Cup feeding

[pr3mo15]

How long should i cup feed my 4month old panther chameleon for? I have been trying to switch it up a little bit...He eats just fine out of a cup/container ... Sometimes ill put a cricket / superworm on the branch hes by and he will eat those too...

And one more question...How often do chameleons miss their pray with their tongue...My panther has missed and has a really sticky tongue...the bowl i use is a plastic tupaware containor that is about 4 inches deep...and 7 inches around/square, and he has missed and lifted the whole container up before..

And how long till he starts eating out of my hand?...I've tried it but he never seems interested..

 

[nick barta]

It is not uncommon for a Cham to miss occaisionally. To hand feed, I have found that putting your head BEHIND the food is needed. Since the Cham will need to watch you (predator!) and the food, if you are not lined up, he/she will be hesitant to strike, as both eyes must be used to focus. I find superworms if pinched by the back end will rotate in circles which generally gets the Chams attention. Another trick is to pin the hornworm/silky/ or super back end against a branch and release just as the Cham strikes.

 

[Murrdox]

I always cup feed my chameleons. It lets you better regulate their diet, and you don't have to deal with escaped crickets. It works from baby into adulthood.

Chameleons don't miss very often if they have healthy eyes/tongues. Even so, he will miss once in awhile. You only need to be worried if he is missing consistently and has a hard time catching things. In order to avoid your chameleon's tongue sticking to the plastic cup, I secure the bottom of the cup to a piece of wood I have it perched on with a piece of wax like you'd use to stick a poster to a wall. It's great because I can still easily take the cup out to clean out dead crickets, etc, but it keeps it in place against my guys' powerful tongue!

Hand-feeding is a toss-up. It depends on the individual and the species.

My Jacksons loved to hand-feed. He'd come down off of his perch near the door of the cage when I came into the room, waiting to be fed.

My Veiled only hand-fed until he was about 6 months old, then he got grumpy.

My Panther loves being hand fed.

Generally speaking younger chameleons will hand-feed easier, and if you get your chameleon accustomed to being hand fed at a younger age, they'll continue to hand feed as they get older. This isn't always the case though. IMO a Veiled that hand-feeds into adulthood is a rare thing indeed (at least a male veiled).

The trick to hand feeding is to get the prey to squirm a bit. I usually grip the cricket by the leg and pinch it a bit... and as soon as the cricket wiggles a bit, the chameleon is usually interested. Worms can be a little harder.

 

[Hilikus311]

here is an example of how i cup feed my chameleon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_VKx5ehXpM