Days without eating. Please help!

[KevinN1]

Hey everyone, my male panther chameleon has gone about 4 days without eating. He's drinking fairly often, but when it comes to eating, he completely ignores crickets I offer and only eats 1 or 2 mealworms. I think he might be tired of crickets, so I ordered some hornworms for him, but should I be concerned that he's gone 4 days without a proper meal? What other explanation could there be for his loss of appetite?

 

[SaintJimmy]

Hey everyone, my male panther chameleon has gone about 4 days without eating. He's drinking fairly often, but when it comes to eating, he completely ignores crickets I offer and only eats 1 or 2 mealworms. I think he might be tired of crickets, so I ordered some hornworms for him, but should I be concerned that he's gone 4 days without a proper meal? What other explanation could there be for his loss of appetite?

My boy has gone a week without food because I got him hooked on superworms.

Maybe he is on a hunger strike. Has he been showing other weird symptoms?

Go outside and catch a locust or grasshopper, see if he will eat it. Maybe a mantis. Or wait for the hornworms.

Or buy some superworms at a local store, or even dubias. See if he will eat then. If he does, he is tired of mealies and crix.

 

[kplatvoet]

How old is he? Filling out the "how to ask for help form" would make it easier to figure out if it's a problem or just a hunger strike- Have you read "poop 101" with not eating issues poop matters- If it looked good before he started not eating there is less to worry about- It's been colder which has an effect on appetite especially if he's board with his food.

 

[carol5208]

yes, wouldn't hurt to fill out the form, but more than likely he is just tired of the same old food. It does happen!

 

[Bush baby]

Don't be too concerned about him not eating. Mine has gone as long as 10 days without eating. So long as he's drinking and looks alert he's fine. The daily feeding thing is rather un-natural for chams if you think about it. In the wild they can go days without 'finding' a meal; when you factor that in with the fact that certain prey items are only available for limited periods of the year, due to the prey items own life cycle, chams have to constantly adjust to different prey availability and scarcity. So basically, they are spoilt in captivity which is why they get picky and/or OD on vitamins, etc.

A healthy cham can go for some time without food, so long as they're hydrated.

 

[Deevo]

Don't be too concerned about him not eating. Mine has gone as long as 10 days without eating. So long as he's drinking and looks alert he's fine. The daily feeding thing is rather un-natural for chams if you think about it. In the wild they can go days without 'finding' a meal; when you factor that in with the fact that certain prey items are only available for limited periods of the year, due to the prey items own life cycle, chams have to constantly adjust to different prey availability and scarcity. So basically, they are spoilt in captivity which why they get picky and/or OD on vitamins, etc.

A healthy cham can go for some time without food, so long as they're hydrated.

This is so true

 

[sandrachameleon]

how old is this chameleon?
Could he be nearing time to shed?
What colour is the urate? how often does he drink?
how much did he used to eat?
can you post a photo?
what is the temperature? is he still active? (they sometimes eat less in winter, especially if temps are a little lower)

that he is drinking suggests there isn't a problem. He likely is bored of his food if you're not providing a good variety (try not to have any single type of prey make up more than 20-40% of the total diet - try to have at least 4 types of prey) and just not very hungry.

I'd stop offering mealworms for awhile - he'll go back to the crickets (which are better for him, especially if gutloaded properly) when he's hungry. the hornworms may be just what he needs. Other good choices would be silkworms, termites, terrestrial isopods, butterworms. cockroaches...