Tough Love?

[jeanjacket812]

Is this the right thing to do? I got my baby panther three days ago and he is probally about a month old. He is in a baby tub and I have it set up with just a four inch potted scheffelra and a couple sticks. Anyways the bugger has not eaten a single cricket that I'm aware of since I got him. I had offered him both fruit flies and crickets free ranged with some gut load so they would congregate at the corner and he went down there looked around and went back to bask. So I dumped some flies in the plant and as they climbed up he hunted them no problem. Well I collected all the crickets and put them in a small deli cup near the base of the plant, he paid them no mind. So i continued to dump fruit flies in the plant. I redid his cup and made it a little smaller and attached it to one of the plant shoots so he basks right above it and can't miss it. I just woke him up this morning and I'm thinking I'm going to give him no flies because he's gonna have to eat some crickets the flies don't hold the dust they sit there and wipe it off before the move around. Is tough love the right thing to do? I just want to make him restless so he'll move around a little and maybe find the crix that are right under his nose.

 

[Pumpkinface]

he might be scared of them. you could wait till it gets older or try a smaller cricket size. or just starve him a day, at that age he'll be so hungry he might give in and eat the crickets.

 

[jeanjacket812]

yah I've got two week crickets so theyre pretty small and don't let him fool ya he's in an open top and I'm in the midwest and the house flies are bad this time of year and i've seen him take down 3 so far and they was really big. So he might just not be hungry... There really aren't too many flies hanging around now so I don't know exactly how much damage he's done on them.

 

[Pumpkinface]

unless someone else says otherwise, i wouldn't worry too much as long he still eats the fruitflies you dust. he'll eat crickets when he's ready. just keep feeding the crickets so you dont gotta buy new ones later

 

[ZippiesPal]

Im having the same thing...

... going on with my six month old panther. He likes mealworms, but I dont think he is eating very many (if any) crickets.

My girlfriend has given him some more mealworms, and I have asked her to stop. I gave him five just after I brought them home. Its so fun watching him eat!! She told me that she had put a couple of crickets in with the worms, and now the worms are gone, but there are still a couple of crickets.

I am gonna just have to take a 'tough love' apporoach and feed only crickets until I notice that he is eating them. I thought maybe he wasnt eating because he had only been home a short time, but he eats the heck out of those mealworms -
Not foolin' me, that boy aint nervous!!

 

[jeanjacket812]

Thats the same thing I'm sayin, I seen my guy take down probally a 3/8" house fly so I know he's not scared of a two week old cricket! I just checked on him and he was in pursuit of a fly but couldn't close the deal so hes deffinitly hungry and on the prowl I hope he decides to taste a cricket.

 

[pssh]

I would not starve him for more than a few hours at this age. Wait until he is atleast two months old before you starve him for a day. Babies need food. Try using small dubia, they look more like a large fly than a cricket does.

Zippy, I would not feed so many meal worms as they have a lot of chitin in their shells. Chameleons have a hard time digesting so much chitin and can become impacted. Use superworms if you need to vary the food (less chitin in their shells,) but remember that they are fatty and shouldn't be fed more than once or twice a week (one or two at a time.)

 

[jeanjacket812]

I hate it too and I just checked one of the fly cultures and it has a small bit of mold so I suppose I will feed all those off to him. I guess I might have to make a seperate feeding chamber.

 

[pssh]

Do not feed off any fruit flies who have been in contact with mold! Which species of fruit fly are you using?

Try using pinheads and see if he'll like those. Betterto get more smaller than less bigger

 

[jeanjacket812]

I'm using the D. Hydei Petsmart here carries them and on second inspection it wasn't mold just where the medium had been eaten away from the side of the container it looked a little fuzzy.I know alot about mold from my shroom growin days. Yah my crickets are maybe an 1/8th I tried to order some pins the other day and got a box of cadavers its too cold to be shipping around here but I just found out about tophatcrickets and they are in michigan which is close to me so I'm gonna try them. Anyways I just took out the feeding cup and just dumped the crix in the pot of the plant and they are sticking around for the time being and my lil guy caught a fruit fly that came by him hopefully he'll notice the crix. My main concern is his supplements because the fruit flies just shake it off they won't move till theyre clean and it seems like the crickets hold the dust better plus they're gutloaded. I don't even know that blue crap the flies eat is.

 

[pssh]

Feed the flies a bit of fruit before then. You might want to cover the dirt with a paper towel so that he cannot eat any of it on accident. Don't want any impactions

Good luck. I bet he is just picky and wants pinheads.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Try giving him only one very small cricket at a time. Too many at once can confuse little chameleons. And give him some privacy to eat and hunt too - they sometimes do not like to be watched.