RescueMom
Avid Member
I have read, and read, and read some more so I know I'm not alone here, but this on going "food fight" between chameleon and human is exhausting!
This isn't my first cham, so I'm not completely inexperienced. With that being said however, I'm no where near as knowledgeable as most of you on here.
Here's my issue: Waldo, like many others, goes from loving one feeder, to never wanting it again. I don't mind the "What's it going to be today?" game, and I'm NOT worried he's going to starve to death, BUT what does concern me is that when he goes for days, then into weeks, without food, he's also going without calcium and other vitamins he needs.
I know the effect it has on their bones, not to mention their internal organs (my first cham was a rescue with mbd).
Currently Waldo has a problem with his eye. I noticed it immediately after I got him (in February) . He was closing it late in the afternoon and into the evening.
After finally getting him to my regular vet in May (had to go to a different vet in March) , she did an xray and found the round orbital bone in that eye was simply not there. If he had any signs of mbd, it could be due to that, but he wasn't even a year old and had no other issues. She concluded he was either born that way, or it was gone (crushed) caused by a trauma such as falling and hitting his eye against something.
Now I'm noticing more and more that his vision isn't as good in that eye, and his pupil stays very small, where the other eye has a nice big pupil and he can obviously see much better with it.
Getting to my issue about the food, when we saw the vet last week about his foot, we also revisited the eye issue. She agrees that his vision seems to be deminishing in that eye, but there's nothing that can be done other than ensuring he gets more vitamin A in his diet, BUT HE WON'T EAT!
Hes crazy about horn worms, and the same with wax worms, but that can't be every day food.
He was eating calci worms (bsfl) , but suddenly stopped.
He did the same thing with crickets. Won't touch them now.
We can't get dubia roaches (they're illegal in Florida) but I tried him on discoids. He ate a couple, then wouldn't touch them.
I was able to get him silk worms... again. The first time they weren't impressive so I don't blame him for not wanting any. But the ones that got here yesterday are beautiful and fat, and if I were a chameleon I'm sure I'd wanna eat them ?
Not only does he NEED them, but OMGOSHHHHHHH the $$$$ ?
I am not at all opposed to putting the worms in a syringe and just smashing their guts right through and feeding him that way ? Of course I'd much rather him eat like normal, but what else can I do?
Let them morph and see if he'll eat the moths?
I could just feed him the supplement from the vet, but I really don't want to give in.
I WANT TO WIN THE FOOD FIGHT!!
? ??
This isn't my first cham, so I'm not completely inexperienced. With that being said however, I'm no where near as knowledgeable as most of you on here.
Here's my issue: Waldo, like many others, goes from loving one feeder, to never wanting it again. I don't mind the "What's it going to be today?" game, and I'm NOT worried he's going to starve to death, BUT what does concern me is that when he goes for days, then into weeks, without food, he's also going without calcium and other vitamins he needs.
I know the effect it has on their bones, not to mention their internal organs (my first cham was a rescue with mbd).
Currently Waldo has a problem with his eye. I noticed it immediately after I got him (in February) . He was closing it late in the afternoon and into the evening.
After finally getting him to my regular vet in May (had to go to a different vet in March) , she did an xray and found the round orbital bone in that eye was simply not there. If he had any signs of mbd, it could be due to that, but he wasn't even a year old and had no other issues. She concluded he was either born that way, or it was gone (crushed) caused by a trauma such as falling and hitting his eye against something.
Now I'm noticing more and more that his vision isn't as good in that eye, and his pupil stays very small, where the other eye has a nice big pupil and he can obviously see much better with it.
Getting to my issue about the food, when we saw the vet last week about his foot, we also revisited the eye issue. She agrees that his vision seems to be deminishing in that eye, but there's nothing that can be done other than ensuring he gets more vitamin A in his diet, BUT HE WON'T EAT!
Hes crazy about horn worms, and the same with wax worms, but that can't be every day food.
He was eating calci worms (bsfl) , but suddenly stopped.
He did the same thing with crickets. Won't touch them now.
We can't get dubia roaches (they're illegal in Florida) but I tried him on discoids. He ate a couple, then wouldn't touch them.
I was able to get him silk worms... again. The first time they weren't impressive so I don't blame him for not wanting any. But the ones that got here yesterday are beautiful and fat, and if I were a chameleon I'm sure I'd wanna eat them ?
Not only does he NEED them, but OMGOSHHHHHHH the $$$$ ?
I am not at all opposed to putting the worms in a syringe and just smashing their guts right through and feeding him that way ? Of course I'd much rather him eat like normal, but what else can I do?
Let them morph and see if he'll eat the moths?
I could just feed him the supplement from the vet, but I really don't want to give in.
I WANT TO WIN THE FOOD FIGHT!!
? ??
