Tough Love to Get Cham to Eat Dubias From Cup

[natureboy86]

Not sure if this method will work, but I recently purchased about 75 dubia roaches and 75 Phoenix Worms from online to switch up my 4 month old veilds' diet. He previously only ate crickets, and loves them.

Over the weekend, I introduced him to the Phoenix worms, he LOVED them. Ate about 12 from the cup non-stop! Now, onto the dubias..

I put the dubias in the cup, and nothing. He just stares at them. I put them on the screen (like I do with the crickets), and he ate a few.. But the thing I didn't like was they are much more quick and elusive than crickets. He was having trouble catching them, or they would just stay still until he became uninterested.

So, since yesterday, I left about 7 dubias in the cup under one of his perches. He's checked them out a few times, but hasn't eaten any of them. this morning, i didn't add any new food to his enclosure. I want him to eat his dam dubias!

Basically I'm giving him no other choice but to swoop down on the dubias in the cup. He's being quite stubborn, and has chomped a good portion of his money tree.. Should I continue to make the dubias in the cup his only choice until he gives in?? I'm afraid he'll go hungy, as I've never kept him from eating this long (it's been almost a whole day). What do you guys think?

 

[AngieL]

My female veiled hates dubs and won't eat them with any delivery method. She just stares at then til they run away under a plant pot

Be careful trying this with such a young Cham. At that age he really needs his food and lots of it because he's still growing. He also needs his calcium which he won't get if he's not eating

 

[natureboy86]

My female veiled hates dubs and won't eat them with any delivery method. She just stares at then til they run away under a plant pot

Be careful trying this with such a young Cham. At that age he really needs his food and lots of it because he's still growing. He also needs his calcium which he won't get if he's not eating

Thanks for the advice.. That's what I was afraid of, because as of late, he's growing like crazy and his appetite has been enormous.. With that being said, I thought that would benefit with this method, and that he would choose his appetite over his stubborness and give in..

I'm at work now.. So i guess when I get home from work, if he STILL hasn't eaten any if not all of them from the cup, then I'll have to fold and go buy him some crickets.

 

[nightanole]

If he doesnt recognize them as food, you can starve him as much as you want, hes not going to get those "rocks" you put in his food dish.

You might have to get creative. Ive had the best luck feeding one at a time so they dont bunch together and stop moving. Ive had the best luck by putting cold ones on the screen, or flipping them upside down.

 

[natureboy86]

If he doesnt recognize them as food, you can starve him as much as you want, hes not going to get those "rocks" you put in his food dish.

You might have to get creative. Ive had the best luck feeding one at a time so they dont bunch together and stop moving. Ive had the best luck by putting cold ones on the screen, or flipping them upside down.

Yea, I've tried shaking the cup to stir them up and get a couple flipping upside down, and nothing.. When I put them on the screen, which is his preferred method of eating crickets usually, he ate a few, but the others just ran to the bottom of the cage where my guy won't go to hunt.. That's what I didn't like.

If he doesn't eat them today, I guess I'll be selling about 70 dubias if anybody's interested

 

[nightanole]

Yea, I've tried shaking the cup to stir them up and get a couple flipping upside down, and nothing.. When I put them on the screen, which is his preferred method of eating crickets usually, he ate a few, but the others just ran to the bottom of the cage where my guy won't go to hunt.. That's what I didn't like.

If he doesn't eat them today, I guess I'll be selling about 70 dubias if anybody's interested

Or just grow them to adults and feed it to him 1 at a time. My boy is not big enough to eat males with wings. its much easier to feed him 3 males a day by hand than 2-3 dozen crickets.

 

[natureboy86]

Or just grow them to adults and feed it to him 1 at a time. My boy is not big enough to eat males with wings. its much easier to feed him 3 males a day by hand than 2-3 dozen crickets.

I guess that's something I could try so they don't go to waste.. I guess crickets will remain my staple feeder.. Unless I can find a source that sells small grasshoppers or something, that would be an interesting feeder. Right now, I'd have to say my cham's favorite is phoenix worms, with crickets being a close 2nd..

 

[DavidBuchan]

My boy just doesn't like dubias, he won't give me any reason........ He tried a few, and I keep offering them. He'll very occasionally take one - this week a newly molted one got his attention. Lucky for me I have a greedy female and a hungry monitor lizard too so nothing goes to waste

 

[Nrupaw]

My Jacksons' Chameleon isn't a big fan of Dubias either. I think its mainly because they don't move around as much as crickets. He'll eat them, but he'll take his time.

Which actually is a good thing because I put Dubias in his feeder box if I am out of the house for 3-4 days. That way, they are in there for a day or 2 and eventually when my Cham gets really hungry he'll eat them. That gives me piece of mind when I am out of town that he isn't hungry.

If I am away for more than 3-4 days, I have a friend come in to feed him.

 

[natureboy86]

So, good news and bad news:

BAD NEWS: When I got home, Koopa hadn't eaten ANY of the dubias out of the cup.. He just refuses to get the easy meal

GOOD NEWS: I removed the cup, then placed the dubias, one by one, on the screen and he ate each and every one of them. So, he likes dubias, but refuses to eat them out of a cup

 

[A1forall]

Pinch a back leg or two off the roaches and let them run across the enclosures walls or upside down on the roof. It slows them down enough for the chams to hunt them. The cup method never worked on our males only some times for the females. Just some food for thought. Hope this helps.

 

[natureboy86]

Pinch a back leg or two off the roaches and let them run across the enclosures walls or upside down on the roof. It slows them down enough for the chams to hunt them. The cup method never worked on our males only some times for the females. Just some food for thought. Hope this helps.

Yea, I think I'll go with the method that worked yesterday evening. Just placing one dubia at a time on the screen, that way I can monitor how many are in the cage, and he can hunt one at a time. I basically placed one on the screen near his basking spot, he ate it, then I placed another. I repeated this process until he ate about 8 of them.

With crickets, I can just throw 8-10 on the screen, and he'll get about 90% of them, and I don't mind the rest roaming around the cage.. But with roaches, I'm not so comfortable with letting them roam