Veiled chameleons are mostly incest eating reptiles, but as stated before they also enjoy vegetation in their diet. Providing feeder incests with the correct balance of calcium to phosphorus is very important to the health of the chameleon. If the chameleon is not provided with a balanced diet, they will develop a range of deficiencies such as metabolic bone disease.

Domestic crickets are the staple of the veiled chameleon captive diet, however since crickets do not have enough calcium and phosphorous, you must "gut-load" the crickets before feeding. Gut-loading involves feeding the feeder insects a good, high calcium diet before they are fed to your chameleon. Common gut-loads are collard greens, oranges, mustard greens, and carrots. Make a small plate of mixed veggies and place it in the container you keep your crickets in, this keeps the crickets full so they do not eat each other, and also provides a balanced diet to your chameleon.

Although gut-loading improves the nutritional content of feeder insects tremendously, it is also important to ensure that the chameleon is getting enough calcium. Calcium supplementation is an easy way to provide for this necessity. You can purchase the calcium supplement at most pet stores, but make sure to purchase both calcium with D3 and calcium without D3, and switch between the supplements weekly. Also pick up a multivitamin supplement as well.

Dust the crickets with a pinch of supplement before feeding them to your chameleon. The easiest way to do this is place them in a feeder tube or plastic bag and shake them up with the supplements to cover the crickets in a thin layer of "dust" from the supplements.

The feeder insects should be coated with calcium supplement every day for young veiled chameleons, and every other day for adult veiled chameleons. Remember to switch between the Calcium with and without the D3 each week.

Young veileds must be fed every day, twice a day if possible. The best starter food source for young veileds is small crickets, as young veileds tend to regurgitate other insects such as mealworms. Adult veileds will eat every other day. The easiest way to feed your chameleon and track how much he is eating is to use a plastic cup, the cheap "party cups" work great. Just throw some crickets in the cup and use tape or string to attach the cup to the side of the enclosure where your chameleon can see the cup. You can let the crickets just free-range in the enclosure but often times they find ways to escape or bother the chameleon, so the cup method seems to work best for many owners.