Tleo724
Member
My 3 year old male cham hasn’t eaten in two weeks. After 2 weeks of him not taking food from his usual glass jar I released crickets in his enclosure. when he wasn’t excited about those, I took him out and could tell how weak his grip was and usually he’s more feisty when I try and take him out. Very unusual. I found him sleeping in the drip bowl earlier this afternoon and knew I had to act fast. He closed his eyes in my hands I knew I was dealing with a very low energy cham at this point and got him to drink some water and force fed him after. 5 multi vitamin & calcium wax worms in hopes this is what he needed. I opened his mouth with a sanitary pick in one hand and held his mouth open with the other then placed a worm inside. He didn’t swallow right away so I placed him vertical so gravity would help do its part. He ate all worms eventually (with breaks in between) and I put him back under his heat lamp with a clean rag as a safety net/ doesn’t have to use much energy holding onto a branch... also heat lamp helps digestion. Chameleonaire is bright green again, eyes wide open, and it’s only been 3 hours since the force feed. Hope this helps with someone’s stubborn Cham. Please check enclosure requirements as well.
Here’s a link of how I fed.
If you are wondering why they refuse to eat there are multiple reasons. Egg laying, shedding coming, tired of same food, enclosure necessities, stress, worms, infection/ pain, etc.
why I think my cham (and this is just a guess) refused to eat was from his light being left on a few nights in a row when I was out of town. I left him in the care of my dad and he did not understand how important it is for Chams to get proper sleep. He’s still alive though and will be properly nursed back to health
Here’s a link of how I fed.
If you are wondering why they refuse to eat there are multiple reasons. Egg laying, shedding coming, tired of same food, enclosure necessities, stress, worms, infection/ pain, etc.
why I think my cham (and this is just a guess) refused to eat was from his light being left on a few nights in a row when I was out of town. I left him in the care of my dad and he did not understand how important it is for Chams to get proper sleep. He’s still alive though and will be properly nursed back to health