Update on Thomas (Fischer's Cham) Week #1

[VeiledOwner87]

so after a week of having the new Fischer's, the recent posts showed concered about him eating. good news, he is eating now (free range). a few questions though.

1) since he is pretty skinny near the tail, i'm trying to fatten him up a little bit. he only goes for crickets though. i've offered him hornworms, supers, wax, but he wont budge. will he get heavier by just crickets at this time?

2) what's an average feeding for theses guys? he ate about 3-4 today.

3) he's alot more skiddish now, he runs off quickly while i try picking him up to examine (fingers under chin, slowly across). he is also very active. is this a good sign of any sort?

4) he is exatcly a foot long. would any expierience keepers be able to give me an estimated age?

5) is 86 degrees F. a suitable bask spot for Fischer's? i cannot change the bulb a higher wattage without the temps exceeding what is required.

all the input the better, thanks guys.

-Phil

 

[chamlover]

1) since he is pretty skinny near the tail, i'm trying to fatten him up a little bit. he only goes for crickets though. i've offered him hornworms, supers, wax, but he wont budge. will he get heavier by just crickets at this time?
He will as long as he doesn't have a heavy load of parasites and you feed him several times a day. I'm unfamiliar with this particular species however, I'm assuming he is w/c. If he is you are certainly going to be dealing with the issue of parasites. Besides that, feed him several times a day. My w/c I generally feed up to 5 x day to put some weight on them. Have you tried roaches? Most chams will kill for a super or hornworm. hmmm. How are you feeding him? Free roaming or cup?

2) he's alot more skiddish now, he runs off quickly while i try picking him up to examine (fingers under chin, slowly across). he is also very active. is this a good sign of any sort?
If you've only had him for a week, you need to give him time to acclimate. Again, this is especially true if we're talking about a w/c. If you've already checked him out thoroughly, i would leave him alone for awhile and let him get use to his surrroundings. Remember most chams don't really like to be handled. Active is always good.

3) he is exatcly a foot long. would any expierience keepers be able to give me an estimated age?
Unfamiliar with that species so i can't give you any input on that one. Sorry.

4) is 86 degrees F. a suitable bask spot for Fischer's? i cannot change the bulb a higher wattage without the temps exceeding what is required.
Again, i'm not sure for that species, but why can't you just raise the lamp fixture if you need to raise the wattage? Good luck and i hope this helps you .

 

[VeiledOwner87]

1) since he is pretty skinny near the tail, i'm trying to fatten him up a little bit. he only goes for crickets though. i've offered him hornworms, supers, wax, but he wont budge. will he get heavier by just crickets at this time?
He will as long as he doesn't have a heavy load of parasites and you feed him several times a day. I'm unfamiliar with this particular species however, I'm assuming he is w/c. If he is you are certainly going to be dealing with the issue of parasites. Besides that, feed him several times a day. My w/c I generally feed up to 5 x day to put some weight on them. Have you tried roaches? Most chams will kill for a super or hornworm. hmmm. How are you feeding him? Free roaming or cup?

2) he's alot more skiddish now, he runs off quickly while i try picking him up to examine (fingers under chin, slowly across). he is also very active. is this a good sign of any sort?
If you've only had him for a week, you need to give him time to acclimate. Again, this is especially true if we're talking about a w/c. If you've already checked him out thoroughly, i would leave him alone for awhile and let him get use to his surrroundings. Remember most chams don't really like to be handled. Active is always good.

3) he is exatcly a foot long. would any expierience keepers be able to give me an estimated age?
Unfamiliar with that species so i can't give you any input on that one. Sorry.

4) is 86 degrees F. a suitable bask spot for Fischer's? i cannot change the bulb a higher wattage without the temps exceeding what is required.
Again, i'm not sure for that species, but why can't you just raise the lamp fixture if you need to raise the wattage? Good luck and i hope this helps you .

thank you very much. yes he obviously is w.c. but i brought a fecal in the firsy monday i had him. the results were amazingly negative. i cannot get roaches where i live, i would let the worms stay in loner. but i just dont want the frusturations of figuring out if theyre eaten or loss.
ive also stopped handling him the last 3 days. and i do not have a way of elevating the light.

