Fish for food?

[FaunaBgirl]

I have a clear glass shallow drop catcher at the bottom of Fractal's cage. This morning, he was on the edge of it looking down at a leaf that had fallen underneath the edge. Next thing I know, he's fishing. His tongue went right into the water. Now unless someone says absolutely DON'T, I'm a couple of hours away from getting fractal some minnows or small gold fich to feed on today.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Hmmmmm.
I honestly can't say yes or no to this idea.
Without any experience trying this or having read anything concerning this option....Curious though. I'm going to try and check it out.
The only thing I can think of that would be bad is the bacteria load/ possible parasite load a fish like that is probably carrying. Plus the obvious fact that they are not insects and we know (despite pictures of veileds eating mice and hummingbirds) that chams are insectivors.
Until we here from someone who knows more than me, I would hold off.

-Brad

 

[FaunaBgirl]

While normally, I would adhere to your sound advice, Fractal has been hard to feed lately. At 4 and a half months he's gotten persnikity and is not eating enough of anything and his stomach looks baggy. I now know that this is not the first time he's shown interest in "the pond." In the wild, he might have this
choice as well. I trust that he knows what he is doing. So ... I think I might give it a go.
I wonder if his tongue will stick to the slime coat?
I am not afaid of the bacteria load being intolerable to him.
So I guess I will let you know how it goes. Thank you, and know that I do respect your advice all the time on here. It's just that I have a gut feeling on this.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Again, I cannot say yes or no.


-Brad

 

[Gizmo]

Using the same logic, I've been experimenting with hummus (fully composted leaves -- soil conditioner, actually) in the enclosure. My "persnickety" one was doing everything he could to circumvent my strategies for keeping him out of the dirt in the pot. He got very good at hanging upside down from the lowest branch and zapping soil out of the drainage holes. Since chams like roaches, and roaches in the wild love leaf litter, I wondered if there's something in decaying leaves (hummic acid?) that the chameleons need. Sure enough, I put about 2 tablespoons of the compost on plastic lids and set them in the bottom of the cages. Within 30 minutes both my panthers were 4-on-the-floor taking big mouthfuls, despite the fact that they had eaten several crix and silkworms just an hour before. I'm still not sure what this is about, and it could turn out to be poor husbandry practice, but for now, like you, I'm trusting my interpretation of my chameleons' pretty clear signals. I've done this once a week for about six weeks, keep the amount limited, monitor closely, and so far, no problems.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Gizmo something in decaying leaves (hummic acid?) that the chameleons need. Sure enough, I put about 2 tablespoons of the compost on plastic lids and set them in the bottom of the cages. Within 30 minutes both my panthers were 4-on-the-floor taking big mouthfuls

Absolutely facinating. I take it that your compost pile is very organic leaves and vegies, and kept outside?

Fractal now has 3 minnows swimming in his shallow drip catcher. However, I fed him 2 fat jumbo mealworms and will watch for: signs of stress, interest and eventually, a possible eating. I was hoping to catch it on cam, but feel the interest will not peak again until tomorrow morning.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

I didn't see what happened, but... one fish gone, one fish was hanging verticle in the water, dead... and the other fish came right to the front when I came in there, like..."Get me outta here!"
And there's Fractal... up on the basking perch. hmmmm??

 

[thechurro]

You should probably watch what kind of fish you get. Feeders like rosy reds and common goldfish are probably not the best idea since a lot of fish keepers won't use them to feed their predatory fish (myself included). They are really inbred, parasite ridden, and have very poor nutritional value. If you do decide to do it though, a couple fish in a small dish will quickly exhaust the oxygen in the water and fish are extremely sensitive you Chlorine and Chloramine and the heat could cause a problem.

 

[gonzalez6115]

just put an air hose with a stone on the end in the pond, that will not only keep the fish heathier, but help with humidity also. i might suggest setting up a 10 gal aquarium and letting the fish live in there and use stuf to kill parasites.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

If I were going to keep fish for him, I would do that. And more... but there's only one left, and if he gets eaten first thing in the morning, that'll be that.
Kind of sad... I get attached to them.
Sad too, is that I'm attached now to the colony of crickets Fractal won't eat right now. I've been cleaning and feeding them for two weeks. They trust me. :{

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Gizmo! I went to the gallery to look at your panthers. They are not there?

 

[Will Hayward]

The medicines that you would use to rid the fish of parasites would leave lasting residues that you would NOT want to allow the chameleon to consume. If it were eating it at all that is.

 

[Gizmo]

Ooh, sorry I've not documented in the gallery -- I am completely inept at many things, including digital photography. I've also become a touch superstitious about photographing these guys -- every time I do it (to show them off to friends and relatives), one or the other mounts a hunger strike or does something else to convince me that he's at death's door for a solid week. Perhaps it is those adrenaline-filled moments and hours that is at the root of this crazy addiction? Back on point -- thanks for your interest and I will hazard a photo shoot to post in the next couple of days.

 

[Heika]

If I were going to keep fish for him, I would do that. And more... but there's only one left, and if he gets eaten first thing in the morning, that'll be that.

Did he eat the other fish? Did you see him do it? If so.. did he have a hard time shooting it because of the fish slime?

Heika

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Gizmo... I hope you AREN'T using a flash? They hate that.

Heika... I don't believe he ate the other fish. I was distracted away right as I was putting them in the bowl and when I got back, the third one was gone, making me think Fractal ate it. Later, however.. I found that the third one had stuck to the bag and was dead in there. :{ So Fractal never ate it. Since I did not see how the 2nd one died, I do not know if there was a tongue attempt that failed due to slime coat or not. This morning I went to feed the last one and Fractal let a stool drop in there, so I had to pull it all out the cage and redo everything quick and run off to work. I've put the fish in it's own bowl outside the cage. Not sure if I feel like introducing it back into the cage at all. Fractal has another issue that needs addressing now.

 

[Jason]

Please use caution feeding fish to reptiles, or any other animal for that matter. Feeder fish are kept alive in crowded and unsanitary conditions through a nice cocktail of chemicals. They are often heavily parsitized and in poor health when they arrive at the local petstore. I personally wouldn't ever risk it with one of my chams.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Not to fear Jason... I picked fish from a huge aquarium with not many in it. But beside that, I'll not be feeding Fractal fish again. I thought because he showed an interest, that maybe he instinctively knew to feed like that and I acted upon it. It's not turned out the way I'd fancied it and have moved on from it. I look to widen the range of his eating experience in the insect world. But the good thing I learned, is that I no longer want to feed fractal a pinkie mouse. All the reading I did educated me in that area as well.