Our chams won't eat dubias

[cham gr]

we have tried to feed our 4-month old chams with dubias. While they recognise them as food, they won't eat them at all. Is it normal? On the contrary, they eat little crickets, but they show great appeal to mealworms!
We want to get them to eat dubias because as we know they are very nutricious.

 

[Pinoy]

I have the same problem but it started off when I fed him hornworms! He ate crickets as a staple and ate like a beast till about 7 months then I introduced him the Dubias. He loved them so much I had to quickly order another shipment of dubias, because he wouldn't eat the crickets anymore! Picky basterd! I bought a cup of hornworms at the reptile show in NY, at first he didn't want anything to do with them and walked away from it, but then I guess he got hungry and finally ate one and ever since he has been HOOKED!! He would go on hunger strikes and refuses to eat for days till he gets hungry and only eats a couple dubias. I've been getting worried but he is still fat and is very active. But I recently discovered silkworms that is a great staple and he loves those now!

 

[cham gr]

So we will have to be strict and leave them 2-3 days without any food, so as to eat dubias!
Although, they have spent 2 days in the past with only dubias in their enclosure, they didn't even touch them! We guess they weren't so hungry...
From the time we got them mealworms, they have cut down on the amount of the crickets they consume...they almost don't eat them at all.. But we can't give them only mealworms as they are not so nutricious and hard to digest!!!!
So, we shouldn't be really worried...If the animals need food, they will probably get to eat them anyway

 

[pssh]

Try offering freshly molted dubia, and flipping them onto their backs so they kick their legs. One of mine wouldn't eat them until I offered a freshly molted one. Remember that not all chameleons like/will eat them.

 

[reptoman]

try putting a stick in a feeder cup with some small dubia nymphs. they nymphs will climb up the stick and get his attention. I also put dubias on the screen top and let them crawl across over the basking spot when my male is there and he snags them every time.
Also try putting some sliced up yellow squash or apple in with the dubias a couple of hours before trying to feed.

 

[cham gr]

freshly molted dubia

sorry what do you mean exactly by molted? we don't understand the word!
Thnx for the tips!!

 

[pssh]

They just shed their skin. They are the white ones.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Are the dubia's small enough?
Have you tried putting the dubias on branches high-up so they move more? or in a feeding bowl along with some crickets? Or putting the little dubia on its back so its legs wiggle alot?

While I fully support variety in diet, I wouldnt recommend stressing a young one over food by letting it go without eating very long. They should eat daily or nearly daily when less than 10 months old.

If it wont eat the dubias, for now, just let it have the crickets and other prey. Go easy on mealworms (not a good feeder choice). Try butterworms, silkworms, even small superworms.

 

[cham gr]

Yes the dubia are small...
After they tried mealworms, they don't seem to eat the crickets...Is that because they have had enough with the mealworms, as they are hard to digest?And they're not hungry enough? Or is that because they prefer mealworms now?

 

[Pinoy]

Vince from Screameleons told me our cams are just being stubborn like a stubborn toddler that only wants junk food! As long as they are still healthy looking they will eventually get hungry again.

 

[jr andrade]

Grab hold of the wings and flutter em around or let em crawl up the screen...shud do the trick..mine wont touch dubias often

 

[pssh]

Dubia nymphs don't have wings.

 

[Bokaru]

I wouldn't eat dubais either... gross! I figure they will get used to seeing them and try them out eventually.

Yeah those meal worms are pretty fatty, have a lot of chitin due to the thick exoskeleton, which most handlers say isn't very good since it doesn't digest well, and many are oat fed which has very high phosphorous levels.

With that being said, I bet they are pretty tasty. I would just say one or two (for a small cham) a week unless they start a strike. I feed my Senegal one or two a week to keep him happy.

 

[cham gr]

All's well that ends well!!

Our chams finally ate dubias! they ate 2 yesterday and 1 today, each, directly from the tweezers!
What would be a good number of dubias they should eat per day?