Okay, so our darling veiled Thomas has been on a food strike for a month. We've been able to seduce him into eating at least a few crickets and other insects by holding out carrots, cucumber, and courgette, but I can tell you it has been one of the worst months of my life.
I looked at all possible diseases, meticulously kept a record of his bodily and mood changes, and I felt so sad that I hadn't even seen him catch a bug, or simply seen his tongue in so long.
My partner just came home and he noticed a few moths sitting in the wax worm container (which I had planned on throwing out a week before, but totally forgot). Just for kicks, I decided to put them with Thomas, secretly hoping he would be interested, although I was sure I'd be hand feeding him things straight into the mouth for the rest of my life. (I was sure a bastard like that would outlive me).
At first, I held the container in the cage while zipping it up as far as my arm would let me. He slowly walked towards the container, and had both eyes focused on the moths. Then all of a sudden, he shot, but missed. The moth flew into his cage. After ten minutes and another missed shot, the other moth flew in there, too.
I was sure he was going to eat them, so I continued to sit with him as the moths flew towards the light where Thomas would be there to catch them. He shot, and BANG, ate a moth.
You guys, I'm crying here. It was so awesome to see him eat in a natural way again! We had tried all possible feeders except for moths. I'm calling my reptile specialist tomorrow to ask how we can help Thomas advance in his diet.
Do you guys have any tips? Did your chameleons go on food strike right before they entered adulthood?
Have a nice day! I know I'm having one
P.S.: thank you to CF and all its great users for keeping me sane during this time, comforting me by sharing stories. You're great!
I looked at all possible diseases, meticulously kept a record of his bodily and mood changes, and I felt so sad that I hadn't even seen him catch a bug, or simply seen his tongue in so long.
My partner just came home and he noticed a few moths sitting in the wax worm container (which I had planned on throwing out a week before, but totally forgot). Just for kicks, I decided to put them with Thomas, secretly hoping he would be interested, although I was sure I'd be hand feeding him things straight into the mouth for the rest of my life. (I was sure a bastard like that would outlive me).
At first, I held the container in the cage while zipping it up as far as my arm would let me. He slowly walked towards the container, and had both eyes focused on the moths. Then all of a sudden, he shot, but missed. The moth flew into his cage. After ten minutes and another missed shot, the other moth flew in there, too.
I was sure he was going to eat them, so I continued to sit with him as the moths flew towards the light where Thomas would be there to catch them. He shot, and BANG, ate a moth.
You guys, I'm crying here. It was so awesome to see him eat in a natural way again! We had tried all possible feeders except for moths. I'm calling my reptile specialist tomorrow to ask how we can help Thomas advance in his diet.
Do you guys have any tips? Did your chameleons go on food strike right before they entered adulthood?
Have a nice day! I know I'm having one
P.S.: thank you to CF and all its great users for keeping me sane during this time, comforting me by sharing stories. You're great!
