Need help introducing "cup feeding"

[Ferrah88]

I just got my new little Elliot's chameleon on Sunday, and would like to feed him with as many different foods as possible (Of course things that are not too big for him) and he has been eating/hunting down flies and large fruit flies until today. Today, when I got to the pet store (Marimo already finished off his flies! He's a hungry little guy) and they didn't have any flies, only mealworms, which I've heard aren't very nutritious, grasshoppers, VERY large worms (Including the very fatty waxworms, which were also about 2-3x the size of his head) and the typical crickets. I got him the small ones (Not micro, as he can easily manage the small ones) and so far so good! He's been eating them, already scarfed down 3 of them while I was watching, might have been more by now though.

Now the problem is, I heard that crickets will probably munch on little Marimo while he's sleeping and I obviously don't want that... so I did buy a couple of cups and some things to hang them with and hug them in the terrarium. I dusted a couple of the crickets with a tiny bit of calcium and put them in the cup. Marimo did look in the cup a couple of times, but was completely uninterested. He starts moving very VERY slowly away from the cup and goes after a fruit fly on the other side of the terrarium while looking sceptically at the cup every now and then.... Is there any way to properly introduce a young chameleon to this type of feeding? Also, I have no idea how to properly set up a cup.. perhaps I've done it wrong! Any help would be appreciated so I can properly feed the crickets, and no harm will come to Marimo!

 

[pssh]

Use a shoe box sized tub that is opaque and not a bright color. They dont always recognise the food in the cup (in my experience it is because there is less room for the bugs to run around and its just too small of an area.) With a tub, they can still hunt the bugs but they are also contained. You can also try a milk carton/jug feeder. Search "milk carton feeder" or "sunny d death trap" and you can make one for yourself. It allows the bugs to crawl around on the screen so that they are easy to see and the chameleon can still hunt.

 

[deadhd5]

I've noticed that if I put too many bugs in a cup at once the chams seem to be confused as to which one to eat first and will sometimes just give up.

 

[Ferrah88]

The milk jug looks like a good idea, however, we don't get any milk cartons here in Germany... I might have to see about trying to get one from Canada when we go. I'll have a look at the supermarket tomorrow, and see if there's any sort of food or drink that comes in anything similar. Am I right in assuming, that the crickets should have a hard time climbing anywhere but the jug? He really enjoys hunting off the back wall, where the crickets like to hide in the holes at the moment.

I will try the tub method in my search, although I might just cut the little plastic cups I bought so that little Marimo won't be as intimidated by the hight, and can see them better There's only 5 crickets in there right now, and they're scrambling all over the place as well! I just think he's cautious.. he's still unsure of his water dripper. I can't blame him, with the size he is and his age, anything could "eat" him