I have this feeder idea!

[Progrmor]

So, im going to start by saying that my little female veiled is NOT okey with handfeeding. I´ve tried soo many times I cant do it anymore. This whole thing is just in the purpose to build trust with her, she cups feed otherwise.

Sooo I got a new idea on how to sort of "handfeed" her. I will take a 12x12 inch bin fill it with her food and then "try" to take her out of her cage, place her in that bin and allow her to hunt in that. This is also good because im feeding her turkistan roaches wich seems to be known for escaping and causing caos. And also, she will eventually and hopefully learn that when I take her out, she gets foooood!

How does this sound?

 

[Saldarya]

My intial thought is that you will stress her out so much by taking her in and out of the cage once or twice a day that you will associate eating with the stress of removal, causing a bigger issue.

You need to consider the fact that you may simply have an animal that does not want to be warm and friendly with you. Chameleons as a whole are not that type of pet. Clearly however some people do have luck with individual animals.

Leave her alone. Let her live, and eat, the way she wants. Her health is more important than your need to hand feed her.

 

[ridgebax1]

That is how I fed Omar for the first few months before he minded being taken out. I would put his crickets in a small critter keeper, then take him out and he would walk around the top of the bin and catch his crickets. Now he won't do it at all. He gets very anxious when I take him out and never really calms down enough to feed.

One method that may work for you in taking your girl out of her enclosure is to get a fairly long branch or stick and coax her into climbing on that stick and then take her out of the cage. It may be less stressful for her.

 

[Progrmor]

My intial thought is that you will stress her out so much by taking her in and out of the cage once or twice a day that you will associate eating with the stress of removal, causing a bigger issue.

You need to consider the fact that you may simply have an animal that does not want to be warm and friendly with you. Chameleons as a whole are not that type of pet. Clearly however some people do have luck with individual animals.

Leave her alone. Let her live, and eat, the way she wants. Her health is more important than your need to hand feed her.

Okey, I see. You are right.

 

[pssh]

I wouldn't do this. However, if I am remembering correctly, she is very young. I can only get a few of my babies to hand feed, but all of them will eventually hand feed with persistence when they are older. I don't even bother when they are less than 5 months now. And some I wait until 8 or more months. It really just depends on the animal and how comfortable they are. I don't push it if they seem to absolutely hate it. I am the same way with handling/"taming."

 

[Progrmor]

I wouldn't do this. However, if I am remembering correctly, she is very young. I can only get a few of my babies to hand feed, but all of them will eventually hand feed with persistence when they are older. I don't even bother when they are less than 5 months now. And some I wait until 8 or more months. It really just depends on the animal and how comfortable they are. I don't push it if they seem to absolutely hate it. I am the same way with handling/"taming."

Okey, and yes. She HATES it. Puffs up and headbangs me and the food when we get close. So I guess I will try when she gets older!

 

[Mredhorse]

Don't be discouraged. These are creatures with natural instincts and some more natural than others. This in only my opinion: You should get her use to you before trying to hand feed. Remember, don't grab at her but coast her to climb onto you. You might need to learn how to trick her into climbing on your hand and at this point, don't look into her eyes. It might take a little time for her to calm down but once she does, try to use tweezers with bug your going to feed. (this might sound weird but it is a behavior I have noticed) Make sure she sees the insect with one eye at a time. (move it to the left side and then to the right side---8+inches away) With my Jacksons and Montium it is when the insects is seen with the right eye that triggers them to hunt. This is just what I observe. (have had chameleons for about 20 years).

Good Luck!

 

[Tyaeda]

My Mr.Pink is the friendliest boy ever, and I think a lot of had to do with hand feeding.

To keep him comfortable, I didn't take him out of the cage to feed him. Instead he learned to associate me to food when I put each cricket into the cage one by one, where he could see both them and me. I used this green pair of tweezers cause I can't stand to touch them . It didn't take long before he would come barreling out of that foliage every time he saw those things.

He's older now, so his appetite isn't as aggressive, but since I did all of this while he was young, he no longer hides from us. And if he wants out, he'll climb right onto our hands with little to no hesitation.

Thing is, there are days when he just doesn't want to come out. If I put my hand in there, and he starts walking/leaning away from it, I know I'm not welcome, and I leave him alone. I want to let him think positively about me and my husband, so we remain patient, and respect his privacy and comfort level at all times.

 

[PoshPenny]

I had feed the good stuff, wax worms, butter worms, raspberries, but she hunts her crickets. She is 6 months in a 18x18x36 and she can knock out 15 feeders in no time. But I stay and watch, I worry about her biting her tongue off or swallowing it or some other Cham act of god. I won't lie, this forum has made me very very paranoid. All the stories that end bad keep me on my toes.