Food Presentation question

[lojack13]

So I just got my first baby Cham a few days ago. She/ He is a Nosy Be Panther Cham 3 months old. The reason I say She/ He is because the breeder sold the Cham to me as a she but when I went to pick "her" up he was kind of now leaning towards male. He thought he saw a tail budge. Not really the issue right now I guess, the main reason I'm starting this thread is because I am scared to death the baby isn't getting enough food. I wanted to pick everyone's thoughts on Free ranging the food versus bowl feeding. The breeder has been free ranging my nosy be, he said he puts 10-15 1/4 inch crickets in there per day and lets he/ she have at them. I guess I'm just scared the crickets can hide and my cham won't eat. I have a 18x18x36 enclosure. Honestly the only place they can hide is in the rocks of the arboricola plant pot at the bottom of the cage. But I can't tell if they are in there or not. I was placing them all in a bowl at the beginning of the day and returning to find only about 4 left however I found several roaming the cage because they had simply escaped the bowl. Just really want to get input on this as I am freaking out about my cham not getting enough food! Just wondering if I should disable the crickets ( leg pulling) and put them all in the bowl or just continue to put 12 or so in there a day and let them roam free and forget about it. Any thoughts / suggestions would be so appreciated,
Thanks!

 

[laurie]

I am so glad you have your new little one. I would just put extra crickets in for him/her. That is what I always do. My experience is if they have crickets they usually will find them. You can also you a small cup clipped up in the plants. Do you have a scale? That is the easiest way to be sure what is going on.

 

[K9Luvn]

As I recall you got your panther from Tom Kilgoure, right??? If so most of his babies are good hunters in the cage. But when I got mine from him I wanted to switch over to cup feeding so I could see daily what what doing on. The first few days was skiddish and didn't want to eat.. then later started cup feeding. Here we are a month later and he is waiting for the cup to go in the cage every morning. I also have a digital food scale that I bought and weigh mine to see that they are gaining and all has been good. Just remember it does take some time to adjust to a new home and not to eat for a few days is normal... just let you baby get settled into his new enviroment. I sparyed the cage... offered crickets... but didn't worry to much if he didn't eat the first few days and all is good now

 

[lojack13]

Yep, one of Tom's babies! OK, hmmm. Well I'm kinda leaning towards the cup feeding. Just because I want to know what's being eaten. Sort of hate to take away there natural hunting instinct but after losing Phoebe I just am freaking out a bit. What type of cup is best? Like depth width? Also do you disable their jump legs so they can't escape? So if I decide to cup feed basically what I need to do is stick with the cup and even if he/she does not eat the first few days they will catch on right? Sorry so many question LOL one more, should I place the cup up high or mid range?

 

[K9Luvn]

Mine is still young so I use a shallow opaque dish that I bought at Walmart. It is one of those disposable microwave glade type cups. Shallow enough the crickets don't normally jump out since I buy 1/4 crickets. (some will hop out but he usually catches them). I jsut sat it in the same place every day. He would see them and show inerest. After a few days he showed the interest but would not eat if he saw me. Now he doesn't care if i am in the same room he comes to the cup as soon as I walk away. If you pull their legs I don't think they really notice them hopping and that seems to be half of the joy of them catching them. I prefer cup feeding myself too.

 

[lojack13]

Mine is still young so I use a shallow opaque dish that I bought at Walmart. It is one of those disposable microwave glade type cups. Shallow enough the crickets don't normally jump out since I buy 1/4 crickets. (some will hop out but he usually catches them). I jsut sat it in the same place every day. He would see them and show inerest. After a few days he showed the interest but would not eat if he saw me. Now he doesn't care if i am in the same room he comes to the cup as soon as I walk away. If you pull their legs I don't think they really notice them hopping and that seems to be half of the joy of them catching them. I prefer cup feeding myself too.

Hmmm, that's basically what I have been doing. Putting about 12 crickets in a small clear plastic bowl and sitting it in there in the same spot. I figure some are getting out though, I don't know, I guess he/she could be eating them out of the bowel I'm not real sure. I honestly can only find 2 crickets in the enclosure tonight after some good hard looking with an LED flashlight so baby nosy must be hunting them down pretty well. I know he/ she has been drinking good cuz urates look awesome and I have witnessed drinking as well. I tried to offer a cricket up on a pair of small feeder tongs and my Cham puffed up and gaped at me! LOL! did not like that one bit. It's hard to look tough when you are 3 inches long. LOL!
The only other problem I am having is keeping this humidity up! These dry Ohio winters are crazy. It is only about an ambient 27% in my house. I am constantly misting the enclosure. I actually am toying with the idea of installing a furnace whole house humidifier. It would keep the humidity at about 50-60% ambient in the house. Not only would that help with baby nosy's comfort but also help my own dry skin and throat and add value to my home to boot. I am a contractor by trade so installing it would be nothing but putting out the $230.00 for the material is making think twice right now.

