Hatchling not eating

[mcboyd]

I have a hatchling that is six days old. It is drinking water but not eating. It sleeps a lot and will roam around every few hours but it will not eat. It is very lethargic. I have tried fruit flies, pinhead crickets, tiny worms and nothing seems to attract it to eat. I have all of the habitat items suggested, has foliage, temp is between 78-85, has all the recommended lights and I mist it 3-4 times a day to keep it at least 70% humidity with some parts more and some less. I also have a humidifier constantly running in that area for my other lizards.

This is the only one of my clutch to hatch and they have been incubating since March 3, 2021. There are still 15-20 eggs that are plump and veined and look viable so I have just left them alone.

This picture with eggs was hatch day. The one on the stick was three days ago and the one on the ground is today.

 

[kinyonga]

IMHO...your temperatures are too warm.
Was there any yolk left attached to its belly when it was born?

The substrate for the eggs looks very moist....but it's hard to be sure from a photo. Are you incubating the eggs in sand?

 

[mcboyd]

IMHO...your temperatures are too warm.
Was there any yolk left attached to its belly when it was born?

The substrate for the eggs looks very moist....but it's hard to be sure from a photo. Are you incubating the eggs in sand?

I will lower the temp and see if that helps. There was some of the yoke sac left the first few days so I didn’t worry too much about it eating. But now that is gone.

I have about 90% vermiculite in the container but the eggs were laid in sand so when I scooped them out I scooped the sand surrounding them to make sure they didn’t turn.

 

[mcboyd]

We have had a second egg hatch yesterday, this lil guy is exploring a lot more than the first one did. There are tons of fruit flies in their enclosure as well as some pinhead crickets and tiny little beetles. I haven’t seen him eat yet either but he still had quite a bit of yolk sac. Is there a better way to present their food so that they eat? The firstborn won’t eat even if the flies are crawling all around her.

 

[HypercolorChameleons]

We have had a second egg hatch yesterday, this lil guy is exploring a lot more than the first one did. There are tons of fruit flies in their enclosure as well as some pinhead crickets and tiny little beetles. I haven’t seen him eat yet either but he still had quite a bit of yolk sac. Is there a better way to present their food so that they eat? The firstborn won’t eat even if the flies are crawling all around her.

They don’t eat right away usually around day 3 they will be interested in eating. And as for the first one that hatched just remember even though they hatch that don’t guarantee they will live. Just try your best. I did see in 1 picture you had a huge cricket like the size of its head that shouldn’t be in there. Like @kinyonga said your temps are pretty high for these delicate little guys.

 

[mcboyd]

They don’t eat right away usually around day 3 they will be interested in eating. And as for the first one that hatched just remember even though they hatch that don’t guarantee they will live. Just try your best. I did see in 1 picture you had a huge cricket like the size of its head that shouldn’t be in there. Like @kinyonga said your temps are pretty high for these delicate little guys.

I did lower the temp to around 72 at the bottom and 80 at the basking ledge at the top. I just don't know how to best present their food so that they eat it. This is my first time with hatchlings and just having the fruit flies in the cage is not working because they are too slow when they are this little to catch them. Should I get a little dish? Are their fruit flies that don't fly or something that will crawl that they can eat? I ordered pinhead crickets but even those were too big for these tiny guys.

 

[MissSkittles]

I did lower the temp to around 72 at the bottom and 80 at the basking ledge at the top. I just don't know how to best present their food so that they eat it. This is my first time with hatchlings and just having the fruit flies in the cage is not working because they are too slow when they are this little to catch them. Should I get a little dish? Are their fruit flies that don't fly or something that will crawl that they can eat? I ordered pinhead crickets but even those were too big for these tiny guys.

I believe you could try putting a small piece of banana in the enclosure to attract the fruit flies to one area. That may make it easier for your little ones to find their food.

 

[MissSkittles]

While I’ve never had baby chams, I think they may do better in a simpler and smaller set up…a baby bin. @jannb can you post some pics of your baby bins please?

 

[jannb]

While I’ve never had baby chams, I think they may do better in a simpler and smaller set up…a baby bin. @jannb can you post some pics of your baby bins please?

I would use baby bins for a baby that young. You can see my bins in the link below.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/baby-enclosures.182279/#post-1661743