Please help me feed my Chameleon

Kimflores789

New Member
hi! I just got a new pet chameleon and extensively did my research. I gut loaded my crickets and powdered them. However, he is not hunting. The crickets kind of just free roam in the cage and either he doesn't seem very interested or he can't catch them. Do you have any tips on how to get him to eat or if I should just hand feed him? I tried getting him as close to the bugs as possible but still nothing. Any help is appreciated, thank you.
 

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Hey there welcome to the forum. When did you get this baby? Can you share a picture of the entire enclosure? For crickets make sure you are feeding right around 1/4 of an inch sized. Ordering a feeder run or making your own is the best way to go about feeding them. This keeps the feeders contained and you do not have to worry about baby being bitten by them at night. https://dragonstrand.com/constructing-a-chameleon-feeder-run/
 
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My little guy took a couple days to be ready to eat. He needed to settle in first. What size crickets are you feeding? They really should not be bigger than the space between his eyes. If the feeders are too big, your cham might be a little intimidated by their size. I see @Beman already responded, so I will let her take it from here. She has way more experience than me. 😊
 
Hey there welcome to the forum. When did you get this baby? Can you share a picture of the entire enclosure? For crickets make sure you are feeding right around 1/4 of an inch sized. Ordering a feeder run or making your own is the best way to go about feeding them. This keeps the feeders contained and you do not have to worry about him being bitten by them at night. https://dragonstrand.com/constructing-a-chameleon-feeder-run/
I just got him 2 days ago. I plan on getting a bigger cage soon and adding more plants. This is all I could get right now. I looked into feeder runs and think this will be the solution to my problem. Now that you mention it, it does look like the crickets might be a little big for him. The crickets seem to be close to or about an inch big so that might also be the reason.
 

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My little guy took a couple days to be ready to eat. He needed to settle in first. What size crickets are you feeding? They really should not be bigger than the space between his eyes. If the feeders are too big, your cham might be a little intimidated by their size. I see @Beman already responded, so I will let her take it from here. She has way more experience than me. 😊
Thank you so much! I definitely think the size of the feeders are an issue. Will be sure to get him smaller crickets today. I'm very new to chameleons, so I'm trying to learn as much as possible.
 
Hi and welcome. :) Looking at your enclosure, I do see some improvements that need to be made. However, they are all pretty much the same thing…you need branches higher up. The basking area needs to be around 8-9” below the uvb light in order for your chameleon to be able to get the uvb levels needed. But…you also need to elevate your lights at least a few inches above the screen top to prevent burns. Little ones like to walk upside down along the screen top and can very easily get burned before they even feel it. Everyone has their own way to elevate their lights and hang branches, but I can tell you what has worked for me. I use the little wire baskets from Dollar Tree for my lights. It can be a bit trickier to raise the basking light because the fixture is round and it needs to be around 3+“ off the screen, but with a bit of fussing, I make it work. Wondering why you have two basking lights, or is one a plant light? That brings me to then wonder what your temperatures have been.
For attaching branches and vines, I use garden trellis attached to the enclosure frame in some enclosures and Dragon Ledges in others. https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ Neptune the chameleon had a video on how to attach branches that should help. You want to provide your chameleon with lots of little roads to travel. You also need a plant or two higher up in the enclosure. That too is a challenge to hang. Dragon Ledges hold so much weight it’s crazy! I haven‘t put my garden trellises to the test, but they do hold a couple of plants as well as branches. This is a great way to hang plants. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/hanging-flower-pots-in-photos.191946/ If you look around at all of the various posts, you’ll see how many of us have our enclosures set up and get some ideas for your own. Here’s a couple of mine. The first one was for a baby and is a ReptiBreeze medium. I made a scaffolding type support by attaching vertical branches to the frame and then attached horizontal branches to those, creating an ‘H’ shape that I used to hang more branches. One tall umbrella plant and a smaller plant were perfect. The second is a 2x2x4’ that was set up for a panther.
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What a cutie he is!!! Like @Jeevesieb said, your chameleon could just be shy. Since you JUST got him 2 days ago, he probably needs a little more time to settle in. Are you only feeding crickets? Chameleons need a balanced diet, and although crickets are a good staple feeder, it is not the only thing that they should be eating. Since you have a baby, I would recommend: Soldier Fly Larvae, Small Dubia roaches, Small Silkworms, and Small Grasshoppers. Soldier fly larvae are great because they're small and easy to maintain. When they pupate, your chammie will love to hunt the flies!! I don't feed crickets anymore because they are not as healthy, and they jump EVERYWHERE!! But I know a lot of people who will disagree with me on this. If you can get small grasshoppers, I would try those. If you don't already have a go-to website to order bugs from, I would recommend Josh's Frogs! They ship from Michigan, so be aware when you are ordering from them because my package came today and all the bugs were dead :( If you send them pictures they will refund you or send you an entire new order for free!!! Anyways, welcome to the forum, and can't wait to see all of your cute chammie pictures!!! 🦎 💕 🫶

