More questions on cup feeding

L

lojack13

New Member
OK so I have a 3 month old female nosy be Panther Cham. I have had her for 5 days now and I am trying to get her to cup feed but seeming to have no success. I was free ranging for the first few days but due to the fact that the cage is big and crickets are good hiders, I no longer want to run the risk of her not getting enough food. the past 2 days I have put about 8 crickets in a cup and free ranged about 6-7 as well just in case. She just is not touching that bowl and seems to be very preoccupied with hunting. Today she has spent nearly the whole day hunting mid range and towards the bottom of the cage the few times I came home. I got some pictures of the cup ( its white in color, about 3 1/2 across and maybe 1 3/4 inches deep. ) I have it placed high near her basking vine. This is actually the first day I have placed it up this high. The previous 2 days I had it about half way up tucked down in the arboricola. Pics of the new cup placement are below. I guess the main thing is this....should I just stop throwing free ranges in there period and let her figure the cup out? I just get freaked out when I come home and all the crickets are still in the bowl. And I have no clue if she hunted down the few I free ranged. Also, is it a good idea to pick her up and place her near the bowl or let her figure it out by herself. I find it interesting that the first day I place the bowl up high I have not seen her come up towards the bask area once. PS she is drinking very well.
Thanks again to everyone who throws in suggestions!
 

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Showing her the bowl with food is good. I would keep it in one place, they can be freaked out by anything foriegn in the cage. She may just need to get used to it being there. Ive tried sticking a feeding cup in with my jackson and she wasnt having it at all! Acted like I put a nuclear device in there, even when I chamafloged it. So just keep it stationary, and stop free ranging, and I bet she eats eventually...
 
Solid Snake said:
Showing her the bowl with food is good. I would keep it in one place, they can be freaked out by anything foriegn in the cage. She may just need to get used to it being there. Ive tried sticking a feeding cup in with my jackson and she wasnt having it at all! Acted like I put a nuclear device in there, even when I chamafloged it. So just keep it stationary, and stop free ranging, and I bet she eats eventually...
Click to expand...

OK, definitely. I will keep it in that spot from now on and stop free ranging immediately. that is probably why she won't go towards the top today because the cup is there.:D
 
OK put her up there 2 times now. She seems to just want to go back down into the brush each time but at least she is getting an idea that the bowl is not going to hurt I hope. LOL! I really thought she was going to eat for a second. She hung by the screen and sort of stuck her nose down but then just descended back down in the plant again. I think she may also be a little freaked out because I am around her. Oh, well. Better luck tomorrow.
 
It takes most awhile to get used to it. The most sucess i had, she just stared at the crickets all day, never tried to eat one, just stared...
 
Solid Snake said:
It takes most awhile to get used to it. The most sucess i had, she just stared at the crickets all day, never tried to eat one, just stared...
Click to expand...

So have you had any Chams eat out of a cup at all? I'm pretty much against free ranging especially after cleaning the bottom of the cage tonight. I found about 12 crickets, 7 hiding and 5 dead at the bottom of the enclosure. So yeah, at the most she has probably eaten maybe 8 crickets since I brought her home on Sunday, all of which were free range. I had her go back up to the cup on her own awhile ago and stare in the cup just like you said, but did not take one of them. Ugh!!
 
They will eat worms out of a shallow dish that I hold. Because im not getting bit by a superworm. But I rarely feed them(superworms). I hand feed everything.
 
Yeah she definitely ain't having hand feeding from me. I think she is just to young for that. Hmmmm. Well I guess I'll do cup feeding for a few days and see what happens.
 
I have had my little 3 month old guy for just 2 weeks now, and he's only *just* gotten the hang of the feeding cup in the last 2 or 3 days.

Here's what I did:

I'm using one of those blue "Solo" plastic cups. It's the smaller kind, not those giant ones you usually see at parties.

I put the feeding cup in during the morning (around 9:30 - 10 AM) and leave it in there all day (taking it out during misting so the roaches don't drown). I had some dusted dubia roaches in there at all times, usually 3-4 to get him used to it to start.

He spent a bunch of time just eyeing the cup like "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!" I didn't give in though-- the cup stayed!

At 1 PM, I would check the cup. If no roaches were missing, I would then hand feed as many as he would take from me. I've got some worms and roaches, and he had no problem at all zapping them right from my hand. So, well, I knew he wasn't going to starve to death. ;)

The last few days, I've noticed him staring at the place where the feeding cup goes-- but BEFORE I put the cup in! Ah hah! Closer to victory...

I've put 10 roaches into the feeding cup the last 3 days, and each day, I catch him sneaking up to the cup and stretching as far as he can so he doesn't come in contact with the cup, but can still reach in and eat. ;)

He's been eating about 2 or 3 roaches at a time from the cup, so I've still been doing a little hand feeding. But slowly he is getting used to finding food in the cup. :)



I don't know if that helps at all, but I know I felt a lot better when he started eating from it. So hopefully you will have some luck soon!
 
