Entranced Chameleon

Rosco

New Member
Yesterday during late afternoon I rigged up a "food bowl" in my 5 month old chams cage and he basically went to sleep after I did so. Now this morning I go into feed him and he was laying on some leaves staring up at this bowl with both eyes locked on to it; I waved my hands around, enticed him with food, watered (which makes him scurry sometimes), and still no movement or even acknowledgement to what I had just done. I finally stuck my hand in to rub his chin, where after the second rub he kinda looked at me and went Holy Crud how long have you been here:eek:. Its like my cham is on some psychedelic hallucinogen and is trippin out lookin at this floating food bowl. The branches above his cage "float" and that never once fazed him. I got him to crawl on my hand easily and showed him crickets in his dust bowl then poured those into the food bowl in his cage, placed him on the branch nearest to the bowl and he just faced the other way, with one eye glaring at the bowl and was entranced once more. Im going to remove the bowl soon, I didnt know if this was news to anyone, or if anyone has input that will knock my guy out of his"trip". Heres pics of the bowl, the cage, and him. Any remarks to this occurrence are appreciated. Sorry, the first him image is sideways.
 

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I'm not totally sure I understand the problem, but a couple of ideas for you. If you put too many feeders in the bowl (so they are climbing all over each other) he may get overwhelmed by all the movement and just sit and watch. Chams, like most predators need to be able to single out a target and shoot at it. If the bowl is clear, he may get confused by being able to see the food through the glass but not shoot it successfully. So, he can get confused, frustrated, and just sit still.

Try a larger container that isn't clear. Don't put in too many feeders at once. Rig a branch above it so he can climb down to the rim of the container and shoot from above it.
 
I am not seeing the clear food bowl here! I see one that appears to be camoflauged with leaves to blend in with the cage somehow???
 
Carol sees it. Its on the right side of the cage hanging off of the screen and has leaves covering the outside. The plastic isn't clear and is made solid looking by the leaves covering the outside. There was only 4 crickets in the container so being overwhelmed as an issue is ruled out. He wouldn't even approach the food bowl, wherever he was he stayed. That's why it's so weird. Its not a major problem but the problem being is he won't move with it in the cage.
 
are you sure it is the feed cup that is bothering him? Why don't you just let the crickets run loose and see if he will eat them that way. I never have ever used a feed cup.
 
My Jackson wont eat from a cup, he doesnt like it in his house either. He will stare at it, wont go near it, and gets pretty stressed in general with it in there for some reason. I wish he would, but it aint happening, so I let about 5 loose at a time and hell hunt them down :)

So, while my cham doesnt "freeze" he does trip on there being a "food dish" in his house. So this is not an isolated incident, and your cham is just probably a bit freaked...
 
I'm going out of town in a few weeks so I wanted to test this out before I left because I know my mom won't hand feed while I'm gone so I thought she could just knock some crix out of a black tube in to the container and he would be set for food for the day. I'm afraid letting some loose in the cage will just get lost
 
Did you also cover the bottom of the bowl with leaves? If not and he was below it, he may have shot at the bugs and not understood why he could not get them. Also, if he usually hand feeds expecting him to jump to a bowl for food is wishful thinking, it may take a while.
 
I'm going out of town in a few weeks so I wanted to test this out before I left because I know my mom won't hand feed while I'm gone so I thought she could just knock some crix out of a black tube in to the container and he would be set for food for the day. I'm afraid letting some loose in the cage will just get lost

Try a variation on the cup idea. I use a larger plastic storage box (at least shoe box size) and put it on the cage floor underneath a plant. Provide climbing routes to the rim of the box. It may look less like a confusing container (chams can be leery of a cup or bowl because they try to avoid hitting the tip of their tongue on hard surfaces). Put some feeders and gutload in the box and leave it there during the day. The feeders can keep themselves gutloaded, move around more so your cham can sit and watch or hunt if it wants. Just be sure to provide a drain if the box is going to get misted.
 
Yes Carol there was leaves covering the bottom. I'm having him cup feed more often and he doesn't mind so I think who over watches him can do that. I really like that idea Carlton, but my Cham never goes to the base of his plant, and to reach a shoebox he would have to be in the soil due to the pot's height.
 
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