A Little Help Again.

[pwbedford]

My little veiled still isint eating like I think it should. Only one, maybe two crickets a day. She crawls around the cage fine and looks healthy. Nice green color or turns darker when she is in the sun. I think my cage is to big and I have tried feeding her in a large glass bowl with part of a plant for her to stand on and have crickets loose in that. Still only one cricket. The cage temp is good at 75 to 80. So any suggestions on what to do??

 

[carol5208]

how old is she? Have you offered any other types of foods besides crickets?

 

[pwbedford]

She is about 8 weeks I thinl. And no. Just pinhead crickets.

 

[VeiledOwner87]

how long have you had her? aslo, pin heads would be too small for her at that age. she can be fed small sized, the width of the feeder can be no wider than the space between both eyes. this small prey probably isnt appetizing to her. she may also be fed small meal worms, freshly hatched silk worms and horn worms.

 

[pwbedford]

well, she is a little bigger than in the picture. Trying yo figure out everything. Someone told me at that age use pinheads. I will try small meal worms.

 

[pwbedford]

Not sure how old she is.

 

[VeiledOwner87]

i was feeding my girl smalls at age 3 months 12 weeks. there is a size of cricket between pinheads and smalls

 

[Lovereps]

Don't rely too much on mealworms.
Too many can lead to intestinal blockage, which is fatal if untreated.
Small silkworms, very small superworms and small waxworms should be appropriate sizes at this point.

 

[VeiledOwner87]

i would stay away from supers all together untill about 4-5 months just to be safe. of course you must stay away from too many fatty and hard shell insects, which is why it is important to give a variety. as a stapel for now, i would just stick to smaller crickets, not pin heads though. and give treats once or twice a week.

 

[kongchi]

Try phoenix worms, put them in a small cup for him/her to munch on, they wriggle abit so it might intice him/her. Or maybe small superworms. Not to be confused with Superworm branded giant meal worms. Meal worms are usually refrigerated and very hard to digest for your cham. Superworms are NOT refrigerated and look just like mealworms but softer.
Use sparingly maybe 2 a week at MAX - they are very high in fat.

 

[Lovereps]

Kongchi, that's one I forgot about!

Glad you mentioned them.

 

[jannb]

If that's your baby on your finger I would recommend pinheads and house flies. That baby looks very young. You might want to set up a plastic tub for it. The cage might be too large.

 

[Elizadolots]

I'll say that I don't think it will be successful to move the chameleon for the purposes of eating, then place it back in the too big cage. Moving it back and forth is just going to confuse and stress it. As Jann suggested, a plastic tub might be a good option for awhile.

 

[Killjoy]

i think kongchi really has the right idea, not so much what to feed him but how.... a great trick is to get a translucent chinese food tupperware and put it at a spot in the enclsure your cham frequents, kinda near his favorite basking spot. it almost doesnt matter what you put in there, the movement should entise him. crckets dont even know enough to jump out so this will also help you to track exactly how much he is eating. remember he still is little so two or three a day for now might just do the trick. good luck

 

[Elizadolots]

"translucent chinese food tupperware"

I have no idea what this is.

 

[sandrachameleon]

How big is the cage?

If using a feeding cup/bowl, I would suggest an OPAQUE feeding container, NOT see-through like glass. Hang the feeding container below a favourite branch (often this is below the basking area). You dont want the animal trying to catch bugs through the sides of the container, hitting the glass instead, potentially hurting itself.

Is the chameleon drinking?

Do you watch her while she eats? (she could be shy and prefer to eat without you watching, so maybe she is indeed eating more than you think?)

My babies will accept fruit flies and very small crickets well into their third month, sometimes longer. Even though I begin to offer other food, larger, they will still also eat the small stuff

 

[Zegg]

How big is the cage?

If using a feeding cup/bowl, I would suggest an OPAQUE feeding container, NOT see-through like glass. Hang the feeding container below a favourite branch (often this is below the basking area). You dont want the animal trying to catch bugs through the sides of the container, hitting the glass instead, potentially hurting itself.

Is the chameleon drinking?

Do you watch her while she eats? (she could be shy and prefer to eat without you watching, so maybe she is indeed eating more than you think?)

My babies will accept fruit flies and very small crickets well into their third month, sometimes longer. Even though I begin to offer other food, larger, they will still also eat the small stuff

I agree on the opaqe container, clear container for me didnt work, as sometimes Slice would go down first then back up and spot them in the container and shoot at them from the bottom or side and was just jitting clear plastic. Once I switch to the white cup he came in was a lot better... I still let a few free range and he seems for dins most of them but not always.