How do you hand feed?

I was reading through old posts and people were talking about having great success with hand feeding, even if the cham was deathly affraid of the hand at first. I have tried this several times but my 4 mo old panther male is very skittish and just gets scared. The chrickets are hard to hold for very long. Do I put it close to him or far from him? I guess what I am really asking is does anybody have a tenative schedule I could use to get him used to my hand? I hold it in there for about a minute and then I get impatient and he gets scared. I need a better technique. Thanks everyone!

try cup feeding with the cup in your hand then after he gets use to your hand then go to hand feeding this will teach him hand is good.

Should I start cup feeding him in the cage without my hand to start this process? If so, how is the best way to install the cup in the cage? If not, just hold the cup in the hand? crickets? worms? What type of worms? sorry for all the questions, I just need specifics. All the previous threads were very vague

Djturna4thakidz said:

Should I start cup feeding him in the cage without my hand to start this process? If so, how is the best way to install the cup in the cage? If not, just hold the cup in the hand? crickets? worms? What type of worms? sorry for all the questions, I just need specifics. All the previous threads were very vague

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install? i usually just press it into a bush, anything can be cup fed but dont cup feed everytime its good for chams to keep their hunting instincts. well try with your hand first if it doesnt work then yeah leave the cup in.

Like fasten the cup to a vine or branch, thats what I meant. He will not take it out of my hand now.

So let me get this straight. Put the cup in his cage starting now, every once in a while. for how long before I try holding the cup? and getting him to eat

crickets? worms?

how long have you had the chameleon?
my chameleons were pretty old around 6-7 months old before excepting food from my hand

I have a 4 mo old male and a 10 mo old female, both ambilobes.

I have a 4 month old ambanja who I purchased on Saturday. He already eats roaches from my hand. I just slowly put my hand near him and he sees the roach and goes for it. He is a hungry beast though! We also take him out and hand feed him while he is on us daily. He is pretty mellow so far.

I just got a 2.5 month old ambilobe and I still havent had success in cup feeding, I free ranged all his feeders when i fed him this morning but he wouldn't go for the cup later on in the day.

My little guy wouldn't eat from my hand either. What I did was make a "cricket feeder" -- I cut away the front of a large bottle (leaving a lip) and cut out the bottom, then put mesh on the bottom and back to encourage crickets to climb. It's in his cage permanently, and I fed him at the same time of day and same place every time. Soon, he knew to wait at the cricket feeder. Then, after a month of this, I just held the cricket in my hand near the feeder, and he shot at it! Now, after doing that for a while, he'll eat crickets from my hand anywhere.

With my first Cham it took about 2 months of offering him food by hand before each feeding before he got brave enough to eat from it. From my experience worms are better for getting a Cham to eat from your hand. I've rarely had a problem with getting a chameleon to eat a superworm from my hands. Just be patient and don't give up eventually he'll come around wether it's tomorrow or a month from now. Handling everyday helps too as long as you dont stress the Cham. Good luck!

I started with 2 veilds in feb and used the short clear cups. It did not take long for them to figure when the cup comes in there are goodies inside. Next hold the cup while they eat one or two so they put your hand with the cup and goodies that are coming. Then while in the cage just hold a criket by the leg so they still move once they see it move they normally go for it, my veilds will eat from my hand in the cage but not outside of it, do 1 or 2 then put a few in a cup and some roaming in the cage for hunting. both veilds got it in a week or so. the baby panther I just got a week ago at 3 months old already runs toward the cup when its coming in to get the little crickets and has already eaten from my hand outside the cage.

I barely got my little vieled yesterday, and he's already eaten 3 crickets from my hand. What i do is tear a leg off of a cricket, then let him flop around in my hand (i know, poor cricket), I place my hand a few inches away from my cham, and BOOM. He sways side to side, then launches his tongue. Success.

Doesn't work EVERY time, sometimes he'll just stare at it, but it's worked about 50% of the times I've put my hand in there thus far, and I've only had him for a day. Try it!

Take your time. My guy seems to really like the see through plastic top that was on he container they came in. Maybe it looks more like they're free or something. None of my lizards will touch a worm without seeing them wiggle really good. So that's a must. Just kind of push them around/ upside down. Be patient, and keep at it. Try different types of worms, crickets, mantis, roaches, etc. Also, if you go a couple days until they get a bit hungrier the more likely theyll go for it.