Elvis is afraid of discoids

[MamatoElvis]

I now have a nice little discoid colony going. I think Elvis is afraid of them. He doesn't normally cup feed but I was afraid I'd loose them so I placed a few in a dish on the bottom of the enclosure. He watched them for awhile but eventually they stopped moving. I would mix them up every once on awhile but I pretty much left him alone for a few hours to see if he would go for them. No go.i picked one up with my tongs to see if flailing legs would help, after about 30 seconds I dropped it into the enclosure. It started to crawl up the screen towards him and I thought for sure he would zap but he ran away. When it started to move towards him again he moved again. I removed the roach. This was a small roach maybe 1/2 inch. Should I keep trying?

 

[absolutbill]

I run away from roaches too, so don't hold that against Elvis I have 2 thoughts on this - first, you mention the dish is at the bottom of his cage. Is this where he normally cup feeds other feeders from, or is this new for him as well? Perhaps move it up about 1/2 way up the side of his cage so it's not so low? I use old yogurt containers, punch 2 holes in the top and thread a twisty-tie that I then wrap around either a bendy vine or the wooden bird ladders that I have in my cages.

My 2nd thought is depending on how old he is, maybe not feed him for a day or 2 and then try the discoids again. Hunger may provoke him to feed, or maybe you can add a feeder in the cup that he likes - a superworm or something? Good luck - I know how annoying it is to have feeders that your chams snub!

 

[Andee]

It doesn't sound exactly like he's afraid of the roaches,usually they puff up at feeders they are afraid of. It sounds like he doesn't quite know what to do with them? Which is quite a possibility. Roaches are often a large hurtle to over come for some chams. It is possible it just sometimes requires different kinds of feeding cups and ways to make the look more enticing... though I've never had such problems with my boy, he eats anything and eats like a machine. If I offered him food every day I'm sure he'd take it. But he has a rather fast metabolism for an adult male.

 

[MamatoElvis]

Well, this was a first for cup feeding. Anything else I've not wanted to let loose I've hand fed or given him with big tweezers. I'm having a little trouble the past few weeks using the tweezers because if I open the big door Elvis climbs to the top of his enclosure. He's creeping up to 7 months and he's still in his 16 x16 x 30 inch enclosure. I've got his big boy enclosure built and I'm branching it now so I'm hoping that will solve his wanderlust. I've tried to let him free range for 30 min here and there but he has proven untrustworthy. I'll keep trying with the discoids, move the cup higher up. If I put a butter worm in with them will the roaches eat it?he did scarf those banana roaches so I was hoping the discoids would go the same way. Although they aren't green and they don't fly.

 

[Andee]

I'm not sure if the discoids would eat it. Since they are a subspecies of Blaptica, related to the dubia roach I wouldn't assume they would immediately before your boy would... but who knows for sure XD