Constant Hunger Strike

Yemen08

Yemen08

Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - 1 1/2 Year old Male Veiled. Had him since October.
Handling - Rarely
Feeding - Large Locust, Morio Worms, Crix. Frozen gutload constiing of (Mustard greens, dandelion leaves, sweet potatoes, carrot and Papaya)
Supplements - ZooMed Calcium w/o D3 every feeding. Zoomed calcium w/ D3 1 x bi-weekly.
Watering - Mistking at 3 hour intervals for 10 -15 minutes. (often see him drinking)
Fecal Description -Brown faeces, white urites, solid.
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? No
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. Not that I can think of.

Cage Info:
Cage Type -XL Reptibreeze (24" x 24" x 48")
Lighting - 100w Spot Bulb (Basking) 10.0 UVB Reptiglo
Temperature - Basking Spot 95f (controlled by thermostat) Lowest level of cage is 66f. Lowest night time temp is 57f. Using dual probed thermometer and laser thermometer.
Humidity - Between 60% 80% using a digital hygrometer
Plants - One tall umbrella plant, lots of artificial vines and foliage.
Placement -Spare room, no drafts. Top of cage is 7 foot from floor.
Location - In the Uk

Current Problem - Since I purchased Yoshi in October he hasn't been much of a keen eater. I thought that he was possibly just settling in to his new environment but am starting to get a little worried now. The insects in his cage are never getting eating, just redusted daily and then replenished once they have died. Hasnt eaten a single thing for 3 weeks now.
I fed him silk worms a month back which he seemed to really like but a lot of them died before they had chance to be fed to him. I'd love to use silkworms as a staple but I have to order them in bulk online, and it's not worth it if they die so easily.
Yoshi seems healthy, no early signs of MBD, as far as I can tell. Well hydrated, and doesn't seem to look underweight.

Please ask any questions so I can help you to help me!
Feel free to intervene and share your two cents.

Cheers

Gareth
 
i have a veiled that also goes on hunger strikes..hell refuse to eat from his cup..if i offer a worm hell gobble it up. i have found that if i free roam just a couple of crickets at a time hell chase them down and get them. my conclusion was he was getting bored with his cup and enjoyed hunting more. maybe it would work for you :) down side is the occasional cricket roaming in your house :rolleyes:
 
The Locust just hang out at the top of the cage and the morios stay in the cup and neither have to worry about their life being cut short!
 
My female Jackson went on a hunger strike like 1 months ago. I bought some super worms and I thought that might do the trick. It worked. Just don't get them idicted to them. Just give them 2 (at the most) a week.

Hope it works for ya! :)
 
AH! The picky eater routine.

If you could talk to your Cham here's the conversation:

You - "eat this"

Cham - "No"

You - "Eat this?"

Cham - "No, you eat it."

You - "Please eat this."

Cham - "No"

You - "Damn it. Eat This!"

Cham - < Flares up in anger> "No"



In keeping a number of chams over the years, the picky eater frustrated me more than a sick one. The sick one at least I could work with and try to fix. The picky eater was always a crap shoot.


Couple of things to try:

1- Don't leave food in the cage all day. Personally I find the time once a day to hold up a feeding cup with the food items in it. They don't get to stare at food all day and when suddenly the food is present, it may induce a feeding response.

2- I don't offer the same food the next day. If I feed Crickets one day, the next day is going to be a butterworm or a superworm or somekind of worm.

3- Try not to let your animal "tell" you what to feed it. If I have a fat Cham and I know going without a day won't hurt it, and it refuses the food I offer, I'll let go without food for that day. The next day I come back with that same food. This method is hit and miss, but when the Cham is really hungry and sees that food item, many times they will take that item they turned up their nose at the day before.

4- Mulberry farms. Huge selection of healthy Cham foods to pick from. Find a realiable source of food items and that's half the battle. There are others out there but that's the one I use.
 
Can't see anything wrong with how you are keeping him! All I would say is add a multivitamin in there and do the same routine as the calcium with d3. Keep your uv light at 10.0 as yu are right the mesh does block out alot of the uv! I had the same problem with my panther, all I did was took all food from the cage and didnt let him see any food for about a week. After the week I introduced small amounts of food to him and he started eating them! My panther didnt eat much for about 3-4 weeks but is back to his normal self now!
 
I have 3 jacksons that often get bored if I don't mix up their diet. So I take them out into the backyard and let the crickets hop circles around 'em. It seems to draw out a hunger response and they usually eat at least 1 or 2 (which is much better than 0 for 1 week+)
 
I got 2 picky eaters right now....my female hasnt eaten in over a week...and my male has yet to eat....tried doin the "airplane" method but she just gives me the stink eye...then acted like I ate the worms....she wasnt fooled.....
They can be such stuck up chammies.....:rolleyes:
 
Hahaha @ the airplaine method! I'll take all the current living food out of the cage and reintroduce in a couple of days and see where that gets me!
 
there was a post about how chams go on strike or tend to loss interest if there is always food readily available. ie. locusts hanging out all day on the top of the cage. Sometimes upping the cage size (not always an option) or even adding more places to hide should help. my cham has been on the longest hunger strike and only eats when he feels like it....
 
Would love to have a bigger cage but that would require a bigger house haha! I've now removed all the food from the cage and will feed in a day or two, fingers crossed!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

chelizard
Restless & recent hunger strike
Replies
3
Views
431
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
R
Need advice, thinking cham has parasites??
Replies
5
Views
328
elizaann2
elizaann2
C
Having trouble with treatment regimen
Replies
13
Views
277
Chloe Chameleon
C
N.O.S.
Brookesia Stumpffi - Eyes Closed
2
Replies
29
Views
771
BleuSaphir
BleuSaphir
Chameldragon
struggle with one's mouth open (with video link)
Replies
4
Views
177
kinyonga
K
Back
Top Bottom