Butter update

Scooter

New Member
For the last month, Butter has been on a food strike. I don't know how he still is alive, but I managed every couple days to stuff worms or something in his mouth.

a week ago, I gave up. I decided that I would put food in the cage, give him water and appropriate lighting and heat, and if he continued to refuse food, it was all I could do.

I put 2 jumbo silkies in his bowl yesterday afternoon, expecting him to ignore them as usual, and came back an hour later, and he had eaten them ! That darned reptile hasn't eaten on his own in something like 6 weeks.

This morning, he was his back to pre food strike stinky self; hissing at me for putting his dripper on, and giving him new wormies.

I'm glad I never gave up on him....

But for the life of me, I can't figure that lizard out !!!
 
Sounds very normal to me.
I would refrain from force feeding, you may extend the problem.
Let him eat when he wants to eat;)

-Brad
 
That's NORMAL ??!!

Darned Lizard has been making me insane !!!! I was sure he was dying, and now there he is giving me his "I'm happy, because I hate you and everyone else in the universe" happy look.

I"m just so glad he decided to eat again. What I don't get, is how he managed to stay alive all that time....
 
yea, mine just went through the same thing, 30 bucks later of ordering silkies, butterworms and hornworms, he just looked at them and ignored them for almost 3 weeks.

i let a few worms crawl around the cage and then one day they all disappeared and fatty gained almost 3 grams.

I guess they tend to care for themselves more than people think at times.
 
Now that Butter is an adult, his metabolism is much slower.
These guys do not need the amounts of food that we think they do.
I know it's stressful to us when they don't eat ... but as long as there are no other health issues and the husbandry is spot on (as well as we know how to provide it at this point) ... we need to let them decide if they want to eat or not.
This really only seems to be true with the males.

-Brad
 
a vet advised me to get a gram scale. you can pick one up at staples or office max for under 40 bucks. sometimes the only way we can really know if there is something wrong with the cham is just by them loosing excessive weight.

it helps keep my mind at ease. If im paranoid about something, i just weigh him, if its not too far off by his normal weight, i really don't fuss about it.
 
Put Him On A Scale !!???

ARE YOU NUTS ?

Butter would stand on a scale about as easily as trying to weigh a full size horse on your bathroom scale.

Butter hates everything. Except his cage, and his plants and his own"space".

I do "everything" right -- or as right as I know how. I think Brad has it down. Do everything I should do, and leave the guy alone. We will both be much happier that way.

Andi
 
put him in a box, there is usually a tare feature with all electronic scales which zeros out the weight of the box ;)
 
I use a stick that can stand on its own. I tare the scale and then place my cham on the stick. As soon as they see the stick they jump for it. I take a picture and keep track of my two boys on an Excel spread sheet. Last time I was at the vet with Jake I took a print out with me. The vet was impressed, he then didn't talk to me like a stupid person. Tracking weight is the best way to know how healthy they are.
I was tracking weight every single day... but they have started to slow down as far as growing goes. I just weigh them a couple of times a week to check up on them.
 
Scoot man you should never give up on your cham, usually in the winter chams go through hunger strikes.
 
Not giving up.

"She" is not giving up. I had been force feeding him for over a month, showering him twice a week, offering every type of feeder I could think of, but becoming more and more convinced that he was dying.

Imagine my shock when he actually ate 2 jumbo silkies ! And ate another one yesterday !

My post was to let those who gave me great suggestions know that Butter did in fact weather the storm and is doing well.

Thanks for having my back, Brad !

Andi
 
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