Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone! I am new here. I own a 13 month old male Veiled Chameleon named Dylan, whom I love to spoil. He was originally supposed to belong to my husband but, my husband is too scared of him! So, the duties of caring for him fell to me..which I don't mind at all.
We've owned Dylan since he was 8 weeks old, he was purchased at a specialist reptile shop. He is the 3rd lizard we have had, but by far the most challenging. Previously we owned 2 Jewelled Curly Tails. We decided to step-up and try something a little more interesting.
Dylan can be quite tempermental, which I heard is the norm for Veileds. He is mostly all talk and no show. I try to keep handling to a minimal, but he can be handled if necessary. Deep down he really is a sweetheart..I haven't been bit so far!
Now on to my questions which I hope someone can help me with...
I try to feed Dylan a varied diet. He eats mainly crickets for insects with an occasional snack of mealworms and of course the odd housefly I may catch. He LOVES vegetation though! I guess I am lucky in that aspect. I try to feed him mostly nutritious greens like clover and dandelion leaves (from my garden which is not treated with pesticides). He also likes to snack on romaine lettuce (kept to a minimum as I know it is mostly water and such) and also he likes some fruits like apricots (without the pit) and apple slices (without the seeds).
I was wondering if I could try some other vegetables and fruits? I am unsure which ones are safe to feed a cham?
Also what kind of insects found around the garden or house are safe to feed?
And one last question..at 13 months old how often should I be dusting his food with a calcium supplement and a multi-vitamin? I don't want to over-do it.
Sorry this post is so long, but I appreciate any advice given.

Thank you!
DJ

Hello and welcome to the forum! SOunds like things are going well for him and that you are a caring mom

To answer your questions:
Fruits and veggies: there is a wonderful site which is geared to Bearded Dragons, but the site owner has a list of foods that contain the clacium/phosphorus ratio which is key to most any herp. She has them color coded as to the frequency of offering as well as ones to never offer. I linked the site below. I printed it out in color and hung it on my fridge so when I make my shopping list I can refer to it. Once you get down the good and bad you can feed him as much in the way of these as he will accept. Luna (my recently deceased cham) LOVED strawberries! She would lunge for them and practically fall off the branch the minute she saw them! lol! She also liked butternut squash.

Insects: an occasional beetle (junebug, ground beetle) is OK, but they are high in chitin (what the exoskeleton is made up of) so it should be occasional. The rule of thumb is NEVER any with red, red/black, orange/black and combos like this that include yellow. Some examples would be fireflies, ladybugs, monarch butterfly and/or their larvae). These colors generally send a message to a predator " don't eat me, or you will become sick and die." Decomposers (earthworms, pill bugs) are OK occasionally. Most moths that fly at lights are OK - except for the wild silk moths like luna, polyphemus...actually I am lying about the silks. I have been raising them for many years and they are like pets so I would never feed one, but I know some people do - just don't tell me about it!

As for commercial feeders, superworms, silkworms, roaches, occasional waxworms are all good, too. The mealies have a lot of chitin so they should be only a treat. Here is an article on the different nutrition of bugs www.chameleonnews.com/year2002/sept2002/nutrition/nutrition_sept_02.html

Supplements: 1x/month for multi-vitamin; 1x/week for calcium is the general rule for an adult. Keep your crickets well gutloaded on healthy foods (you can choose those from the nutrition link below) so that Dylan gets most of his vitamins the natural way.

If you go to the link in my signature you will find a list of websites that you can peruse with lost of great info. Hope this is helpful!

lele
nutrition chart

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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

Thank you so much for the information! I appreciate it very much as I am sure Dylan will