Jacksons Chameleon Still Not Eating...
- Thread starter h22turbo
- Start date
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
HOLY #!$@ my little guy ate 2 superworms for me today!
He let 3 small dubia walk right past his nose. he wouldn't touch them
So glad he ate something! now he has ate 1 dubia and 4-5 superworms in the past month. ugh... still not good...
A couple of thoughts for you....remember he is most likely a wildcaught import so our commercially available feeder insects are not on his "safe foods" list yet. He may not have eaten much of anything since he was shipped into the US. The problem is getting him to try something new. Jax really love flying insects so do whatever you can to offer them...cultivated houseflies, blue bottle flies, dull colored night moths. Most chams are willing to try eating green feeders which is one reason hornworms can help. You would have to order eggs or young ones due to size, and raise them on the commercial chow, not on tomato plants. The foliage of tomato plants is toxic but the fruit is OK. don't offer too many feeders at once (all the motion can sort of mesmerize them and make it harder to isolate one to shoot at) and choose smaller sized rather than larger ones. I think we forget that chams probably eat many smaller insects that cross their path rather than a few big ones.
As for offering the food in the cage, try using a larger plastic box like a Critter Keeper wedged in the foliage so he doesn't have to expose himself to view while deciding to hunt. The feeders will move around and attract his attention, he can climb down and position himself to watch and hunt more naturally, and he's less likely to hit his tongue on the container sides. This can worry many chams who are not used to cups. There are also DIY feeder containers that allow the bugs to climb up a piece of mesh and this can encourage feeding. I don't have a pic of one, but a forum search should bring up the threads about them.
Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
I agree it's very important to order insects online, because there are a huge variety he will eat thay are available there. In fact I am not sure why you seem so against it? Also there are some roaches whose adults are naturally green and they are small enough to feed off to him, you want the normal sized green banana roaches if you look into that.
He's right. Cultivating them is the best way to go. I got anxious and caught some flies. Since then, i've cultivated them
