Ruh Roh's

[DawnLove]

Heya everyone! Hope everyone had a splendid weekend!!

Sorry for another question but, my Jackon juvenile female hasn't eaten in the past two days...She's been doing so well all week with eating, and usually quite a bit..She seems slightly more strange & distant. Is this typical, maybe that she just ate everyday for the past 5 days?

I'd hate to think that something is wrong with her...

 

[Chase]

2 days isn't bad. She may be about to shed. Sometimes they stop when they are about to shed.

 

[DawnLove]

2 days isn't bad. She may be about to shed. Sometimes they stop when they are about to shed.

She just shed this past week...

 

[Chase]

Did she shed all the way?

 

[merumontanus]

jacksonii are notorious for becoming easily bored with one type of food. You may want to offer a different prey item and diversify her diet overall. Also, montane chameleons eat less and less frequently than tropical species. I feed my adults three to four times a week, unless the females are gravid and they clearly show desire for more food. People tend to overfeed chameleons in general, and obesity in reptiles is dangerous-- as it is with most organisms. A healthy appetite is best, which often means smaller quantities of food, less often.

There are many other reasons why a chameleon may stop eating, including husbandry issues, disease, dehydration, and finally, gravidity. Most chameleons stop eating altogether shortly before depositing eggs and giving birth to "live" young. Also, most adult female jacksonii are gravid as they are kept in large groups in semi-captive situations-- not to mention the fact that they are capable producing more than one clutch of offspring with one copulation.

Nevertheless, tell us more about your husbandry so you may begin to cancel out other factors and narrow down the cause.

Fabián

 

[Vince]

jacksonii are notorious for becoming easily bored with one type of food. You may want to offer a different prey item and diversify her diet overall. Also, montane chameleons eat less and less frequently than tropical species. I feed my adults three to four times a week, unless the females are gravid and they clearly show desire for more food. People tend to overfeed chameleons in general, and obesity in reptiles is dangerous-- as it is with most organisms. A healthy appetite is best, which often means smaller quantities of food, less often.

There are many other reasons why a chameleon may stop eating, including husbandry issues, disease, dehydration, and finally, gravidity. Most chameleons stop eating altogether shortly before depositing eggs and giving birth to "live" young. Also, most adult female jacksonii are gravid as they are kept in large groups in semi-captive situations-- not to mention the fact that they are capable producing more than one clutch of offspring with one copulation.

Nevertheless, tell us more about your husbandry so you may begin to cancel out other factors and narrow down the cause.

Fabián

Very good info.

It is also real easy to over supplement montane species.

 

[blackbetty]

Dawn, how are you feeding her? Im having issues with mine not wanting to cup feed but becoming scared of the cricket/dubia/horn/super when it comes near her and running form them so I have seen her eat since the day she arrived.

 

[DawnLove]

jacksonii are notorious for becoming easily bored with one type of food. You may want to offer a different prey item and diversify her diet overall. Also, montane chameleons eat less and less frequently than tropical species. I feed my adults three to four times a week, unless the females are gravid and they clearly show desire for more food. People tend to overfeed chameleons in general, and obesity in reptiles is dangerous-- as it is with most organisms. A healthy appetite is best, which often means smaller quantities of food, less often.

There are many other reasons why a chameleon may stop eating, including husbandry issues, disease, dehydration, and finally, gravidity. Most chameleons stop eating altogether shortly before depositing eggs and giving birth to "live" young. Also, most adult female jacksonii are gravid as they are kept in large groups in semi-captive situations-- not to mention the fact that they are capable producing more than one clutch of offspring with one copulation.

Nevertheless, tell us more about your husbandry so you may begin to cancel out other factors and narrow down the cause.

Fabián

Originally we were being careful not to overfeed, but I had read just to let them eat, and they generally will stop when full. I wasn't sure of her previous daily care, and was quite sure the petstore wasn't exactly maintaining adequate standards..

Sometimes I place the cricket in front of her, or I put a superworm in my hand and she will handfeed..

We have a cricket shaker, and it has a tube they crawl into...if I place the tube in, she normally will eat it directly from the tube...she seems to prefer this rather than it being somewhere in her cage.

Im pretty sure she is captive bred...

Her enclosure now is a fresh air habitat, atop of a 20 gallon aquarium.
The aquarium is below it, and she never goes into it, but I use it to help maintain humidity, her enclosure is mostly real plants, and we have a drip system, and mist quite often throughout the day. We still have been having problems keeping her humidity high though

We had already been planning on adding variety to her diet with snails, dubia worms, silkworms, and some fruit. She had about 20 small/medium crickets in 2.5 days before this, so Im hoping she's just full.

 

[Vince]

I would not worry yet. Jacksons are real picky about their food, where it is, how it is moving, and who is handing it to me?. I bet as soon as you offer her a roach or silky she will take it. Sometimes all it takes is a little more privacy.

Just curious, have you cleaned or moved anything in the cage, or handled her at all? This could make her not eat for a few days. (stress)

 

[DawnLove]

I would not worry yet. Jacksons are real picky about their food, where it is, how it is moving, and who is handing it to me?. I bet as soon as you offer her a roach or silky she will take it. Sometimes all it takes is a little more privacy.

Just curious, have you cleaned or moved anything in the cage, or handled her at all? This could make her not eat for a few days. (stress)

Hmm not really. Last time we handled her was Friday afternoon I believe, she generally enjoys being handled, and will come to my hand if I open the cage and crawl on..If I even walk past her cage, she will come to where the door opening is.

We took her outside Friday afternoon, she was playing in the bamboo growing in our backyard..I took my eyes off of her for one second, and she had hightailed it into another batch of bamboo, I dunno how she got over there so fast!!! Nothing like loosing a CHAMELEON in your backyard. LOL. They are terribly hard to spot, and I was on the verge of having a heart attack looking around. She did open her mouth a little when I tried to take her back inside, but no hissing, and she shut it almost Immedietely after being back on me, she crawled to my shoulder and just sat there, while I finished my guinea pigs outdoor play pen.

I haven't tried to handle her since, I wanted her to have the weekend to take it easy, since we are not home as much, it would be some good down time for her.

We will be picking up the new feeders today, if all goes as planned...::crosses fingers she will yum them down::

Thanks for the help though.... I need all the experienced knowledge I can get!

 

[Vince]

Yes they can be hard to spot!! That is so cool she will come right to you. My guy would rather stay to himself.