Shooter is such a FATTY!!!

[Mr Wilson]

I swear, this Panther is like a fat kid waiting for his meals. As soon as he sees us by the enclosure, he walks over to his feeder cup and waits, looking at us with that "Is it time to eat yet?" look. I swear, Shooter would eat ALL DAY if he could!!! It's almost to the point where he looks like he is begging haha.

He eats easily a dozen 1/4" - 1/2" crickets a day along with 2-3 silk or phoenix worms (not in one sitting). He is now about 14 weeks old, has already shed (we've had him for about a month) and has grown significantly. We cannot believe it! He is gonna be a BIG boy!!

Here's a picture of him waiting... notice there is still a small cricket in there. It's almost like he was saying to me, "Excuse me, 6 crickets, that's it?"

 

[kpritch17]

Haha I know exactly what you mean. Kamish LOVES food! I thought he would slow down when he got older, but he eats more than ever. I skip some days (like today) and he roams around his cage all day like he missed me putting in food and is looking for it. I don't see him slowing down anytime soon

 

[boj3434]

Chameleons like their food its funny how some would eat as many insects as you could afford and some will go days refusing everything. Thats good that he loves food just make sure not to over feed him once he gets older

 

[Mr Wilson]

What age do you start slowing down their feeding? And once they get to that age, what is your feeding schedule like? May as well get an idea now, right?

 

[laurie]

I would start backing him off at 6 months, but you need to slowly start reducing a 5 months so he doesn't go into "hungry chameleon shock" any way by the time he is an adult, 12 months or so, I would have him down to 3 or 4 feeders every other day. You also need to increase feeder size as he increases. btw I would replace the feeder cup with something he can't see through. If he were to shoot from under to cup or anywhere up the top he could hit hard and cause damage to his tongue. jmo

 

[Time420]

jmo but i would invest in a scale, they are cheap at any office supply store or wally world. I look forward to putting my lil guy on the scale every week to see what he has gained and once he gets older i'll know when to start to cut back on the food.

 

[camshaft]

How do you get him out and onto a scale? My cham runs (litterally) to the back fo the cage if I look at him funny. He won't come near me and I don't want to stress the crap out of hime by catching him in my hands.

Even if I did manage to get him out of his cage, he would run and wouldn't stay on a scale.

 

[panthercham]

How do you get him out and onto a scale? My cham runs (litterally) to the back fo the cage if I look at him funny. He won't come near me and I don't want to stress the crap out of hime by catching him in my hands.

Even if I did manage to get him out of his cage, he would run and wouldn't stay on a scale.

Get him comfortable walking out onto a stick.

Weigh the stick only so you know how much it weighs and then when he is on the stick weigh both. The difference in weight is how much he will weigh

 

[Time420]

How do you get him out and onto a scale? My cham runs (litterally) to the back fo the cage if I look at him funny. He won't come near me and I don't want to stress the crap out of hime by catching him in my hands.

Even if I did manage to get him out of his cage, he would run and wouldn't stay on a scale.

I use a stick to get him out the cage, I put it in front of him and then with other hand start slowly moving toward him and he gets on the stick. Then i take him out and let him chill for a sec and (climb on my hand if he wants to) then the scale (i put the scale on a high table and my hand lower than it he goes on it no prob, they like to climb up)

 

[Mr Wilson]

Just so you can see how ridiculous Shooter is, here is a picture of him waiting to be fed. Please understand that about 1 hour, if even, before this was taken, he at 6 crickets in about 20 seconds!! We're going to get slightly larger ones I think. He is eating 1/4" gutloaded crickets, which are now a bit larger than 1/4". Shooter is roughly 5-6 inches from head to tail.

 

[Murrdox]

He's a cute little guy!

It's amazing how they can pound them down at that age. He'll slow down eventually, don't be too shocked when he does.

 

[Mr Wilson]

Oh he's totally adorable. He's like the cute little fat kid who's cheeks you can't wait to pinch!! I just can't get over how intelligent he is. Normally you think only animals like dogs and cats do things like that. But Shooter truly amazes us. He knows where to wait for his food. And shows us when he is thirsty too! He walks over to the area of the vine the water drips on and just waits. He's just amazing.

 

[Sir Spiral Tail]

Whomi does the same thing...and he will eat whatever i put in his cup and then give me a look like, "is that all?"

You have a cute kid there!