stubborn chameleon.

[ange loves chams]

My newest w/c cham is a bit under weight. He is very healthy over all, a good grip, but a little on the skinny side. He is an avid cricket eater he loves his crickets but they aren't really a fatty insect and they aren't helping him put on any weight.

I have been trying to get him to eat fattier foods such as supers, waxes, horn worms and other various types of worms, but he just won't budge! He has no interest in worms at all what so ever! It's really frustrating. He ate onee small horn worm ONCE about 3 weeks ago and thats it nothing since. I bought a bunch of feeder worms in bulk to try and get him to start eating worms and i've run out of ideas. How can i offer them to him or have any of you run into this problem and had success with a certain technique getting them to eat worms and other feeders?

Since he is w/c i free range them in his cage put them on the screen and branches and stuff and they'll sit there for days if i dont take them out and i end up having to feed them to my veiled.

 

[Ace]

Try not giving him food for a few days. And see what happens. I k ow you said he is a little thin but once they are hungry enough they will have to eat way you are offering. You can really force them to eat. Try also hand feeding with crickets and later the worms. It took my Cham a week before he started to eat silkworms and then loved them. Good luck!!!

 

[ange loves chams]

The hard thing about all this is my cham is a nut ball. I try to open the cage and let him see the worm moving when i hold it and offer it to him, it is impossible to hand feed him anything at all because as soon as i enter my room, let alone open my cage he bolts for the door as fast as he can. If he sees me opening his cage in a matter of seconds he is waiting at the screen and as soon as theirs an opening he squeezes his way out and climbs up my hand all over me.

He wont eeven give me a chance to put the food in their or try to intice him with it. He wont even take a peak at it. He is an oddly social chameleon who's highlight of each day is climbing out of his cage onto me at every given chance aka feeding and misting. I knwo alot of people want their chams to be social but it really has it's downsides lol

 

[ange loves chams]

I was thinking about doing that and i actually did. i didnt feed him for about a day and a half and then put nothing but crickets in his cage and still nothing!

 

[Elizadolots]

Have you tried feeding him while he's "on you" so to speak?

 

[ange loves chams]

yes i've tried that too and he has no interest in food while he's on me. When i hold it infront of him he doesn't budge. He looks at it for a min then looses interest and adventures off somewhere. And if i put the worm on me like my arm or my leg as he's walking on me, he literally will just walk ontop of it lol. I'm so frustrated, and i don;t know if its safe to try the not feeding him idea, like to not feed him for a few days and then offer him the worms, because he's already on the thin side and he is currently on baytrill for a minor bacterial bump on him so idk if it would be safe to deprive him of food and only have his medicine in his stomach

 

[Trace]

The hard thing about all this is my cham is a nut ball. I try to open the cage and let him see the worm moving when i hold it and offer it to him, it is impossible to hand feed him anything at all because as soon as i enter my room, let alone open my cage he bolts for the door as fast as he can. If he sees me opening his cage in a matter of seconds he is waiting at the screen and as soon as theirs an opening he squeezes his way out and climbs up my hand all over me.

He wont eeven give me a chance to put the food in their or try to intice him with it. He wont even take a peak at it. He is an oddly social chameleon who's highlight of each day is climbing out of his cage onto me at every given chance aka feeding and misting. I knwo alot of people want their chams to be social but it really has it's downsides lol

This is a wild caught animal and not used to be in a cage in captivity. It sounds to me that he's trying to escape not be social. Don't make that mistake. Also instead of trying to fatten him up with unhealthy feeders, why not figure out why he isn't gaining weight. A vet check would be the prudent choice or at least a fecal to determine if he has internal parasites as those will contribute to his stature.

 

[ange loves chams]

Like i just said before i DID take him to the vet lol? He has a minor bacterial infection and is on baytrill, he had a fecal done and no parasites. And the vet said the same thing that he over all is extremely healthy, strong but he a little underweight. I don't neglect my animals i have already taken the necessary precautions. And every chameleon is completly differnt my boyfriend got the same species as i did around the same time and his is wildcaught too and their an extremly shy and anti social species that are known to hide a lot. His will not let him handle him without a fight, and is constantly hiding. His also attempts to bite him and has nipped him afew times. While my guy on the other hand is always hanging in the open, loves to come out and adventure around on his plant, when ever he is crawling on me is the most brightest and vivid colours, and never once has opened his mouth at me let alone attempted to bite me.

 

[ange loves chams]

Since he was wild caught he was pretty skinny and dehydrated when i 1st got him, and with in a few days his sunken eyes were gone he drinks multiple times a day every day because he is a montaine species, and he has put on a bit of weight since i got him forsure. But not as much as i would like him to have, and same witht he doctor, she said the only thing i want you to do is put some weight on him and come back for a check up in 2 months. So thats what im trying to do, but i need advice on how to. And the vet specifficaly told me to start feeding him some fatty feeders to help him gain weight, it's not un healthy at all

 

[Ace]

Hey... At least you are trying your best. And I think you should post a picture of your wc Cham. Let the forum see if he how he is doing and for now just go with the crickets and Gutload them to the EXTREME!!! this is another way to help your Cham gain some wait. Feed the crickets slot of fruits and vegetables before offering them to your Cham. Just hang in there I know you succeed in feeding him.

 

[AReptile]

How many crickets are you feeding this cham daily?

 

[Cainschams]

This is a wild caught animal and not used to be in a cage in captivity. It sounds to me that he's trying to escape not be social. Don't make that mistake.

Agreed. Bright vivid colors can mean quite a few things one of them being stress. I would also not feed your other chams something that has been in his cage for any period of time.

Fill out the "how to ask for help" form. There could be something that needs tweaked in his setup. Also for WCs I would recommend larger caging with tons of plants for him to feel secure. Ad pictures of him and the setup in the help form along with detailed information on what you gutload with.

 

[ange loves chams]

Thanks ace. Yes my crickets are gut loaded the the max. I give them a premade guload of apples oranges carrots dandi lion leaves sweet potatoes bluberries and bee pollen. They are also eating a high cal diet cricket water as well as a dry food diet of flukers high cal oats and bee pollen.

I will post some pics withtin the next day or so of him. His bumps from his bacterial infection are healing quite nicely i do say so myself. They look as if they should be all better within the next few days or so and he only has one more week of his baytrill to go before he's done.

As for the worms, yes if i find them still in his cage i change them daily i do not offer him old "non gutloaded" loaded feeders. I know that if you dont feed the cham for a day or two they will be hungry and eat what you feed them but i dont know if it's safe or not to be doing that when he is underweight and on medicine right now? Another hard thing is that the fisher's species is not a big eater like ur regular veileds or panthers. They wont eat how ever many crickets or feeders you offer them. They only eat as much as they know to ration on, especially since he's w/c too. I put 8 or so crickets a day in for him and he usualy will end up eating between 5-7.

 

[Elizadolots]

I would definitely feed him while he's on medication. Did I miss a description of poop? As long as poop looks pretty good, I don't think I'd over stress about the feeding. It could even be that the meds make him feel less like eating.

 

[carol5208]

Can't bright colors mean that they are happy too? My chameleon turns really pretty when I take him outside in the sun and he is loose in his hibiscus tree. No stress there. I don't understand why everyone thinks there cannot be a friendly chameleon. I am sitting on the computer typing this and as I speak my chameleon(whose cage is right next to me) is not hiding, but as close to me as possible hanging out with his head peaking out around the corner and has made several attempts to come on me. I have the door open and he is free to do what he wants. Not trying to escape. Sorry but I belive in social chameleons. Just my opinon on what I experience.