Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am getting a veiled chameleon, and need to know 1 thing. How do you feed them? I know what to feed them and how much, but i've been keeping leopard geckos and never leave crickets in there cage unattended. Is it ok to just dump 10 crickets in with a veiled?

yeah but dont leave any in when your not around or they can start to nibble on your cham.
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1 CB Female BRB
1 CB Jayapura GTP
1 CB panther chameleon
2 WC scottish terriers

I don't like free ranging a group of crix like this for several reasons. If the cage is full of bushy plants as it should be, the crix will be hard for the cham to get at before they hide out of sight. Then, when the cham is asleep, they can easily chew on him and cause injuries. Also, the loose crix can eat feces, dead bits of leaves, etc. that may have molds and bacteria all over them. Crix lose their gutload pretty quickly and if you don't have any in the cage your cham is getting a crix full of stuff you probably don't want him to eat. But, on the other hand, feeding crix out of a small bowl or dish is boring for the cham and can lead to tongue muscle problems. I have a compromise that seems to work for me. On days I feed, I put them in a larger plastic bin like a critter keeper with some gutload in it and wedge it in the bottom of the cage near a plant. The crix can move around and attract attention, they can keep themselves fed, the cham can hunt from the rim of the box and exercise their tongue and brain. I take the bin out at night and put uneaten crix back in their bin.

I use a gallon with depth around 14inches,suspended under the basking spot.I hope the depth is enough for the cham to stretch his toung,the hunting part misses from the setup but I have to compromise.I originaly started feeding this way so house crickets could stay inside,they tend to jump anything shorter than this

I hear so much of crickets munching on the cham! I have never seen this as of yet. I put the crickets on the side of the screen enclosure. They cruise around and Squiggy chases them down. I only put 4 to 5 in and watch to see that he has eaten them all. The crixs wont live to long with out food or water, and if any strays exist, the fall down to the bottom...they are then cleaned up with in a day or two (bottom cage cleaning regimin).

Good luck.

Kris
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2.1 Black Labs Tucker, Raider and Lacey
1.0 Lepoard Gecko Kumar (Another lost pet RIP and party on with Harold!)
2.0 Horses Smoothie and Rocky
1.0 Husbands (he puts up with me)
1.2 Kids-Trevor (congrats c/o 2006), Logan and Rylie
1.1 Ferrets Tank and Ellie (The fun fuzzies)
1.1 Veiled Chams Squiggy and Pudge (may she RIP)
0.1 Snowflake Cornsnake Lucky