Reptile & Amphibian Forums

can anyone tell me the expected life spans of chams? all the info i read never tells you what to expect.

It varies. Assuming you have all conditions met, it can still vary.

Too many chameleons are overfed. My veiled maintains weight on less
than 10 insects a week. I know people that feed that much PER DAY.

I know for a fact, from personal experience, that veileds can live over 5
years males AND females. Males can live over 10 if not overfed.

I've heard pardalis living 5-8 years, but I've seen far fewer long lived
pardalis than I have veileds.

I've heard many reports of melleri living over 10 years, and recently, I've
heard of some that lived to be 17-or18 years.

According to Joe B. (via Josh Mease) of MBT farms, deremensis can
live to be 10 years old or more.

The key seems to be to feed very lightly, and provide substantial
temperature drops at night. Maybe even a cool season.

I know people with very healthy veields that cannot get them to live
more than 3 years. They feed them too much.

I lost a deremensis female last week, and she had a very fatty liver,
which probably is why she died. Her fat pads were way to big as well.
I fed this animal only 2-4 insects, every 2-3 days. Minus parasites and
excercise, they get grossly obese and will have shorter lives.

If your chameleon can maintain weight on X amont of crickets, giving
more will NOT result in a healthier animal. I know many people are
tempted to overfeed, either because they feed them like they were
mammals, or even because a fat heavy chameleon is "bigger" and more
impressive than a thin, healthy one. Reptiles do NOT respond to being
overwieght like mammals do - they have severe problems when they are
fat. Aside from dehydration and nutritional problems, overfeeding
probably results in the biggest number of early deaths of chameleons.

hey, tht was very eye opening indeed. but ive heard tht u should allow young/juvenile chams to feed as much as they would? how long should this be allowed for a velid; when should i start rationing his food? 6months old/ 1 yr ??

thanks for the info. i feed my flapneck about 5-6 crix every few days, but he doesn't always eat them at once. they're free range so i think maybe that helps a bit. but i have a 2 1/2 month old veiled, should i limit his food also? i'm bowl feeding, but of course some get to be free range (which he loves)

There seems to be a lot of leeway in their growth - too slow, they get stunted, too fast, they get MBD. However, the wiggle room seems to be quite wide.

I have raised veields up relativly slowly. One feeding a day, as much as they get. OR, a few feedings, of only a few insects per day.

They are eating 1/4 inch crickets at 2 months, then I increase food for a few months, until they're eating 3/4 inch crickets, after which I slow down to small daily feedings or feeding every other day (usually 6-9 months). After that, I usualyl feed every other day. After maturity and full size is attained (12-15 months for my animals), I feed more veggies and insects only 3-5 times a week. And each feeding is onyl a few insects. When they're healthy and maintaining weight, I know when I'm feeding them enough.

If they get plump, I cut back.

A healthy calyptratus shoudl have a slightly concave casque, and the "meat" in the back of the casque should not protrude past the occipital flaps.

Some males have different tail bases than others. My old veields had rounded bases, the new ones look like tendons and bone! To the touch, it's obviously muscle, but just looking at it, it LOOKS like it's a skinny tail base.

Veileds with the sides of their casques bulging out are usually overfed. My female is currently a little fat. Even AFTER laying 41 eggs, her casque's still bulging out a bit. I really fed her a bit too much... She's on a diet now.
Whe the soft fleshy meat on the back of their casque starts to bulge out past the occipital flaps, you go to cut back on waxworms and silkworms!

Also, folds in front of the legs are a sign of obeciety.

When my male was full grown, I thought he was skinny - so I fed him some waxworms for a few weeks - not too many. In less than a month, his casque was bugling out all over. It was disgusting! They are very effecient at converting energy.

My 18" veiled now will eat 10 - 30 adult cricket sized insects PER DAY if I let him. He gets about that much per month, less if he's getting plant matter. He's never lost weight.

My melleri, at 17" will eat even more than that (she's much heavier than the veield). She's growing fast as heck on just a few insects every other day.

i love this forum! i get such great info. karl is getting fed once daily probably about 10-15, 3/16ths crickets. i'm sure some are escaping because my cat likes to play with the loose ones!

good info passed on!..........thanks
& nice pic too

Awesome info, i've been feeding my female veiled 10-15 1/4 inch a day. Recently i've upped the cricket size to about 3/4 to see how she liked them. went back to small looked like she had to much trouble chewing them up. About how many crickets should a juvi eat a day?

Taglaz

Well, it really varies a lot, depending on a number of factors. How old is she, how big is she, and what are you supplementing her with?

If they are growing at an abnormally fast rate, then reducing the amount of food and calcium and D3 WILL cause MBD. If they are growing at a more normal pace, then reducing the food intake is LESS risky. Generally, you dont' want to start limiting food until they're out of their growth spurt, near adult size. That can be from as short at 3-5 months in hyper-fast growing animals, or as late as 6-10 months.

A good tip is to just keep an eye on you chameleon's condition. As the casque develops, see how it's fille dout. It shoudl be either flat, or slightly sunken in. If it's bulged way out, the animal's likely overfed a bit.

Remember, with other species, a slight bulge is a sign of good weight, and proper hydration. Calyptratus have massivly tall casques, and when healthy, they should NOT bulge out. Adults, especially males, with tall casques, shoudl be sunken in a bit.
I have seen little difference in healthy males casques versus skinny and dehydrated males casques. Only fat males have a significant difference. You must check the REAR of the casque, that's where the fat will bulge first. If it's meaty on the back, but sunken in on the sides, that's a good sign.

ALL other chameleons should have slightly bulging casques.

I'll try to take some pics Sunday and post them for comparison.