Feeding Problem!

[Sabbi]

Hi, My chameleon hasn't eaten in a month, she is a panther nosey be. I definitely have the correct set up now after speaking to a good breeder in a reptile shop who has helped. They told me I got her from a bad breeder and quite a few has died from them. She is 8/9 months and when I got her she was 5 months but very tiny for 8/9 months compared to their 5 month old chameleons in the good reptile shop she is smaller than them.

After several visits to specialist vets she has thin bones (mild MBD according to vet) but she is now on the mend her eyes are practically normal again after being sunken in and swollen and she is actually moving around now and falling a lot less.

I used to give her water through a syringe with calcium and D3 and critical care formula (not mixed the two together) and she used to drink it happily and am making bug juice to give to her as she is incredibly skinny its getting worse as she is now refuses to open her mouth, I cannot get her mouth open to give food. She has only had a few drops of bug juice an water in the past few days she desperately needs it, she has a lot of energy considering she has not eaten for at least a month now! It seems the better she gets the more stubborn she gets in letting me feed her. She wont catch any bugs in enclosure.

How do I open her mouth without hurting her?
how may drops/amount to give her a day and how many times a day without over feeding her?
Plus how long can they go without food?

She is definitely on the mend it is just this one eating problem I need to over come!
Thank you

 

[Kostas]

have you tried putting a cup with crickets near her favorite spot ? my carpet wont eat anything if he knows im watching but hes a fatty in a hearth and gonna eat all of em once im not around.

 

[Sabbi]

I have a locust in there but they have grown too big now so got mealworms to make bug juice (they had no wax worms).

I had to remove crickets because they kept biting her and hiding so I couldn't catch them before night time so locust are easier to run free in enclosure.

I have tried feeding small crickets in pot it didn't work. I will attempt again though now her eyes are a bit better.

I have tried different types of bugs now that she has always eaten (crickets and locust) she hasn't eaten anything else before she fell ill. I tried hand feeding them as well. She looks interested sometimes but then walks away no matter what distance it is at and if its too close she gets scared of bug and runs.

 

[Kostas]

sorry to hear that, and yeah i dont let crickets free roam my chams cage since im afraid they gonna bite, occasionally one or two gonna jump out, out of my feeding cup but they get eaten up. i dont know, mine doest eat worms that much i leave 4 mealworms in another cup and they get eaten up in like couple days depending on his mood.

 

[Sabbi]

Ok, well I will try crickets again as it is most familiar to her , I make bug juice out of the worms because I think they would have more juice so need to try and open her mouth for it just to get the weight on, may try crickets instead tho.

Thank you though