Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do you guys keep inscet in the cages when the chams are still small and on fruit flys and 1-2 week old crix??

I just upgraded my little one, a male 2 month old veiled, tonight to a large all-screen cage from a 10gal because he was stressing with the smaller plants in the 10 gal and when I added additional plants to the he was secure and relaxed but the maintainance was very difficult. So far he is exploring and seems very happy - nice bright green and hunting!

But I do not want tiny insects all over my house. I saw the crix feeder but that will not work for fruit flys. Please help! Or is there a way to attract/catch/kill the fruit flies if they escape - which I am sure some already have.

Also - how can I get my cham to eat more variety? He seems less interested in crix than fruit flies. I also got small pheonix worms but he hasnt tried any yet. He is still very small and I am worried he isn't eating as much as maybe he should (a little over 1 inch body length at 2 months or so).

Thanks for any suggestions!
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Jessica

0.1.0 Sharpei-Husky mix...all attitude
1.1.0 Ball Pythons
2.2.0 Corn Snakes
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
2.2.0 Carrot-tailed Viper Geckos
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
...and a saltwater tank!

A healthy veiled of two months or older sould be eating larger prey items than tiny fruit flys. Move him up to the next size of crickets.
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CANADIAN CHAMELEONS

This is why I am concerned about his size. I was told to not feed items that are wider than his mouth. And he is still very small - not much larger than when I got him. Please help. I have UVA and UVB lighting, a hot spot of about 85-90F, He has several live plants - all on the non-toxic cham list. He does not seem to eat a lot of other prey items (crixs, small pheonix worms) but the only thing that really seems to get him eating is fruit flys. He is on 2 week old crix. And they are about the width of his mouth. He is very active but is not growing like I expected. Please help!

>>A healthy veiled of two months or older sould be eating larger prey items than tiny fruit flys. Move him up to the next size of crickets.
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>>CANADIAN CHAMELEONS
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Jessica

0.1.0 Sharpei-Husky mix...all attitude
1.1.0 Ball Pythons
2.2.0 Corn Snakes
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
2.2.0 Carrot-tailed Viper Geckos
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
...and a saltwater tank!

Jessica,

I see your dilemma now. Keep offering food, in bowls, with branches hanging right overtop. You can even put a couple bowls in. Some crickets, some flightless fruit flies, and some silkworms.

For silkworms you should be able to use worms a little latter than you would think. Because of their soft bodies, they are more easily swallowed and digested. If there is any feeder that will give growth spirts, its going to be silkworms. And you can raise them from eggs as you need them.
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CANADIAN CHAMELEONS

not quite sure how you are measuring his mouth.

A trick for fruit flies (ff) is to put a piece of ripe strawberry or banana on the end of a long wodden skewer. Stick the skewer in a pot or attach some other way so that the fruit is in shooting distance of your cham. You can place a few of these around so he has to hunt for them. The riper the fruit, the more the ff will feed on them and as long as they have food they should stick around. Since they cannot fly you can usually just squish them on the screen when you see them out

If this is standard window screen size the hydei ff should have a harder time getting thru b/c they are bigger, they also take a little longer to get a good culture going. Lots of places offer them online. You want Drosophila Hydei not Drosophila Melanogaster

lele
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