Bad aim

[damzlfly]

Ok well Peggy Sue (heh, thats what we called our female Oorana Mena, the male is the Big Bopper...cause all he does is stare at her bopping his head) has TERRIBLE aim! Girl cant hit a cricket an inch from her nose!! We have been hand feeding her crickets and silkies, but even then, it takes her a couple of tries to get em. Any idea why this happens and/or how we can work with her to shoot properly?

 

[Elizadolots]

I think their vision is better a bit further away. Have you tried either letting the crickets climb around the cage or putting them in a cup?

 

[damzlfly]

oh ya. she likes eating from the cup, she climbs right in...and the crickets crawl up her and away...and even STILL, she cant hit em. Free range is useless, they are gone b4 she gets her wits about her lol...theres about 15 in there right now that she hunts and hunts..and cant get. Its funny, but sad. My bf snagged a couple of crickets and hand fed them to her and it still took a couple tries.

 

[Elizadolots]

That's odd. Hopefully someone with more experience then I have will offer up a suggestion.

 

[bridgofaith]

What are you gutloading and supplementing with and how often? UVB?

 

[draetish]

These are the breeding pair you just got, right? Did the previous owner mention anything about this? Bad eyesight could be caused by numerous things such as type of lighting, not enough supplements, too much supplements, etc. I saw the pics you posted and she looks good. What kind of lights do you use and what's your supplement schedule?

 

[jamncristian]

are you using a compact flourescent bulb?

 

[damzlfly]

I have the crickets on a Cricket drink with gutload and calcium, dusting once a week with repti-cal. They are under the same lighting I have for the little veileds, the Mega ray 100, supported over the tank on 2 mugs (waiting for the stand). Both in separate mesh enclosures, in a room with loads of natural light and warmth (got up to about 80 in here today). Also feeding silkies (2 each so far..she ate from my hand...AWWW) and just picked up some superworms which I will gutload with potatoes and carrots. Shes been like this always as per my rep guy. She is used to being cup fed (they both are), but for a cup to keep the monsters in, it has to be kinda big, one of those plastic bar cups. I'm going to throw in about 5-10 supers in there tomorrow and try to catch the rest of the crickets in another cup.

 

[sandrachameleon]

You might find this blog entry useful:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/232-tongue-troubles.html

 

[damzlfly]

Great info! Thanks! So, how would I know if its a deficiency? I dont think shes ever had an injury, they say shes been like that since she came to them. Other than this issue, shes happy and healthy, and has been bred a couple of times alreay, producing successful clutches of eggs.

I'm thinking of setting up a little archery board in ther cage and having her practice hitting the bullseye

 

[damzlfly]

Well after some observation, she's OK with getting one cricket at a time out of the cup (any more than that and they will crawl on her to get away). However, shes better with worms. Can I make superworms and silkies the majority of her diet as opposed to crickets?

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Try dubia they dont move real fast.

 

[damzlfly]

ummmm....those are roaches right? I kinda don't want those getting loose in the house..mind you, can you even get those in canada? I've never seen them at any rep store...

 

[pantherlover]

may sound silly but when i first got my last baby, her cage was still too big for her to sufficently hunt(i free range my feeders) so what i did... lol... is rip the legs off the crix so they where easier prey. when she grew a bit, i stopped doing this & all was good. dont know if slowing down the feeders will help with your girls aim in the long run but it will make eating easier for her in the meantime. roaches would be a good choice but, ya theyre hard to find over here.

 

[damzlfly]

ok, not to sound to girly here..but EWWW. I can't pull legs of crickets. i bet the bf can tho...ugh...gives me the willies. I'd almost rather feed her 10 crickets one by one for an hour than pull off legs.