Cham extremely fussy eater. Skinny?

[Terrii123]

Just wondering what the average weight for a 2 1/2 year old panther cham is, I fear Buddy looks a little on the skinny side due to being so so extremely fussy with feeders. literally won't eat anything with legs, we've tried everything from not feeding him so often to literally just waiting out and not offering him anything else, it took eight weeks (and a lot of sleepless nights from us) to find he still wouldn't relent. we've taken him to the vets to check for parasites, had his bones checked and all is fine in that department, just worried it might not be for much longer unless he starts to eat something other than bleeding mealworms! Now there is a problem apparently with a disease thats wiping out all the mealies, and we fear they aren't very good for him anyway. We just need an answer asap! Lol. Also we live in the UK, so the choice of feeders isn't as good as in the states. Welcome any suggestions. xx

 

[camimom]

What bugs have you tried feeding him?

Can you post some photos please?

 

[SSimsswiSS]

a 2 1/2 year old panther cham

How often do you offer food? A two and a half year old panther is usually full grown at this age, and requires less food/feedings. I usually skip feeding a day, a couple times a week at this age.

 

[Terrii123]

We have offered everything available in our locality, and every available size,he used to eat crickets, by the bucket load both silent and the non silent ones when he was younger. He's also had locusts, and cockroaches. And we used to offer food everyday when he was younger, now though we offer him every other day if that, but unless worms are offered he will just sit and look at them like they are friends and not dinner! We offer free range locusts in his cage and on the tree in our living room, to which he seems afraid of, and the crickets are totally ignored as are the cockroaches. :/ He'll eat any type of worm, we had these pachnodas a while back, which he devoured so it's not like he isn't hungry. He just won't go near legs! for an insectivore this is a big problem! lol

 

[camimom]

Try offering different food every 2 days and see how he does.

as an adult, he wont eat as often, so its normal for his age.

 

[Terrii123]

Yeah we have tried this also, we tried offering him nothing but legged creatures every few days for over eight weeks, to which he didn't relent and eat them :/ We're just worried he's going to starve if we do it any longer than eight weeks!
I mean, how healthy is it for us just to continue feeding him what he will eat i.e worms of various sizes?

 

[camimom]

wel what kind of worms?
aside from mealies.

 

[Terrii123]

The only ones we can get are pachnodas (sporadically), the regular mealies, a slightly larger mealworm and morios. Oh and wax worms for a treat,
All of which we do gutload, but I'm just worried this isn't enough?
We can't get hold of hornworms, silkworms or anything else despite trying they just aren't bred here, x

 

[camimom]

Where do you live?

 

[Terrii123]

As it says above, the UK.

 

[camimom]

You should be able to get silkworms.

you wont be able to get hornworms ever because your country has them listed as a pest and are therefore illegal.

Miss Lily, another forum member, lives in the UK, and get silkies all the time.

You may have to order online.

Or I would suggest reaching out to other UK members and seeing if they breed or where they get there silkies from.

 

[Lathelia]

As camimom said, try silkworms. Even I order them from UK

 

[Kate]

Try Silkworm store, they have them in stock. You will need to buy artificial mulberry chow to feed them. Check out pigglett79 blog on how to look after them. Don't buy too many as they go from egg through worm to cocoon in 4-6 weeks and they need to be fed and cleaned every day.

 

[camimom]

If you can get silkworms, you can use those as a staple feeder.

 

[Haze1981]

Hello, I am also in the uk and I have got my chameleon silkworms and butterworms but as yet he is not interested in them. He much prefers crickets and locusts. I posted on her for uk suppliers and these are the websites I got.

http://www.silkwormstore.co.uk/silkworms.html - for silkworms

http://www.rickslivefood.co.uk/vmchk/Butterworms/View-all-products.html - Butterworms. This site also does Calci-Worms. I am not sure if these are ok for chameleons so it might be worth asking for advice before ordering some.

Also there is a food classifieds on the RFUK forum if you are a member. I must admit I have not used this myself but I can recommend the 2 websites above.

 

[Kate]

Calciworms are the same as Phoenix worms and are good. Ricks live food also do silkworm eggs and they have hatched for me!

 

[Riktor Scale]

Sounds to me like he has grown into a picky eater, knowing he can get what he wants. Lots of caged animals(I'm being broad) will tend to become picky with what they eat(fresh food only, wont pick food off floor, ect) this could possibly be something similar where he now only wants worms because they are his fave. What I have heard from breeders is take a few extra days of not giving them extra food(worms) and force them to eat the old food(or crickets in this case). I hear this is a pretty tedious process and pain staking at times depending on how comfortable the animal is with his/her eating situation. This doesn't necessarily pertain directly to chameleon's but to smaller pets in general. Hopefully this can give somewhat of an insight

You could also snap off the hind legs of the crickets to see if the larger legs might be an issue, larger crickets(normally 1in and above or wings showing) grow spines on the legs that sting and damage the Cham's tongue. He might not like that.