Cham will only eat crickets....

[Flamegurl]

I have had my 3 month old for about 3 weeks and he will only eat crickets. I have a cup set up where i have put worms and Dubai roaches. But because they don't crawl out, they don't get eaten and my cham, Happy, doesn't get a variety in his diet. He still hates me but i don't know what else to do. What should i do?

 

[Mawtyplant]

this is really young.. try with silkworm, hornworm chameleon can be really stubborn

 

[GwynT]

Superworms can climb on the screen like a cricket does (only not so well, they fall more often). Try letting the superworm attach to the screen near him and see if he goes for it. Dubias can be set on a leaf nearby, and if he goes for it, it won't have time to walk off the edge.

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

I had to slowly level up my feeders as my little one grew. I started with crickets because they are easy to spot and the chameleons can practice hunting. The dubias took a few days for my girl to warm up to, but now she is used to them and gets real excited when I put her roach cup in. Don't worry about them not seeing it, they will notice anything different in their cage. Your cham just needs to get used to it. Start small, and take baby steps. Keep us updated, and good luck! Also, once you find a food they like, make sure to stick with it for a while. I haven't changed from dubias in a few months, but still add some variety. I am looking at getting hornworms as well. Make sure you take care of the superworms and the hornworms mandibles before you feed them to your cham. They sometimes bite. If you don't know how to handle the mandibles, ask, because we are happy to help

 

[Flamegurl]

I had to slowly level up my feeders as my little one grew. I started with crickets because they are easy to spot and the chameleons can practice hunting. The dubias took a few days for my girl to warm up to, but now she is used to them and gets real excited when I put her roach cup in. Don't worry about them not seeing it, they will notice anything different in their cage. Your cham just needs to get used to it. Start small, and take baby steps. Keep us updated, and good luck! Also, once you find a food they like, make sure to stick with it for a while. I haven't changed from dubias in a few months, but still add some variety. I am looking at getting hornworms as well. Make sure you take care of the superworms and the hornworms mandibles before you feed them to your cham. They sometimes bite. If you don't know how to handle the mandibles, ask, because we are happy to help

I asked about the green hornworms at pet store and was told they are too big... if i need to wait to add them i will. Or should i just buy online? Thought it would be cheaper at a store due to not paying the shipping and handling. The roaches and superworms are still a no go, but i will keep trying.

And please tell me about mandibles....

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

So basically I have looked at threads where the superworm had latched onto the cham's tongue as the chameleom ate it, and the owner had to interfere. This has also happened with hornworms. It is very rare that this will happen, but if you are worried there is multiple things you can do to avoid a problem like this. You could simply snip off the mandibles with nail clippers, or you could cut off the head entirely. This would kill the worm which causes it to subsequently lose the appeal to the chameleon. Lastly, you could take a hard flat object and crush the mouth area of the worm. It will not immediately kill it, and it might twitch attractively for the chameleon. You do not have to do this, but if you do, the risk is next to nothing for you or the cham getting bit.