 

[K9Luvn]

Yours will start eating in the next few days. Just remember to discard the old crickets and put new gultloaded ones in each morning. I am glad i got a scale and I log the weight so I can see no weight loss.

I know I crack up when mine tiny and puffy too!!! Oh so tough

 

[laurie]

Hmmm, that's basically what I have been doing. Putting about 12 crickets in a small clear plastic bowl and sitting it in there in the same spot. I figure some are getting out though, I don't know, I guess he/she could be eating them out of the bowel I'm not real sure. I honestly can only find 2 crickets in the enclosure tonight after some good hard looking with an LED flashlight so baby nosy must be hunting them down pretty well. I know he/ she has been drinking good cuz urates look awesome and I have witnessed drinking as well. I tried to offer a cricket up on a pair of small feeder tongs and my Cham puffed up and gaped at me! LOL! did not like that one bit. It's hard to look tough when you are 3 inches long. LOL!
The only other problem I am having is keeping this humidity up! These dry Ohio winters are crazy. It is only about an ambient 27% in my house. I am constantly misting the enclosure. I actually am toying with the idea of installing a furnace whole house humidifier. It would keep the humidity at about 50-60% ambient in the house. Not only would that help with baby nosy's comfort but also help my own dry skin and throat and add value to my home to boot. I am a contractor by trade so installing it would be nothing but putting out the $230.00 for the material is making think twice right now.

The whole house humidifier is great, we has one as I have asthma. Chams don't care why but they enjoy it also

On cup feeding, most chameleons don't spend a lot of time on the floor of the cage. It is normal for them to be up high when they eat. I would locate it about 2/3 of the way up the cage and just attach it with a clip. For the size your baby in now, a empty yogurt cup would work well. The cups should not be see through so the cham doesn't try to shoot through the cup.

 

[K9Luvn]

On cup feeding, most chameleons don't spend a lot of time on the floor of the cage. It is normal for them to be up high when they eat. I would locate it about 2/3 of the way up the cage and just attach it with a clip. For the size your baby in now, a empty yogurt cup would work well. The cups should not be see through so the cham doesn't try to shoot through the cup.

Thank you Laurie for information on cup feeding. I think I will eat a couple yogurts right now. Those will work perfect in the cages I have and I don't want my chams to injure their tounges

 

[lojack13]

Hmmm, OK. Put the cup in there again this morning with about 13 crickets. It is about 1:30 and there is 10 left. Not sure if she ate them or they escaped. Hard to tell really. The cup is slightly see through, so I may switch that out to something else. May try the yogurt cup too. I am sticking it about 2/3 up the cage among the leaves so she has easy access. I guess I will stop freaking out and let this ride for a few days till she catches on then? There is a high up exo terra vine in the enclosure she basks on a lot. What do you think about putting the feeder cup right under that vine?

 

[Beachbabies]

sounds like a perfect place. cup feeding takes some chams a little bit of time to get used to. but imo, it's the only way to feed if youre feeding crickets. have you concidered roaches? they're awesome! red runners look just like small crix!

 

[lojack13]

Ugh, OK 5:00 and still 10 crickets left. Getting worried. Found her hiding out about 8 inches off the ground down in the arboricola. Eyes were wide open so not sleeping or anything. Probably should not have done it but I picked her up and put her back up higher again towards the food bowl. She is going around now and licking water off of the leaves. I guess I should not worry too much. I read that babies tend to not eat for a few days in a new environment. Sigh. Does anyone think the cup is too deep? It is about 2 inches deep, maybe a little less.

 

[lojack13]

sounds like a perfect place. cup feeding takes some chams a little bit of time to get used to. but imo, it's the only way to feed if youre feeding crickets. have you concidered roaches? they're awesome! red runners look just like small crix!

I have considered roaches but I'd defintely have to order them cuz no one sells them around here. Will they not crawl out of the cup?

 

[laurie]

Your cup size sounds perfect. that is not to big and hopefully they won't all jump out. It may take a few days to get him to learn to cup feed. Just give him a day or two.
We can discuss roaches later. I have to go pack.

 

[lojack13]

Your cup size sounds perfect. that is not to big and hopefully they won't all jump out. It may take a few days to get him to learn to cup feed. Just give him a day or two.
We can discuss roaches later. I have to go pack.

Laurie,
Well I found about 10 crickets when I cleaned out the cage so I know she has at least been eating some of the free rangers I put in there the last few days. But I just don't like the free range thing, too many places for them to hide. Tomorrow however I am going to strictly cup feeding. I saw her eyeballing the cup 2-3 times today so I am hoping she will go for it tomorrow. She is so used to free ranging it probably will be hard to break her but I'm sure she will get hungry enough hopefully. How many days do you think is too many to let her go without eating if she gets stubborn on not taking to the cup? I just do not want her to get hungry and malnourished.