 

[chamlover]

It's not unusual for 1 test to show neg. Had 1 w/c cham that had his first test come back neg and within the week he pooped out tapeworms. Yucckkkk!!! The parasites will only show up if they happen to be in the poop at the time. In order to be certain you need to have at least 3 neg tests. But if he is w/c and he wasn't treated by the previous owner, he DOES have parasites. Alot of importers will sometimes "shotgun" new imports with panacur. That could also explain the neg test. But don't rely on just that one. What i've done before is actually save 3 different poop samples, combine them and then bring them in for testing.

 

[VeiledOwner87]

my vet did recommend to see him again in about a month to see if anything had infact hatched or been formed in that time.

 

[Elizadolots]

1) since he is pretty skinny near the tail, i'm trying to fatten him up a little bit. he only goes for crickets though. i've offered him hornworms, supers, wax, but he wont budge. will he get heavier by just crickets at this time?

Can you get your hands on Phoenix worms? Petco sells them as "Calciworms"...one of my Fischer's just loves them. He'd eat as many as I could give him. The other one is not a worm guy, but he will snag a couple of the Phoenix. He ignores every other worm he's given. Neither of mine will even look at a superworm.


2) what's an average feeding for theses guys? he ate about 3-4 today.

I think that's pretty good eating. With adult crickets, I feed my big guy (who's probably around the same body size as yours) 6 or 7 ever other day. If they are smaller (as, alas, they are now) I up that to 10 to 12 every other day.

3) he's alot more skiddish now, he runs off quickly while i try picking him up to examine (fingers under chin, slowly across). he is also very active. is this a good sign of any sort?

Active is good. They can be almost nervous seeming at times, going up and down the cage but other times they'll settle into "sit like a leaf and stare" mode. I suspect the warmer it is, the less active they are. Mine both hate me. "Skittish" doesn't even begin to cover it. Remember: wild caught! You're a big beige monkey! It will take quite some time before he even realizes that you open the cage to provide food, not eat him. I'd say stop trying to check on him for awhile.

4) he is exatcly a foot long. would any expierience keepers be able to give me an estimated age?

There are different kinds of Fischer's so it's hard to say. My little one has been in my possession for 18 months. He was sold to me as "full grown" and that appears to have been accurate. I just assume the big guy is full grown.


5) is 86 degrees F. a suitable bask spot for Fischer's? i cannot change the bulb a higher wattage without the temps exceeding what is required.

Personally, I think that's a bit warm. I believe these little guys are mountain dweller and used to cooler temps (and higher humidities). I keep my basking spot about 80 degrees. I've had to turn the heat light off a few times already this summer and, it's only June! Both Chris Anderson and Brad Ramsey are good with Fischer's so you might want to double check the temperature thing with one of them.


***edited to add***

While I free range my crickets, I cup feed the worms and both of mine seem fine with "cup full of worms"....though, once a cricket gets in the cup with the worms, it's all over....nothing in the cup will be eaten. I have no explanation for that, I just report it.

 

[VeiledOwner87]

very good, thank you tons. it made me laugh too i will deffinately fix the light tomorrow and cup some worms.

 

[chamlover]

When you're dealing with a newly caught animal, i would feed him as much as he will eat for a few weeks. Especially if he is on skinny side. He's been through alot and will need to build his strength and fat reserves back up. Once he is fully acclimated, you can then cut back on his food intake. Can you contact the person you got him from to see if they treated him at all for parasites? If they did, you might also want to consider giving him some Acidophilus. Another thing i usually do for my new imports is to give them in their dripper; a combination of 1/2 water and 1/2 electrolytes daily,to make sure they get fully hydrated. Depending on the conditon of the cham, you can generally discontinue that in a week or so. I've seen it work wonders.

 

[Elizadolots]

I'm glad I made you laugh. As far as I'm concerned, if I make one person laugh a day, I've done well by the world.

I haven't shown you my "big" guy yet...so, here he is:

Remember, I took out a ruler and measured my index finger at 3 inches. So...not huge, despite his status in our house as "the big lizard".