Oustalet's owners in winter. Please post about your experiences with food strikes from Nov to April.

[Kathy S]

Who has experienced food strikes during the (OHIO) winter with chams? How long have your otherwise healthy chams refused treats like dubias, hornworms, mealworms, isopods and crickets? Cheryl Garcia epxperienced this with Pardalis and I have experienced it with Jackson's but not without worry or intervention. I have resorted to force feeding every few days. My Oustaleti is a new species for me to be keeping and I need to know who else has seen this.

 

[jamest0o0]

I was wondering about this with Panthers. I've noticed my Panthers eat a lot or very little at different times throughout the year.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

I had an Furcifer oustalets pair go through this in the mid 1990's. The only way I broke the hunger strike was upping the temperatures and offering occasional vertebrates as feeders. If you want to read about these accounts go to Chameleons Forums Bookstore and look for the CIN, "Though for Food", Book. You should be looking for the chapter about feeding vertebrates to chameleons.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[nightanole]

Ohio here. I get about 3 feedings every 2 weeks. So i basically just go for the biggest feeder possible, which is a female dubia.

 

[Kathy S]

Thanks to each of you who have replied. this is extremely encouraging. I am doing the female dubia thing about 2 -3 times a week, and really Waldo is looking great. I elicit a gape and pop the bug in. He almost seems to cooperate. Jeremy, I wonder if your book title is Thought for Food, (like Food for Thought?) I have some trouble finding what I am looking for on this site, but now that I know it's there, maybe I can find it. Thanks for the tip. My biggest problem at this time is keeping the prey from escaping my disinterested diner. I bought a Full throttle Feeder bug run and put in a hornworm, a dubia and a few crickets. Not a flicker.
Nightanole, what species are you feeding?

As for upping the temps, my Waldo clings to the screen in his warm reptile room cage, and begs to come out to the (I think cold) dining room where he can see out the window and watch the family. There he seems content. He seems not to want to be above 70 degrees F. What gives? I have him on 12 hr lites. Should I change seasons with longer days? Maybe 14 hours or more?

 

[Kathy S]

Dear Motherlode, although I could not find the article you referenced, I went wading through my old CIN newsletters and found this:
"Seasonal variations in temperature that simulate a given species' natural environment are beneficial to their metabolism and may stimulate reproduction. A good example of this is C. parsoni; the mating of two pairs of long-term captive specimens was only achieved after exposing them to winter temperatures (in California) that ranged from 35-50 degree F at night to 50-65 F by day for three to four months. During this period, they often did not feed for six to eight weeks at a time without significant weight loss, drank sporatically, and remained stationary for long periods of time until the weather gradually warmed." This is indeed what is happening. Looks like Waldo will need a girlfriend in a few months time. He's just getting ready!

Ref. CIN, Issue 16, 1995, "Basics" part of caging series, p.9

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Dear Motherlode, although I could not find the article you referenced, I went wading through my old CIN newsletters and found this:
"Seasonal variations in temperature that simulate a given species' natural environment are beneficial to their metabolism and may stimulate reproduction. A good example of this is C. parsoni; the mating of two pairs of long-term captive specimens was only achieved after exposing them to winter temperatures (in California) that ranged from 35-50 degree F at night to 50-65 F by day for three to four months. During this period, they often did not feed for six to eight weeks at a time without significant weight loss, drank sporatically, and remained stationary for long periods of time until the weather gradually warmed." This is indeed what is happening. Looks like Waldo will need a girlfriend in a few months time. He's just getting ready!

Ref. CIN, Issue 16, 1995, "Basics" part of caging series, p.9

Thanks to each of you who have replied. this is extremely encouraging. I am doing the female dubia thing about 2 -3 times a week, and really Waldo is looking great. I elicit a gape and pop the bug in. He almost seems to cooperate. Jeremy, I wonder if your book title is Thought for Food, (like Food for Thought?) I have some trouble finding what I am looking for on this site, but now that I know it's there, maybe I can find it. Thanks for the tip. My biggest problem at this time is keeping the prey from escaping my disinterested diner. I bought a Full throttle Feeder bug run and put in a hornworm, a dubia and a few crickets. Not a flicker.
Nightanole, what species are you feeding?

As for upping the temps, my Waldo clings to the screen in his warm reptile room cage, and begs to come out to the (I think cold) dining room where he can see out the window and watch the family. There he seems content. He seems not to want to be above 70 degrees F. What gives? I have him on 12 hr lites. Should I change seasons with longer days? Maybe 14 hours or more?

The journal may be titled Though for Food. I would contact Brad to confirm if he has any copies left in the bookstore of the journal. He used to have them in his bookstore inventory.

To my knowledge unique to Furcifer oustaleti there are some locals (high platuea locals compared to northern island locals) that may experience a burmatiion period while there are other locals that do not. Good luck with the burmation period.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich