He Won't EAT them... = (

PrettyInInk87

New Member
So Hugh doesn't want to eat his Dubia Roaches. They are all pretty small and easy for him to chew and swallow but he just shows no interest. I have been feeding him 5 to 6 small nymphs and a Butterworm on top of that... He has eaten the roaches accidentally while shooting at the Butterworm but other than that, shows no interest. This morning I only put Roches into his feeding cup and he ignored them... I got him to eat one roach by shaking the cup but again after that, showed no interest. Any tips or pointers to get him to eat them? I have quite a few roaches and a few Butterworms but don't want to feed him only Butters. (sigh):(
 
Maybe he's just bored of eating roaches? We wouldn't like to eat the same stuff every day. :p Try him on some crickets, silkworms or hornworms for a change, Mix it up.
 
I've never had a chameleon refuse a white freshly molted roach. Even my picky Pygmies like them when they are white. Also, flipping them onto their backs helps as they like to kick their legs a lot :)
 
Maybe he's just bored of eating roaches? We wouldn't like to eat the same stuff every day. :p Try him on some crickets, silkworms or hornworms for a change, Mix it up.

This is the first time I have given him Roaches... He has no problems eating Crickets. I have given him Hornworms, Waxworms, Butterworms, Reptiworms, and of course his staple are Crickets. He has not refused any of these at all...

I've never had a chameleon refuse a white freshly molted roach. Even my picky Pygmies like them when they are white. Also, flipping them onto their backs helps as they like to kick their legs a lot :)

I'll try the freshly molted Roaches and see if he'll eat them. I have tried flipping them on their backs, shaking the cup, putting one on my hand, and he won't budge. I'm going to keep offering them and see if he'll budge.
 
This is the first time I have given him Roaches... He has no problems eating Crickets. I have given him Hornworms, Waxworms, Butterworms, Reptiworms, and of course his staple are Crickets. He has not refused any of these at all...



I'll try the freshly molted Roaches and see if he'll eat them. I have tried flipping them on their backs, shaking the cup, putting one on my hand, and he won't budge. I'm going to keep offering them and see if he'll budge.

My cham wouldn't eat roaches when i first tried her on them, took awhile for her to get used to them for some reason. Now she loves them, keep trying.
 
Oh, I just thought of this. I have read that usually when Cham's are about to shed, they stop eating or eat very little. Hugh has already shed once with me but that was about a month ago. You think he might be getting ready to shed again? I didn't notice much the first time around but he did gape at me today pissed about me being in his cage. :cool:
 
If you give him some time he will understand that they are a new treat. Mine love them ... so much so that I completely depleted my colony of the smaller ones of which they can eat (my chams are still just little babies 4 and 3 months old) so I am now waiting for the roaches to reproduce lol ...
 
Just give him some time.

If it were my chameleon, I would stop feeding anything else for a few weeks. At first he will not eat until he is really hungry (which might take several days) but eventually he will figure out that they are food and then develop a taste for them. After that I would switch back to a normal diet.
 
I would limit his diet to crickets and occassional worms. As long as the crickets are properly gutloaded you should not have an issue with his growth and development. Every cham does not like dubias. Of my 30 plus breeders, only two or three eat dubias.
 
Good news! I guess Hugh just likes his prey to put up a fight... The reason he eats Crickets is because they moved a lot and wiggle around while in his mouth. He'll sit there and hold them in his mouth until they stop moving and then he'll swallow. What I did with the dubia is instead of putting them in his feeder cup, I placed them on the screen. He went right for the movement. :D Lol! Crazy little dude. Thank you everyone for your suggestions!
 
me too

I am having the same problem with one of my new bby chams. I thought she was stressed but besides being skinny she showed no nsigns of stress. So I isolated her from other females but that wasnt it. She has gotten skinny and the others kept growing to twice her size but iv noticed she will eat only fruit flies or freshly molted roaches. She wont touch regular lobsters or dubia and not even meal worms, but my other two bby panthers love them and they would literally eat till they exploded if I didnt limit their eating lol
I guess the only thing to do is keep trying :/
 
Good news! I guess Hugh just likes his prey to put up a fight... The reason he eats Crickets is because they moved a lot and wiggle around while in his mouth. He'll sit there and hold them in his mouth until they stop moving and then he'll swallow. What I did with the dubia is instead of putting them in his feeder cup, I placed them on the screen. He went right for the movement. :D Lol! Crazy little dude. Thank you everyone for your suggestions!

If you still want to cup feed, try putting a stick in the cup so the nymphs will climb it. My juvi panthers wont touch them too often when in the feeder cup but will snag them off of a small branch every time.
 
I think her baby is a bit young to be starving him for several weeks. Maybe one week max.

I've got the wormies, going out Monday! These ones look much more lively!
 
I am having the same problem with one of my new bby chams. I thought she was stressed but besides being skinny she showed no nsigns of stress. So I isolated her from other females but that wasnt it. She has gotten skinny and the others kept growing to twice her size but iv noticed she will eat only fruit flies or freshly molted roaches. She wont touch regular lobsters or dubia and not even meal worms, but my other two bby panthers love them and they would literally eat till they exploded if I didnt limit their eating lol
I guess the only thing to do is keep trying :/

Fecal. If it's clear then it may just be the chameleon. Occasionally there is a chameleon that just doesn't grow as fast as the others. I happen to have two. No matter how much I fed them they just didn't grow! Eventually they sporadically would grow then slow down again. They are still small at 17 and 18 months, the female being 48 grams and the male being just over 100 grams. Just keep feeding liberally. Another member saw immediate growth when she free ranged hers when they were big enough. Just make sure to rule out any other problems first. Laurie (a mod) has taken care of quite a few. Maybe you should shoot her a PM, and I'm happy to answer any questions to the best of my abilities if you PM me.
 
If you still want to cup feed, try putting a stick in the cup so the nymphs will climb it. My juvi panthers wont touch them too often when in the feeder cup but will snag them off of a small branch every time.

Yeah, I think the screen method is working very well right now. He'll watch my hand as I put the Roach on the screen and will shoot at it right away. I feed him about 5 or 6 dusted Roaches and then free range a few medium sized undusted crickets so he can get his hunting on. :) I'm just really happy he's eating the Roaches. I didn't like the starving part either so again, glad he's eating them. :D
 
[/QUOTE]I've got the wormies, going out Monday! These ones look much more lively![/QUOTE]

Awesome, I think out of the 50+ I only have about 10 or less left. :( I don't know why but they "dropped like flies". I'll be waiting for the mail! :D Thank you!
 
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