My Cham wont eat roaches

[JaclynCali]

I have tried everything from cup feeding, tong feeding, releasing them in his cage, and hand feeding but he shows no interest at all. Does anyone have any advice on how to entice my veiled to eat the 100 roaches I bought for him? Lol

 

[Jay1501]

It may just take some time how long have you been trying for? What roaches are they?

 

[JaclynCali]

It may just take some time how long have you been trying for? What roaches are they?

I've only been trying for a few days.. They are medium dubia roaches..

 

[Kate]

Try turning them on their backs, they wriggle more that way

 

[spawn]

Starve one of the dubia for a couple days then put it in a shallow bowl/cup with a piece of banana to chew on. This will ensure the roach moves around and hopefully catches the cham's attention. The big problem I run into with fat, content roaches is they don't move around at all because they're full. I have this problem with my discoids, dubia, and lobsters. The only upside is the lobsters are easier to catch when they're recently fed, as they are notoriously quick and climb too.

This is just to acclimate him to the roach. Your presence could also be causing him to be on-guard, and the cup ensures the roach doesn't get away and hide or burtow into substrate. Once he warms up to the roach, you can try using gut-loaded ones.

 

[Psychobunny]

Are you using the small nymphs?
You said medium roaches, are they adult?

My guys wont eat the adults, too big and crunchy!!

I only use the nymphs. You can mix them with cricks, dust them, and cup feed them??
Worth a try!!

I normally cup or hand feed roaches because if they get loose in the cage, they will find their way out!! They also hide under stuff and can stay there,
without moving, for weeks!!

Dubia are Noogie's favorite food (and bb flies )

 

[Takani1]

Hello, I had the same problem with my female veiled cham. She didn't eat or even look at her roaches for around two wks... Then she took one from my hand and then another wk she wouldn't take them and then she ate 3 out of her meal worm dish, after the 3 wks she figured out she likes them and will eat them everytime, on the other hand, my male baby veiled always ate them without hessitating... I think if you give a little more time and keep offering and figure out how YOUR chameleon likes to eat(hand,cup,mealwormdish), they will realize it's food and eat it, I also feed in the morning usually but when I offered the roaches I waited till the afternoon so she was hungry enough to at least try one

 

[pssh]

Also try using roaches that have just molted and are white/grey in color. I can almost always get my chameleons to eat a white/grey roach. If he is still unsure, also flip the grey roach on its back to get those legs kicking. Also, if he hand feeds, try using something that you know he will eat, and, if you can, quickly switch the bug he was shooting at with the roach so he ends up grabing the roach instead/too. Sometimes they wont start eating them until they have tried a few.

 

[poppototamus]

these are all great suggestions, and i tried all of them when i bought dubias for my male veiled, but with no luck. my understanding now is that some chameleons just refuse dubias and there's not much the unlucky owners of these picky individuals can do about it. i ended up giving my roaches away to a friend with medium to large fish, he said they went crazy over them.

 

[dom1959]

my jackson eats dubia like they are skittles,
but my veiled he is not so interested in them.

just like us, i like ice cream, my buddy mike, not so much...

 

[JaclynCali]

Those are all great suggestions, thanks for all the advice! I've tried everything and nothing has worked. He is really weird about eating crickets too. He used to inhale them when he was a baby but now only eats 1-2 a day. He's obsessed with worms so I try and just use them as treats a few times a wk. If anyone is close to San Luis Obispo, I have 100 small-medium Dubai roaches up for grabs.

 

[OldChamKeeper]

I've had Chams that go ape shit over roaches and another of the same species turn their noses up at them. Chams are like people in that we all don't always like the same foods. Your best bet... seriously....is not to feed him for 24 hrs THEN bring him the roach.

 

[JaclynCali]

I've had Chams that go ape shit over roaches and another of the same species turn their noses up at them. Chams are like people in that we all don't always like the same foods. Your best bet... seriously....is not to feed him for 24 hrs THEN bring him the roach.

I tried that too and he still wanted nothing to do with it. I know all Chams are different and like different things but I was hoping he would go for the roaches because he's not even really that interested in crickets. I'm sure if he had it his way he'd live on mealworms and veggies

 

[stalincat]

I have a special spot in the cage where i put a bowl with tasty snacks for Rupert. Some days I'd put a few roaches in. he comes down to see what's in it.. and on occasion eats them. My male yemen, however, won't even look at them

 

[JaclynCali]

I have a special spot in the cage where i put a bowl with tasty snacks for Rupert. Some days I'd put a few roaches in. he comes down to see what's in it.. and on occasion eats them. My male yemen, however, won't even look at them

I put a mealworm, silkworm, some kale, and one small roach in his cup yesterday.. I came back 20 mins later and everything was gone except the roach lol. What do you feed your Yemen as a staple diet?

 

[Andee]

I live in san luis obispo if you are still interested in giving them up ^^ how much? And don't worry that he's slowed down eating as he's gotten older, they do that as they become adults.