Advice needed asap

[Jasonl512]

I just received my first cham last Thursday. He is a healthy 8 month old male that I received from a forum member. I have tried to feed him dubias and crickets with no luck. I understand there could be many reasons why he isnt eating these, i.e. stress, moving into a new enclosure, or bored with food. He is eating the wax worms, silks, and superworms I have. The silks are kinda small right now and I dont think I can feed him just silks every day. The waxworms and superworms aren't a good staple I know. So far since I've got him Thursday.....Friday he had 5 wax worms, Saturday he had 5 small/medium silks, and today another 3 wax worms. I tried crickets and roaches again with no luck.

My question is if he doesnt eat any staples like crickets or dubias, just feed him silks for right now? When should I be worried on how much he is eating? After a week or so? How can I get him back to eating crickets or dubias? His previous owner said he ate free roaming crickets but I dont think he has ever had a dubia.


His enclosure has a basking spot reading 88 at about 10 inches below the light, I have 4 T5 HO lights with a Arcadia 12% bulb reading 130 micro-watts at the highest spot in the cage where he can get to. I mist him with a mistking for 4 minutes 3 times a day and it has enough time to dry out between mistings. He also has a dripper.

 

[ZiggyStardust]

Silkworms are a fine feeder. Have you tried juvenile locust?

I have an adult Veiled and a juvenile Panther and neither of them are keen on crickets. I alternate between silkworms, phoenix worms and hoppers each week, with a few waxies thrown in once a week for a treat.

As long as you are providing at least 3 good staples, you should be fine.

 

[Jasonl512]

Thanks. Where do you get your feeders? I'll have to try that

 

[ZiggyStardust]

Are you US or UK based? Nice set up by the way.

 

[ZiggyStardust]

By the way... limit the wax worms to a once a week treat. They provide low nutrient and are very high in fat, which can stress the kidneys, I believe.

 

[Jasonl512]

Thanks, and I'm US based. I know about the wax worms but I just wanted to maybe use them to promote him to eat.

 

[ZiggyStardust]

Understand that, but some chams can get "addicted" to waxies, to the extent that they won't touch anything else - but the silkworms, as I've said, are an excellent feeder, my chams adore them and they are fantastic nutritionally, so if you have those then don't worry too much.

I can't help you with a supplier of juvenile locust, unfortunately, as I live in England, but I'm sure if you Google a US supplier, you will be able to get them posted to you. My boys absolutely adore them and the added bonus is that if you leave any of them in the cage uneaten at the end of the day, they don't bite your chameleon - they just go to sleep.

To be honest I am not a fan of crickets at all - I do try and feed them sometimes, but my boys really aren't all that keen, so I feed the things that I know they'll eat.

My adult Veiled has never eaten crickets but have a look at him in the picture below - he's like a tank and healthy as hell, so the lack of crickets in his diet has no detriment at all.

As far as Dubias are concerned - my experience is that you have to cup feed the little devils, as free range them and they will just hide in the deepest darkest place possible, so that your cham will never find them. I tried 3 times putting them in the cup, and neither of my chams touched them.

 

[Jasonl512]

I'll go with the silks then. Just need to find a few more items I can use as a staple other than the silks. I'll try the insects you suggested and stop feeding him the wax worms except for once a week. The only other thing is how do I gutload silks since they primarily eat just the silk worm food.

 

[Traceyd]

ZiggyStardust your Cham is lovely!! I'm uk based and hope you don't mind me asking you a few questions? I got my veiled last week and he is doing alright eating drinking pooing etc... He is eating 6 to 9 size 5 crickets each day, won't touch waxworms ( not too bothered) but I am looking into other foods locust and maybe silks but are silks hard to keep or calci worms? He is only comming up to 4 months old and has had a vet check. The vet says he is a good size and his colour is good. I got him out his viv today as I had to clean it and he sat on my head!! But I haven't attempted to bring him out apart from the visit to the vets... How did you start handling your guy and what supplement regime did you use too? I'm dusting everything with calcium and also using neutrobol 3 times a week...