Feeding trick?

[NOP]

I thought of an idea for feeding my baby cham and am wondering if it would be ok....i free roam crickets in his cage atm because he hasnt gotten to the point where he can eat something i present to him so i was wondering if i took an orange slice and put it in his cage so that the crickets would swarm to it and he could find them easier...would this be acceptable? wouldnt cause any harm?

 

[Chameleon Punk]

that seems like a good idea i dont see any harm to it just make sure to take out crickets and orange when it come to night night time

 

[Maurer3D]

You could also cup feed him/her, makes it much easier to tell if its eating.

 

[NOP]

i tried cup feeding a bit and well this is my second day of having him and he doesnt seem to understand the concept of cup feeding......he just stares at the crickets and then back at me and gives me a look that says "what?"

 

[Chamster]

i tried cup feeding as well but didn't work. what i started doing was placing crickets one at a time on the side of the cage. he came running to eat them.... this is pretty successful until now...another thing i tried was placing silkworms on the leaves themselves... its successful too.. maybe you can try one of these techniques... i have a 2 month old male veiled incase you're wondering .... hope this helps.

 

[Olimpia]

I find that my crickets always ended up on the ceiling of the cage right under the heat lights and then it was easy for my guys to find them. Alternatively, yes, you could definitely put a little food in there with them and see if they want to.

Some chameleons take a little longer to cup feed than others, but if you give them a day or two they will be fine and usually get the idea. However, I'm a fan of free ranging crickets at least, since it gives the chameleon something to do during the day.

 

[Bernie]

When cup feeding, what size cup do people use?

Also how do people attach them?

 

[Maurer3D]

I use 16 oz, deli cups (the ones that are about 4 inches tall), then I poke 2 small holes about half an inch from the top .25 inches apart, then I strip (remove the covering) a twist-tie and use it to tie the cup onto the screen cage. Then I place another deli cup into the attached cup (this makes it easier to clean daily, otherwise you would have to undo the the twist-tie daily).

On some of my chameleons I had to tape a piece of paper around the edges the first couple weeks to make it easier for them to learn that they can't catch bugs thru the clear sides of the cup.

this is the one attached to the cage, then I just slip the one with the bugs into it.

 

[carol5208]

I use 16 oz, deli cups (the ones that are about 4 inches tall), then I poke 2 small holes about half an inch from the top .25 inches apart, then I strip (remove the covering) a twist-tie and use it to tie the cup onto the screen cage. Then I place another deli cup into the attached cup (this makes it easier to clean daily, otherwise you would have to undo the the twist-tie daily).

On some of my chameleons I had to tape a piece of paper around the edges the first couple weeks to make it easier for them to learn that they can't catch bugs thru the clear sides of the cup.

this is the one attached to the cage, then I just slip the one with the bugs into it.

I would not recommend a clear cup like that. Your chameleon could ingure his tongue shooting at the outside of the cup thinking he can get the crickets. Just my opinion..... I have read on here where people's chameleons do that. Opaque is a better choice I think.