New baby Panther

D

drachenmp

New Member
Hi All,

So I made the plunge and picked up my first chameleon! Its a baby panther (maybe 2-3in w/o tail). I have only had him a few days now, but I feel like he isn't eating enough for a baby. It seems very difficult to get him to notice the food, since he is so skittish and hides in bushes if I go anywhere near the cage or open the door.

I have tried different containers, etc for the crickets so they don't all just fall to the bottom of the enclosure where he will never see them. He doesn't seem to ever notice/care about a cup of crickets and only will occasionally grab one that escapes and gets up into the bushes near him. Even then, he only seems to eat like MAYBE 2-3 small crickets or 1-2 small mealworms a day and it kinda worries me.

Is this normal? Maybe because he is new and still super timid? I don't want him to get malnourished or worse. He also seems be consistently brown with the occasional dark stripes appearing, doesn't that mean he is unhappy or stressed or is that normal for a baby?

Thanks!
 
This is very typical. It will take your chameleon anywhere from 1-2 weeks to get settled. During this time, they will be very skittish, they will hide or run away when you're near the cage. Remember, they're brand new to their environment and brand new to YOU! It can be very stressful and they just need time. During this time period, do NOT try and handle him, give him his space. He may be a shy eater/drinker and will not do it in front of you until he gets more comfortable with your presence. As they do, you'll notice him eating a lot more. Patience :)
 
Thanks for the feedback! Maybe I am just having that new owner freak out going on, but I just really worried he wasn't eating enough and had a little mild panic. :p
 
Congrats on your new baby. First is like to tell you throw out those mealworms. They are one of the worst feeders. There exoskeleton is hard and can cause impaction. You could use superworms as a substitute.
Keep feeding him crickets. But just let them free range. I'd forget about cup feeding for now. Many chameleons will starve to death before they eat out of cups. You should also get house flys. Look up spiderpharms they sell the pupae. It won't cost you more than $10 with shipping. Get the $2 amount. I think it's either 50 or 100. Take out just a few and refrigerate the rest. They hatch in 3 days.
And like wowbango said give him a bit of time to settle in.
Hope this helps.
 
Well I got rid of the mealworms and got some superworms to try, and he seemed to love those. Within seconds of putting them in the enclosure, he bee-lined straight to them and started eating them all. :)
 
Yeah I'm a new owner too. I just got my first veiled about a week ago now. I think I got lucky with mine. He started eating within the first few hours. He eats around 10 crickets a day. He isn't really skittish, but he had never drank in front of me until this morning. It's weird how relaxed he is with people. Almost seems like he gets curious and wants to get closer and observe. Funny how different their personalities vary. Congrats and good luck with your new baby!!!
 
Do you feed them in any specific way? Mine still stresses me out since I feel like he still isn't eating enough. I let crickets free-roam during the day, but most just fall to the bottom pan and stay down there. My cham almost never goes to the bottom half of the enclosure, so he never sees them. Usually a few crickets climb up higher and get eaten, but not many, as I end up removing quite a few at the end of the day.

If only he would venture down and check out the bottom, he would find a smorgasbord of crickets to eat.
 
You could try cup feeding. I used one of those plastic party cups and cut it up high enough to prevent most crickets from escaping, but low enough for him to easily get to them. You can use a pair of magnets to hold it to the side of the cage. You could try dubia roaches. Mine loves them. I feed the same way, I just made a shallower cup.
 
Yea it is getting pretty frustrating for me. He will completely ignore a cup. I've tried multiple types of cups and multiple locations. He will look at them but does nothing. If I let free-roam crickets in, he will actively hunt them but only if they manage to stay in the upper part of the enclosure. Since the crickets aren't the best climbers, most just fall to the bottom and he will never go down to check out the bottom. He just does patrols around the upper part of the enclosure.

And I know he is hungry since he is actively hunting around, and will go as far as to strike at drops of water..

Its frustrating and sad at the same time since I feel there is little I can do. Since he will run/hide if i come near the cage or open it to try to use tongs or something.
 
Sounds like you are on the right track:). I think if you make it very easy for the crickets to get out of the bottom pan and climb the screens you will be in good shape. Crickets naturally migrate to the top of screen cages. Just put something's on the bottom so they can get to the screen easier. If there is anything on the bottom they can hide under remove it or do some rearranging.
 
crickets

Thats odd. The crickets I get always climb the screen to the top to get to the heat lamp. Always. I dump them in a small cup with the powder. Keeping my hand over top . I hold the mouth of the cup against the screen with one small gap. The crickets squeeze out and up. If you can clip kale or some other veggie or fruit, the crickets may nibble it. Good luck.
 
Yea the crickets do climb the cage, but for some reason he completely ignores them on the screen too. Even if they walk right past him. He only seems to eat crickets that are on a leaf/branch, etc and if not he just patrols around the cage past a bunch on the screens. :\
 
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