Panther Chameleon Hunger Strike! Advice.

[zhuisky45]

Hello Everyone,

I have a seven month old Blue Bare Ambilobe Pather Chameleon. I've had Him for about 4 months now and am noticing his eating habits starting to change. The first 2 months of owning him went without a hitch. He would consume 8-10 crickets a day and eat them as readily as they were available. Now I'm concerned as the past month he has refused crickets. The only feeder he shows some interest in are super worms and with that being said will only eat 2 or 3 a day. I still try feeding him crickets using the free ranging method but each night I still see the 4-5 crickets I put in his cage in the morning still walking around the cage. This morning I finally saw him snipe a cricket but only one. He just watches them walk around and does nothing.

Regarding signs of his health I've noticed his poops aren't as full as they used to be but he stays hydrated pretty well. He basks regularly everyday. He remains alert and active. No signs of MBD that I have seen so far. The only thing that concerns me is how he grasps on to the vines. This doesn't happen all the time, however, he seems to have a looser grip than normal making it look like he is sagging on a branch.

Any help, advice, or comments would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[JasonE]

He's probably at the point where he should be eating every other day. You'll probably notice an increase in feeding with this schedule.

You're going to get asked for more info though. Make sure your temps are good and change your uvb light. At four months, its possible the uvb output is too low.

 

[panther67]

Outside of him having any health or husbandry issues he is at the age that some males start to get picky. Be careful with superworms as I find them to be extremely addicting to them. I personally only feed these as a special every so often. I would try offering less, maybe skip 2 out of 7 days for 2 weeks this should trigger his hunger again. I believe it is super important to offer a whole variety of prey, in my experience it tends to reduce them being so picky.

This is why I love keeping females so much!

 

[zhuisky45]

Would my repti sun bulb already need to be replace just after 4 months? I thought they should be replaced after 7-8 months? O well, Ill look into it. His basking spot is between 85-90 degrees. I'll go ahead and cut back the number of days I am feeding him and try to work in a variety of feeders. Its hard as in the winter months where I live the local pet store doesn't have much besides crickets and mealworms.

In regards to looking out for health issues, is there anything else I should look out for besides MBD in a situation like this?

 

[ChamDE86]

Would my repti sun bulb already need to be replace just after 4 months? I thought they should be replaced after 7-8 months? O well, Ill look into it. His basking spot is between 85-90 degrees. I'll go ahead and cut back the number of days I am feeding him and try to work in a variety of feeders. Its hard as in the winter months where I live the local pet store doesn't have much besides crickets and mealworms.

In regards to looking out for health issues, is there anything else I should look out for besides MBD in a situation like this?

I believe the norm is every 6 months, but it is possible for UVB bulbs to go bad earlier. You won't really know without a solarmeter. I would cut back the feeding to every other day and start offering a variety of feeders. I buy everything online except crickets. There are plenty of sponsors you can buy from or just look in the food classified sections. Nick Barta helped me with some sample feeders cause I didn't know if my cham would take to them, so I'd recommend shooting him a message.

P.S. can you post some photos of your cham?

 

[claudeturner]

Same Thing

I am going through the exact same thing right now zhuisky45!! My guy is about the same age...I used to not feed superworms and then had a friend give some when I was out of town. Now -- he only wants the superworms! go*'amnit!!

He will go for a horn worm more than a cricket. I ordered some silkworms and am thinking he will go for those even more and maybe we can break it.

In the meantime, I still gutload the superworms and feed them to him every other or third day. NO MORE THAN ONE SUPERWORM...then when he is almost finishing up with that one, I have my other hand ready with gut loaded and dusted crickets. I pop them in his mouth one by one as he is about to finish the other. It is kind of difficult but works pretty well if you are quick. Once he has a decent hold, he will work it in his mouth too...and keep doing it until you can't.

That's where I am at for now...hopefully, the silkworms are a steal.

GOOD LUCK -- oh, and watch out that you don't get dustings in the eye (I blow the crickets before trying).

claude

 

[claudeturner]

p.s. you can order silkworms online...glance through the sponsors

 

[zhuisky45]

I'll post some pictures later this evening. Do they ship feeders in temps below freezing? Here in South Dakota things are a little cold ha.

