Hunger Strike/Excessive Plant Consumption

[Chadbot]

Hi Guys,

Tesla seems to be on a hunger strike. He refuses to eat his crickets, but happily munches red peppers, leafy greens, and anything else plantlike I put in front of him. Is it abnormal for veilds to eat only veggies? I notice he has been eating tons of his pothos plant and I'm worried he's going to get sick from that. I have tried variety of feeders, but unless it's hornworms (which I can't afford too many of, but he seems to love) he just seems to prefer the vegetation! Do I have a vegetarian cham?

I feed, water, supplement, and keep temps on the generally recommended forum schedules.

- Chad

 

[ataraxia]

He is not getting enough water.

Not enough water affects appetite and eating plant material is another sign.

I dont know what your misting schedule is but i highly recommend 2-5 minute sessions 3-4 times a day. This does require drainage of some sort in the cage.

Another good thing to add would be a dripper. Dont substitute with a dripper and think this is all he will need though.

Edit: Atm good way to get him hydrated would be a shower chamber if he will tolerate it. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ataraxia/594-shower-chamber-treatment.html

 

[Chadbot]

Thanks Ataraxia,

I have a hard time believing he is dehydrated. He currently gets misted 7 times a day using a mistking and has a dripper 24/7 so he has constant access to water. His morning mist is 10 minutes long, with 2 more short 2 minute bursts between then and lunch (only on half his cage, but there are 2 nozzles). He gets a 5 minute lunch mist, and 2 more short bursts in the afternoon, with another 5 minute shower about 1.5 hours before lights out. I see him drink, but not regularly (though I'm not watching him while I'm at work). His humidity is 55% in the median.

Is there anything else that could be causing this? When he stopped eating out of his feeder, I started hand feeding and free-ranging the crickets. But I always find those ones dead. No shortage of bites out of the veggies though.

 

[Elizadolots]

If it were my chameleon, I would hold off all food for 3 days (yes, he'll eat the pothos...nothing you can really do about that) and then try crickets. I think he's trying to get you to give him the hornworms he loves.

 

[ataraxia]

Definitely not from the lack of water..You surprised me with that. The two symptoms you are describing lead to a lack of water but not the case here.
What type of feeders are you using? How often? How many? gut load? supplements? Whats his age?

Edit: You did say "Seems to be on a hunger strike". Please explain..how many days since he has eaten? How much did he eat that day?

 

[Chadbot]

Eliza: He's not getting any horns this week period. The shipments at the stores I buy from are not in. Normally he gets crickets. I usually put 15 in his feeder, if he eats them all, I put about 5 more. I tried withholding today, tomorrow I will see if he's interested and then try 2 days.

Ataraxia: The reason I said he "seems" to be on strike, is that he eats lots of veggies, but doesn't touch the live feeders, and even if he does he only eats 3 or 4. I'm dusting with Zoo Med reptical with no D3 daily, Reptivite calcium with D3 twice monthly. He also gets reptivite twice monthly. I gutload with a homemade dry mix I got from Sandrachameleon's blog, and I give them kale, collards, oranges, apples, carrots and peppers daily depending on what is in the fridge. The last time he ate crickets was 4 days ago, and he only ate 4 crickets then. He usually eats up to 20. However, he has eaten lots of pothos, some kale, and a few red pepper slices too.

I have a hand mister too, and spray directly around him with hot water every other day because I'm paranoid about him getting dehydrated. I even give him shower-treatment once a month for about half an hour, while I'm doing his cage's ultra-clean, but I think the water hitting the plant scares him too much. I am very confused at this behavior. I will book a tentative appointment at his vet this week. If it doesn't improve, I will take him in.

 

[ataraxia]

how old is he?

What type of feeders are you offering?

 

[Chadbot]

He hatched in October, so 6 months give or take a week.

I keep Crickets and superworms on hand all the time since they're the easiest to get. He gets crickets 5 days per week, and a superworm every other day to every 3rd day. I try to feed him the freshly molted ones when I find them. I also buy silks and horns weekly, and he gets a day of each of those as well. The store I buy from feeds the worms good chow, so I feed them off first while I wait two days for the crickets to eat up some veggies and get rid of their potato diet.

I have also offered waxworms and butterworms since he started this behavior just to see if he was interested in something new, but he rarely goes for these at the best of times, not enough wiggle I would guess. I tried last night to find hornworms or silkworms, but I went to 4 different stores and they all said their shipments were delayed this week. I might switch to online ordering.

Could it be a parasite that's causing this? I'm also going to swap his UVB in the next 2 weeks. It's only 4 months old, and it's a reptisun 5.0, but maybe it's defective?

 

[pssh]

He could just not be hungry. I would do what Eliza said (as long as he seems otherwise healthy) and stop ALL feeding for a few days. When you re-introduce the food he will probably start to eat again.

 

[Chadbot]

Good news!

Today, he ate about 15 crickets (his usual). However, he hasn't slowed down on his pothos or veggies. If I see many more chomps on the plant, I'm going to take it out.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Elizadolots]

YAY!

You know, it isn't really a problem for them to eat plants. Some think it means they need more moisture, so you could try upping that. I always think they know what they need, so I would keep providing him veggies as well as crickets and other feeders.