if he too skinny.

I'm assuming you have a UV light for him?

Cheers!

Trace

[Jaylyn]

Wilma,

Have you tried baby superworms? I don't feed mealies (the main reason because I found them to be a pain to keep) - and most of my babies LOVE the baby supers. Also, try not to feed at night - the food can't be digested as well when he cools down for the night. No matter how cute he begs! LOL My hoehnelli are garbage cans and are VERY good at begging - and have sucked me in more times than I care to admit!

Remember to be just as careful with oversupplementing as undersupplementing (especially as he gets older). Depending on your gutload and type of mineral/vitamin dust you are using it is quite easy to oversupplement causing irreversible organ damage. Vitamin A and D3 are the main culprits - but even excess calcium can be a problem in older chams. Trust me - a sick cham is not fun!!

What type of gutload and dust are you using? Also, what kind of UV? The strength of the UV will also play a role in supplementation.

I really don't mean to sound like a stick in the mud. I made SO many mistakes when I was starting out (and had to deal with previous owners mistakes) - I just want everything to go as smooth as butter for you!

Jaylyn