JTelcontar said:
I have had my little 3 month old guy for just 2 weeks now, and he's only *just* gotten the hang of the feeding cup in the last 2 or 3 days.

Here's what I did:

I'm using one of those blue "Solo" plastic cups. It's the smaller kind, not those giant ones you usually see at parties.

I put the feeding cup in during the morning (around 9:30 - 10 AM) and leave it in there all day (taking it out during misting so the roaches don't drown). I had some dusted dubia roaches in there at all times, usually 3-4 to get him used to it to start.

He spent a bunch of time just eyeing the cup like "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!" I didn't give in though-- the cup stayed!

At 1 PM, I would check the cup. If no roaches were missing, I would then hand feed as many as he would take from me. I've got some worms and roaches, and he had no problem at all zapping them right from my hand. So, well, I knew he wasn't going to starve to death. ;)

The last few days, I've noticed him staring at the place where the feeding cup goes-- but BEFORE I put the cup in! Ah hah! Closer to victory...

I've put 10 roaches into the feeding cup the last 3 days, and each day, I catch him sneaking up to the cup and stretching as far as he can so he doesn't come in contact with the cup, but can still reach in and eat. ;)

He's been eating about 2 or 3 roaches at a time from the cup, so I've still been doing a little hand feeding. But slowly he is getting used to finding food in the cup. :)



I don't know if that helps at all, but I know I felt a lot better when he started eating from it. So hopefully you will have some luck soon!
Click to expand...

Oh wow that sounds awesome. But I just cannot get my Cham to eat from my hand at all, so I have no clue if she is getting any food. Free ranging is just NOT going to work in this enclosure. I am constantly finding hidden crickets everywhere. Today is the second day I have had the cup in there and she is swarming this thing, but just will not take one cricket at all. I caught her gnawing on a blunt end of the arboricola plant about half and hour ago, so I know she is getting really, really hungry. I am just terrified she will not catch on and starve. Don't know what I am going to do!
 
hey lojack

so i think i may have a little success at it since our last cricket hiding deal haha. i placed a small 2 inch deep by 3 wide plastic cup under and a little to the side of his basking spot. i to have been worried about him not eating and getting supplements. i dont want to try and hand feed yet as to not scare him from progress hes making on dealing with me. but today i did notice i placed 7 crickets in the cup and when i peeked in a couple hours later he was by it and there was only 2 left.

ill check tomorrow to make sure they just didnt hop out of the cup but i think one i left it it one place hes starting to see it hold his food (hopefully) ill keep you posted if what i think i may have done right actually worked
 
Another really good Idea to keep your cham from being afraid of the cup it to hot glue the fake leaves all around the outside of the cup that way it blends in with the foliage and your cham should be more comfortable being around it...
 
lojack13 said:
Oh wow that sounds awesome. But I just cannot get my Cham to eat from my hand at all, so I have no clue if she is getting any food. Free ranging is just NOT going to work in this enclosure. I am constantly finding hidden crickets everywhere. Today is the second day I have had the cup in there and she is swarming this thing, but just will not take one cricket at all. I caught her gnawing on a blunt end of the arboricola plant about half and hour ago, so I know she is getting really, really hungry. I am just terrified she will not catch on and starve. Don't know what I am going to do!
Click to expand...

she wont starve, ive found that chams are very stubborn lil creatures, up their with turtles in stubborness...what i did for my baby male when i got him was 2 small cups for feeding, one around where you have it (close to the basking area) and another lower down towards the bottom of his set up..he started using the lower cup (not sure if the birds eye view helped, but maybe try one more down low) good luck!
 
I use a clear cup that I cut a 2x3 in. slot out of on one side. I think because its clear he could see his food much more easily. With a solid color cup they have to be above it to see whats in it. He did have a little trouble figuring out where the openings were though lol He got very frustrated and puffed up after a couple misfires but now it works wonders.
 
You can train cup feeding by feeding every other day and feeding sparsely. Try this schedule or whatever variation fits the situation
Day 1: no food
Day 2: put a cricket with its jumping legs pinched off (carefully) on the screen wall so it crawls up past her. What you are doing here is getting her used to your hand entering not the cage meaning It is time to eat.
Day 3: no food
Day 4: feed another cricket or two up the wall

And continue this pattern for a week or so. Not only are you getting her use to your hand but you are getting her hungry without starving her. You are also knowing exactly how much she is eating. After a week and a half of this put in your feeder cup with one cricket for the feeding day. if she is hungry enough and by now gets the idea that it is feeding time when your hand puts something in the cage she will be more willing to try out this new feeder cup thing you got going on.

Whenever you have doubt as to whether a chameleon is getting enough food you can weigh it with a gram scale. Weigh it every other day and chart it out. If the chameleon is not losing weight then you don't have to worry.

Bill
 
I found a small bowl-esque feeding dish at Petsmart that resembles a leaf. The chameleons respond better to it than white dishes... though it really isn't deep enough to handle crickets... it's better for worms.
 
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