Cup Feeding?

Does anyone have any thoughts on cup feeding younger veileds? Mine is about 5mo right now, but he was only about 2mo when I got him so I started cup feeding him to keep track of his food intake. The first week or so I couldn't tell if he was actually eating, and it was making me nervous. Now that he's getting bigger I was thinking of starting to transition away from the cup, but he's still eating small crickets and I'd be concerned about them just disappearing into the plants before he can hunt them out. I'd also not like to turn him into a buffet for the uneaten crickets at night...

Suggestions?

Just curious , why are you against cup-feeding?

~Jon

JonRich said:

Just curious , why are you against cup-feeding?

~Jon

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I wouldn't say I'm against it, but I also wouldn't mind giving my chameleon the option of hunting for enrichment. I'd like to encourage him to get out and about in his cage but I don't want to do it at the expense of him not eating properly.

I probably should have clarified that in my first post since I've noticed hints of cup feeding discussion in other threads, and it seems like there are people absolutely against it and absolutely for it.

Can I ask what kind and size enclosure you have?

Adman said:

Can I ask what kind and size enclosure you have?

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I've got a Reptibreeze XL (another reason why I started with the cup with the smaller cham). So that's a 2'x2'x4' enclosure. I'd attach a pic, but for some reason I can't post "duplicates" (I posted it in another thread) and I can't figure out where the hell I can access pictures I posted in other threads...

RiftPoint said:

I've got a Reptibreeze XL (another reason why I started with the cup with the smaller cham). So that's a 2'x2'x4' enclosure. I'd attach a pic, but for some reason I can't post "duplicates" (I posted it in another thread) and I can't figure out where the hell I can access pictures I posted in other threads...

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I know the one, I have one too into which I plan on putting my chameleon in a few months, at the moment he's only 3.5 months so he's in the medium sized ReptiBreeze. I asked because I've found that since putting mine into a screen viv like the ReptiBreeze he has no problem at all catching his food. At 5 months your must be at a competent size by now, and as long as there're plenty of perches and vines for your cham to sit on that aren't too far from the enclosure's sides he'll have no issues finding and catching food as most of the feeders go up the side of the enclosure and along the roof in plain sight so they're easy pickings.

I have a 5 month panther chameleon. I cup feed and also free range crickets.

You could take some kind of bowl and glue a stick inside of it so it's sticking out, no pun intended. Then, all your feeders can climb up the stick and your chameleon will see it and have a little bit of the enrichment factor.

Cup feed crickets and you will have some escape, so you get the best of both worlds!

CHEERS!

Nick