Posted by:
kinyonga
at Tue Jul 25 20:21:53 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by kinyonga ]
You're welcome for the information!
Sounds like you and the neighborhood are enjoying your chameleon!
You said...."She eats very well, crickets and lettuce leaves 5-6 days a week"...(Head) lettuce is not a very good thing to feed her. Romaine is just slightly better. It would be better to use sweet red pepper, squash, sweet potato, zucchini, dandelion greens, endive, apple, pear, melon, berries, etc.
You said..."she would eat 20 crickets/day if I let her. She darts across her tank when she see's a large one"...that's a female veiled for you....a bottomless pit.
You said..."We use a basking light as well as a full-spectrum day light that we leave on for the hours the sun is up"...full spectrum with UVB is what you should use. Some bulbs that say they are full spectrum mean the full range of visible light, but its the UVB that allows vitamin D3 to be produced and thus the calcium to be used. The light should not pass through plastic or glass. My chameleons get no/very little sunlight, so I lightly dust the insects with a calcium powder (the kind with no phosphorous in it) several times a week and I dust twice a week with a vitamin/mineral powder, and twice a month with a calcium/D3 powder. I make sure that I gutload the insects well too. Vitamin D3 and vitamin A (if it comes from a preformed source) can build up in the system when they come from supplements. Beta carotene sources of vitamin A can not build up nor can D3 that is produced from exposure to the sun or UVB light.
I mist my chameleons every day making sure that they drink when I do.
You said..."I read in a book that after a female chameleon gets her colors she will produce eggs and if not bred she will become egg-bound"...I read that just about the time that my first female veiled was sexually mature and decided not to believe it and prayed that I made the right choice. It was such a worry until I figured out that it was wrong.
You said...." I'm going to stop reading up on general info, and come here more often for my information needs"...here are some sites with good information that I would suggest you read...
http://adcham.com/
http://adcham.com/html/husbandry/gutload.html
http://www.chameleonnews.com/http://www.chameleonjournals.com/vet/
Hope you don't feel too swamped by all of this!
I hope that your chameleon will do well for you for a long time to come!
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RE: My female veiled - kinyonga, Tue Jul 25 20:21:53 2006