 
Hey there welcome to the forum. When did you get this baby? Can you share a picture of the entire enclosure? For crickets make sure you are feeding right around 1/4 of an inch sized. Ordering a feeder run or making your own is the best way to go about feeding them. This keeps the feeders contained and you do not have to worry about baby being bitten by them at night. https://dragonstrand.com/constructing-a-chameleon-feeder-run/
I started off with small crickets for my baby, but then I got full-size ones for her because she would ONLY eat the big ones 🤣
I guess it just depends on the chameleon
 
What a cutie he is!!! Like @Jeevesieb said, your chameleon could just be shy. Since you JUST got him 2 days ago, he probably needs a little more time to settle in. Are you only feeding crickets? Chameleons need a balanced diet, and although crickets are a good staple feeder, it is not the only thing that they should be eating. Since you have a baby, I would recommend: Soldier Fly Larvae, Small Dubia roaches, Small Silkworms, and Small Grasshoppers. Soldier fly larvae are great because they're small and easy to maintain. When they pupate, your chammie will love to hunt the flies!! I don't feed crickets anymore because they are not as healthy, and they jump EVERYWHERE!! But I know a lot of people who will disagree with me on this. If you can get small grasshoppers, I would try those. If you don't already have a go-to website to order bugs from, I would recommend Josh's Frogs! They ship from Michigan, so be aware when you are ordering from them because my package came today and all the bugs were dead :( If you send them pictures they will refund you or send you an entire new order for free!!! Anyways, welcome to the forum, and can't wait to see all of your cute chammie pictures!!! 🦎 💕 🫶

Yes, since I just got him recently I only got crickets. I'm planning on feeding him other things as well, but I thought crickets would be a good staple feeder. I was not aware that they are not that healthy though. I will definitely be expanding his diet soon and will be posting updates.
 
Yes, since I just got him recently I only got crickets. I'm planning on feeding him other things as well, but I thought crickets would be a good staple feeder. I was not aware that they are not that healthy though. I will definitely be expanding his diet soon and will be posting updates.
It is totally understandable since you just got him the first few days I had my first chameleon I was only feeding dubias and crickets until my order of bugs came.
 
Looks like we haven’t yet given you the feeder graphics. Just as important as everything else, you need to keep your feeder bugs well fed and healthy so that they are more nutritious. The cubes and things are good only for hydration. These will help guide you. :) Also, many on line feeder vendors sell variety packs specific to types of animal and those are great for those with one or two animals. Check out the sponsors. https://www.chameleonforums.com/sponsors/?tag=food
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Yes, since I just got him recently I only got crickets. I'm planning on feeding him other things as well, but I thought crickets would be a good staple feeder. I was not aware that they are not that healthy though. I will definitely be expanding his diet soon and will be posting updates.

Crickets are a good staple feeder, and they are healthy, a lot of the keepers here use them. I think what @Raymond1412 was saying is that it’s not as healthy to feed crickets compared to other options. I do know that BSFL are one of the most nutritious ones though. Just follow the feeder and gut loading sheets that @MissSkittles provided and you will be golden.
 
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Crickets are a perfectly fine staple feeder. But size does matter with young chams. They can choke on feeders that are too large for them. Some will back off eating as well if they have a bad experience with a feeder that is much too large for them. You received the same graphics that I would have included for you.

I just got him 2 days ago. I plan on getting a bigger cage soon and adding more plants. This is all I could get right now. I looked into feeder runs and think this will be the solution to my problem. Now that you mention it, it does look like the crickets might be a little big for him. The crickets seem to be close to or about an inch big so that might also be the reason.
Which UVB lighting type did you get? Is it a T5HO or T8 and what strength is the bulb? 5.0 or 10.0

It was clever getting the bird branches... If you get corrugated plastic sheets from homedepot. You can actually run a panel on the outside of the screen and have those perches go through the sheet. This will keep them more secure not just being attached to the screen. But your distance from the UVB lighting is a concern. Just depends on which UVB type you got.
The plastic sheets will also keep your walls dry.
 
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