 

[Chance Leon G]

I have the same problem since winter started back in early November.
From the advise I got here from one of the senior members I cut down on the D3 and got a heater to bring up the temperature in the habitat. That helped some but Chance Leon still won't eat crickets anymore. The only thing he will eat is Super Worms. I have Dubia Roaches and he only ate one and never would again. It was very large and that may have turned him off. Now the roaches had babies and I plan to try feeding the smaller ones to him.
I am going to try crickets again this weekend. I just hate letting them go to waste.
No stores that I have found in my area carry any other feeders. I have not tried mail order yet. That may come if I can buy a small enough quantity. I would like to try raising silk worms, but I don't need that many.
The heater helped him to be more active as well. One of the things is, I have become very busy with work and we don't go out for our daily walks in the sun. This must depress him a bit. He loves to get out and climb all over me while I am at the computer and he likes the heat of the keyboard on the laptop. (Now if I could just teach him to type).
He is near 2 years old and over a foot long and very friendly to everyone.
Best of luck and I hope this helps, Greg

 

[zhuisky45]

Here are some photos I could get of Zeus tonight. Let me know what ya think? Greg, I wish my chameleon would let me touch him. He doesn't like me very much. I'm trying to get him to hand feed but he still doesn't like me the best. Anyways here are the pictures.

 

[CashMoney]

I have a 6 month old panther who is picky as they get. He always goes nuts for blue bottle fliez though and they get him in "hunting" mode where he's roaming looking for food. Nic Barta did a great write up on making boxes that are like auto food dispensaries with flies.

You can also get stick insects if you visit the 10 unique feeders add in the classifieds. Super easy to keep, long wiggly antenna, usually gone within 60 sec. The blackberry they eat is high in calcium too, bonus!

Isopods are ridiculously easy to keep, high in calcium, and there's an orange variety that makes my cham and my friends bearded dragon go crazy. They take around 2 min of effort every other week. There's a few online vendors. Mine are construction orange and always catch his eye and attention fast. Same family as shrimp and lobster too, they are probably sweet and delicious. I read somewhere on here from a reputable person you shouldn't feed them more than once a week though. Isopod day is always a hit. No dusting too (it kills them quickly anyways, I think it clogs their gills).

Lots of people recommend green banana roaches too.

 

[zhuisky45]

Ive been looking at picking up some different feeders for my chameleon. However, I made some changes to his enclosure and it seems to have kick started his feeding. I was having trouble keeping up his humidity levels so I added a humidifier to my frog/chameleon room. Keeps it really humid in his enclosure and the ambient temperature increased as well. Would these simple changes in his environment trigger his feeding again? I also cut back on the feeding schedule as well.

 

[zhuisky45]

I offered my male blue bar roaches for the first time ever and his reaction was priceless! He would sprint over and just stair at them as they crawled around the cage. Like a puppy he would tilt his head in curiosity. Still hasn't eaten any but he fallows them around the cage. Funniest thing I've seen him do [emoji2]

 

[ChamDE86]

I offered my male blue bar roaches for the first time ever and his reaction was priceless! He would sprint over and just stair at them as they crawled around the cage. Like a puppy he would tilt his head in curiosity. Still hasn't eaten any but he fallows them around the cage. Funniest thing I've seen him do [emoji2]

That's pretty funny! My guy actually did the same thing when I first introduced dubia roaches to him. He'll see them go behind a leaf, begin to follow, take a peek, and strike Dubias are his least favorite though, so I have to feed them first when he's hungry. Hopefully, that will change as my colony is growing nicely and I would love to not buy crickets as much.

 

[Chance Leon G]

looks healthy to me

Your Panther looks very healthy to me. Same type as mine I think as far as I can tell. Keep plying him with food and he should come around. I usually just put a finger under his chin and he walks onto my hand. If he is moving slow because he is cold in the lower branches of his habitat, I gently put another finger under a paw that is on a branch. I never pull him off, just encourage him with a prod is all it takes.
I got a small tub of 50 silkworms from Coastal. They arrived very fast and healthy via USPS with no cooler blocks. I am very close mail wise (200 miles) to San Diego and it has been mild weather.
He does not want to eat them yet. I will keep trying to get him off the Superworms.
Good luck, Greg