I fed my jackson chameleon a cricket and i think he choked on it. The cricket was bigger than the cricket i usually get him. It was probably about 1.25 inch long. My jackson chameleon ate it like normal, but as he was swallowing it he stood straight up as if to help get the cricket down his throat. He looked like he was having trouble swallowing it. He stood straight up for a long time then stopped eating. He usually eats about 2 or 3 cricket every feeding time, but he stopped eating after eating that big cricket. Even the following days he wouldn't eat. He just turns away from the crickets now. Is it normal for him to do that when eating big things? What can i do so that he will start eating again? I've only had him for about two months or so. I'm still new to taking care of him. If anyone need anymore information please feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer them. If you have any tips for a new chameleon owner, please share. Thank you!
my jackson chameleon stopped eating
- Thread starter quyvu1109
- Start date
Lancecham
New Member
How big is your Jackson?
If the Jackson is full grown, that size cricket should be ok. It is possible that the chams mouth got poked with a cricket body part and it hurt a bit. So he may associate a cricket with a little pain.
Try to offer a soft bodied insects to make sure he continues to eat. I'm sure he will start eating crickets again soon.
If the Jackson is full grown, that size cricket should be ok. It is possible that the chams mouth got poked with a cricket body part and it hurt a bit. So he may associate a cricket with a little pain.
Try to offer a soft bodied insects to make sure he continues to eat. I'm sure he will start eating crickets again soon.
xanthoman
Avid Member
jackson's
it is better to wait a few days than to use over size feeders, i agree with the previous poster in that adult crickets do have spurs which can damage the delicate mucous membrane of even an adult chams mouth, i would withold food for a day or two, to let him catch up on fluids ,and give him a chance to forget about the intimidation of an overly large feeder, when you resume feeding, i would start with a single feeder, something differrent than what you normally feed it and about 1/2 size of what you normally offer,a small dubia is probably a good choice if you have them available. jackson's are easily freaked out , even by their own food, i have a gravid female that eats like a horse , but, if i give it too large of feeders, or too many, it just simply walks to the other side of the cage and stresses until they are gone. you can ramp things up a bit after it is back to normal
it is better to wait a few days than to use over size feeders, i agree with the previous poster in that adult crickets do have spurs which can damage the delicate mucous membrane of even an adult chams mouth, i would withold food for a day or two, to let him catch up on fluids ,and give him a chance to forget about the intimidation of an overly large feeder, when you resume feeding, i would start with a single feeder, something differrent than what you normally feed it and about 1/2 size of what you normally offer,a small dubia is probably a good choice if you have them available. jackson's are easily freaked out , even by their own food, i have a gravid female that eats like a horse , but, if i give it too large of feeders, or too many, it just simply walks to the other side of the cage and stresses until they are gone. you can ramp things up a bit after it is back to normal
thank you for the advices everyone. my chameleon is about 8 inches from tip of the tail to tip of the horns. and the body is about 4.5 inches. i usually dont feed it any crickets that big, but for some reason the place i buy crickets from sells them bigger this time. if i ask for a smaller size then the give me crickets that are like half an inch long. its head is up and its mouth is close when it does this. but i think its better now. it just ate 5 crickets. 
