Reptars not eating.... Ug!

[Panthergirl11]

I have not seen my chameleon eat a cricket in days. And because of that I would offer him a few mealworms just so he eats something. But now he doesn't want to eat them. He's still very active. He's like constantly roaming around his cage now. Oh and just now I saw him eating his ficus tree. What's up with that? He's a panther!

 

[reptoman]

I have not seen my chameleon eat a cricket in days. And because of that I would offer him a few mealworms just so he eats something. But now he doesn't want to eat them. He's still very active. He's like constantly roaming around his cage now. Oh and just now I saw him eating his ficus tree. What's up with that? He's a panther!

Make sure he is getting enough opportunities to drink. He might be seeking moisture by eating the plant. You might try offering a thin slice of yellow squash or apple with a pair of tongs to see if he'll take it. A couple of my male panthers will eat veggies if offered like that and nearly all of the females do. When i say thin i mean really thin. Its worth a try. My males go through their feeding weirdness too. I usually get them to break a hunger strike with blue bottles or WC grasshoppers easily. Variety will help a lot with feeding strikes. Silks and hornworms are also great for that and are great hydrators as well.

 

[NosyBeT360]

Do you have the ability to make a small free range for him? My girl would roam her vines like crazy, as soon as I made her a free range all the exercise she started getting really increased her apetite. Does he ever rub his nose on the side of the cage? Sometimes they want to explore

 

[Panthergirl11]

I've thought about getting him another plant outside his cage to explore on. We are just limited on space in my house.

 

[NosyBeT360]

Ya, if we could we would all let our chams run free!!!

To get around the space issue what i did was run a fake vine out of my cage up to the ceiling then got a few pothos and hung them in a planter from the ceiling, it actually doesnt take up too much space, but i dont know your situation and just thought id show you what i did with mine.

 

[Elizadolots]

How old is Reptar? Do you cup feed Reptar so know he is not eating? Is Reptar pooping?

 

[Panthergirl11]

How old is Reptar? Do you cup feed Reptar so know he is not eating? Is Reptar pooping?

Reptar is 6 months old. He does poop every morning still. And yesterday his urate was a little orangeish so i upped his mistings so he could drink more. I do cup feed him and since his appetite had diminished the past couple weeks I only offer him 5-10 crickets a day. They are medium sized and shouldn't be an issue for him to eat them. I wonder if he doesn't like the calcium plus i use to dust them or if hes just tired of crickets, or worse...

 

[Panthergirl11]

Ya, if we could we would all let our chams run free!!!

To get around the space issue what i did was run a fake vine out of my cage up to the ceiling then got a few pothos and hung them in a planter from the ceiling, it actually doesnt take up too much space, but i dont know your situation and just thought id show you what i did with mine.

I really like your free range! It might be a little tricky to do that here, I was just thinking about getting him another ficus tree to sit on the side of his cage and maybe a vine going to it.

 

[del33]

I wonder if this is related to his protruding butt issue you posted a few days back. Something worth considering..

My personal experience with hydration has been a pain in the @$$. I've tried showering but my guys just freak out. Yours might be different so you might want to try that. You could also try putting a bead of water on his nose with a dropper. I found the most effective way for me personally was to spray a very very very small stream water on his mouth while it's closed. I mean very lightly where you barely pull the bottle trigger (don't douse his face and stay away from his nostris). If you do it right, it'll bead up on his lips and he'll just lap it up. Be careful when doing this though since he could aspirate it. Don't ever spray with his mouth open. Other people may frown on my way of hydrating, but it's worked for me have had no adverse effects. If you know that he'll eat an insect, you could inject a little water into them. Hornworms have worked wonders for me with hydrating.

Have you just recently switched to calcium plus? When I first switched to calcium plus, I found that my guys didn't like them and rejected food. It took a while for them to warm up to the flavor but they're okay with it now. Also, try and switch up your gutload. He may not like what's inside your crickets. Flying insects drive my guys crazy and incite a feeding frenzy all the time. You might want to try some BB flies to encourage him to eat if he's on a hunger strike.

