Cup feed, or not!!??

[Olimpia]

Except for that one forum member with the panther that really "likes" blue eyes. "aw look hes sticking out his tongue at me"...

LOL!! yeah, I remember that if you mean Dr O

That might be my panther if you're talking about the chameleon that got Dr. O in the eye. And it's not that Daedalus likes just blue or just brown eyes... he just thinks Dr. O's eyes are nice

 

[CLP]

I used to free feed when my guy was in his "baby" enclosure. Now that he's moved into his larger one, I have a couple of problems with the free feeding. One, the crickets are small enough to get out of the holes in the hardware cloth and two, if I even have a tiny bit of water sitting at the bottom of the cage, they drown and I come home to dead, soaking wet crickets YUCK!!

So, I now cup feed, but what I do is put 3-4 small tubs spread out around the enclosure at different locations each day, some high, some low, etc. So, it may not be as stimulating as free feeding, but he still has to climb all over his enclosure to get all his food, and they're not in the same place each day, so I hope give him at least a bit of mental stimulation too. For the feeders that can't climb well or jump, I find the feeder cups for pet birds work well as they hang on the hardware cloth. Not sure if that would work for the "window screen" enclosures though...

 

[Psychobunny]

That might be my panther if you're talking about the chameleon that got Dr. O in the eye. And it's not that Daedalus likes just blue or just brown eyes... he just thinks Dr. O's eyes are nice

LOL! I bet that smarted!! poor Dr O

I would never have though a cham would do that, but my little guys do some crazy and unexpected things.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Some very respected breaders (you know who you are say cup feeding makes your cham lazy.

complete Bull crap.

I bowl feed at least 60% of the time. Some months, especially in winter, its 100% of the time. Got a small and a large bowl in each cage. None of my chameleons are lazy. All of them remain entirely capable of shooting prey at distance and at any angle. They can and do use their full tongue length - just because the food is in a bowl doesnt mean the chameleon will walk over to the bowl to eat any more often than walking close to a branch a bug is on before shooting. The larger bowl allows the bugs to still move around alot, and having two bowls in different areas (periodically moved when the bowls are cleaned) means all the food isnt always in the same location, still prey moving around to have to aim at, still eating different angles.

Bowl feeding allows you to monitor what is eaten. Ensures biting prey like crickets are not left roamin uneaten in the cage. Keeps feeders gutloaded (you put food in the bowl too). Also allows introduction of new prey in an easy way, since the bowl is alread associated with food.

Non-biting prey, like silkworms and butterworms, I "free range" feed since they will cause no harm if left uneaten. Usually put in places a bowl cant go. They're easy to see so I can remove if not eaten so I can re-gutload. And of course flying prey isnt put in a bowl either

worse thing about CFing is that they dont fully extend there tongue. after a while they wont be able to extend in more than a few inches or if all for that matter.

no whatsoever true. a total myth.

 

[SarahcoadunatioZac]

I bowl feed at least 60% of the time. Some months, especially in winter, its 100% of the time. Got a small and a large bowl in each cage. None of my chameleons are lazy.

Could you post pictures of your bowl? Having issues with the "Sunny D Death trap" Crickets still escape.

Or a link if you've already covered it earlier :/

I'm pretty much using your feeder blogs as the feeder bible already, but I havent been through all your blogs.

 

[ChameleonMom]

My 4 year old veiled has a hard time focusing on his prey due to a long ago eye infection so for the past almost 3 years I have been hand feeding him every two days. He likes to hunger strike so I often have to gently pry his mouth open and pop in his lunch. We have difficulties sometimes...he's pretty stubborn, but I'm even more stubborn!

My 11 month old veiled was hand fed through a 5 week fight of pneumonia but now that she's well again, I have been cup training her. She does well with it and lets me know she's hungry by standing in the spot I put her cup and then she *stares* at me until she's fed. She's as bad as my dog! lol...damn begger!

I like cup feeding - I can keep track of how much and at what time my chams eat. Helps me be consistent in their care.