One more question because I'm paranoid. I'm not sure what my chameleon's age is exactly. Without counting her tail, her body size would be about 4 inches. She's able to change colors and become bright green, but I'm more worried about how much to feed her. I've noticed that every time I feed her she'll instantly eat all 5 crickets, so I'll add 5 more and she'll instantly eat them again. Today however I accidentally dropped in more than 10 crickets at once (on her second feeding) and she ate them all! Along with an apple slice I had in there. I've been reading that babies should eat as many as they can in a minute or two, but not to overfeed adults, and I have no idea if I'm doing her a favor or not.
I gutload the crickets with Orange cubes by Fluker's and usually put in an apple for them too. When I first got my chameleon I could see her ribcage and there were crickets running around her cage in the petstore. Now her ribcage is less visible and she's a lot more active, but I'm confused at how many she should be eating. Right now she's eating around 10 a day, besides the 15 today, and there are never any leftovers running around.
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Overfeeding?
Replies (3)
Is this a veiled?
Yes, sorry forgot to mention. =} Veiled Female.
You said...."I've noticed that every time I feed her she'll instantly eat all 5 crickets, so I'll add 5 more and she'll instantly eat them again. Today however I accidentally dropped in more than 10 crickets at once (on her second feeding) and she ate them all! Along with an apple slice I had in there"...veiled chameleon females are "always" hungry...and its not good, IMHO, for them to eat all they want to.
You said..."I've been reading that babies should eat as many as they can in a minute or two, but not to overfeed adults, and I have no idea if I'm doing her a favor or not"...the way you describe it is the way I feed babies. Once a female veiled reaches sexual maturity she can produce eggs even when not mated. If she is well-fed or allowed to eat all she wants, generally she will produce a large clutch. However, there is more to it than just this....controlling the feeding and temperature, etc. seems to prevent the female from producing a clutch at all. In any case you don't want to starve her.
You said..."I gutload the crickets with Orange cubes by Fluker's and usually put in an apple for them too"..I feed and gutload my crickets with an assortment of greens (dandelion, collards, kale, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, etc.)