 

[Kibu]

I have a spray bottle, and one of may chams walks over to me and opens his mouth, that is how I know he is thirsty. I spray it in his mouth and he closes it, swallows, asks for more. Sometimes he walks over and puts his mouth right up to the spray.

 

[Elizadolots]

Reptar is 6 months old. He does poop every morning still. And yesterday his urate was a little orangeish so i upped his mistings so he could drink more. I do cup feed him and since his appetite had diminished the past couple weeks I only offer him 5-10 crickets a day. They are medium sized and shouldn't be an issue for him to eat them. I wonder if he doesn't like the calcium plus i use to dust them or if hes just tired of crickets, or worse...

If he's pooping he's eating. At 6 months, it's not unusual for them to slow way down on eating. It might be time to start offering him 10 medium sized crickets every other day. At this age it's also not unusual for them to stage hunger strikes.

He could go a seemingly freakish number of days without eating and it would still fall into the "yeah, we see that happen..." category.

So, he's not starving. That's the important thing to keep in mind.

If it were my chameleon, I'd with hold food of any kind for 3 days (keep hydrating), then re-introduce the main feeder only. Absence sometimes makes the tummy grow fonder.

I do sort of wonder is both your recent issues (the reddish protrusion, the slow down in eating) are not just the result of him coming into maturity. The protrusion might well be his hemipenis. Males have been known to "flash" on occasion.

 

[Panthergirl11]

If he's pooping he's eating. At 6 months, it's not unusual for them to slow way down on eating. It might be time to start offering him 10 medium sized crickets every other day. At this age it's also not unusual for them to stage hunger strikes.

He could go a seemingly freakish number of days without eating and it would still fall into the "yeah, we see that happen..." category.

So, he's not starving. That's the important thing to keep in mind.

If it were my chameleon, I'd with hold food of any kind for 3 days (keep hydrating), then re-introduce the main feeder only. Absence sometimes makes the tummy grow fonder.

I do sort of wonder is both your recent issues (the reddish protrusion, the slow down in eating) are not just the result of him coming into maturity. The protrusion might well be his hemipenis. Males have been known to "flash" on occasion.

Great suggestions! And I think the butt thing was because he's becoming a man. I saw a sperm plug in his food dish... I think I'll take away the crickets for a few days and see if he'll eat them later. Thanks for the help.

 

[UrbanChameleon]

I've thought about getting him another plant outside his cage to explore on. We are just limited on space in my house.

I bought a Hibiscus for my Veiled. I'm going to use it in a cage for another Cham later. But today Bodhi climbed all over the outside of his cage and on the Hibiscus. He absolutely loved it! It's nice and tall and it beats being inside 4 walls all day. You could tell that he really liked how hidden he could be in it's leaves. I do worry though, because my room isn't Chameleon Proof. So try to be home when you let your Cham out. I turned off my heat lamp because I was afraid he would get too close and burn himself. Also, make sure he isn't able to climb into his drainage tubs/bucket. Bodhi could easily fall/get into mine, so I won't leave him unattended. So just make sure you would be there if something were to happen.

Just go to Lowes and get a nice tree. Open your curtains and let him enjoy himself. Chams love to explore and will most likely benefit from it. I read a post about how one guy let his Chameleon out to explore one day, and now he doesn't want to do anything but that. Which is great, but not if you can't do it. I promised myself I wouldn't let him out until he was comfortable letting me pick him up and putting him back in his cage. But what do you know.. I broke my promise. Lol. I just don't want anything bad to happen to my little guy.

Let us know what you decide and how everything goes.

 

[Elizadolots]

Panthergirl, I don't know how everyone does it, but I tend to feed a bit randomly. I'll feed 3 days in a row, but then skip 2 or feed every other day for a few days then nothing for 2 or 3 days.