Mealworm Addiction!!!

[dcooley08]

So i went on a camping trip this weekend and left my chams care in my girlfriends hands. Well when i came home she said that he wouldnt eat the dubia, the crickets, or the silkies. She was scared that he was hungry so she offered him a mealworm and he took it. so she gave him around 5 mealworms (so she says, probly more).

so after spending hours with him trying to get him to eat something els he only had one silkworm then wouldn't touch another. I offered him one mealworm and he ran to it and gobbled it up.

I think its time for an intervention.

Any ideas on how to break his addiction.

I do NOT starve my cham to get him to eat other things. Theres gotta be another way!!

 

[ibdragons]

Easy I had that problem don't starve him ,don't feed him for a few days he won't starve ,trust me he will go back to the other feeders . In the wild sometimes they won't find food for a few days or so .

 

[cricketkilla]

I agree with the above. My Cham is in superworm rehab right now. He's a little crackhead haha

 

[winterbones]

Mines got the same addiction, Simply don't feed them to him. He WILL eat other foods once he's hungry, you are not doing him any harm honestly don't worry. When I first got my chameleon he didn't eat for just over a week, my vet said this was perfectly fine and he was not suffering or anything. They are fussy and stubborn, you just need to be as stubborn as he is and hold out till he eats the nutritional stuff. Think of it this way, constantly feeding him the mealworms will do more harm to his health than holding out till he eats good food will, take my word for it! Try putting a mint plant in his cage. Chameleons are naturally curious so he'll go straight to it and test it out. Not all chams like vegetation, but mint is good for him and like I said, as it's something new and interesting he'll go for it. This should help take him away from his mealworm addiction and back onto normal food

 

[dcooley08]

ok so i guess i just need to hold out. i did get him to eat a couple crickets earlier so thats good. but he needs to start on his butterworms again!!

thanks for the input all!!

 

[pssh]

How old is the animal? A healthy adult can go for a month without food, but if it's younger it obviously cannot go for that long without causing problems.

 

[dcooley08]

How old is the animal? A healthy adult can go for a month without food, but if it's younger it obviously cannot go for that long without causing problems.

hes only 3 months.

 

[pssh]

Oh. Well he's too young to go more than a day or two without food (in my opinion.)