Variety is important

[Jakedn]

I noticed that Waldo grew lazy and started to not use the full length of his tongue and would just walk closer to them instead out of laziness.

I decided it was time to change that.

Today Waldo has eaten 7 wild caught (non-toxic) butterflies, 1 wild caught bee (the small common kind), and 1 wild caught house fly.

At the start he tried to do his usual lazy thing, without much success as they would just fly around. Now, after just one day of these feeders he's shooting with the full length of his tongue, and really actively hunting these down with great success, I even saw him catch a few mid-flight. (This is more difficult for Waldo as he has bad sight in one of his eyes, and probably part of the reason he grew lazy and stopped using the full length of his tongue. He has learned to compensate very well for it though.)

Just goes to show variety is IMPORTANT.

 

[Pilotman800]

Haha, make him work for his food! Thats how you gotta do it.


None the less, thanks. Ill keep that in mind when my Panther chameleon arrives on Wednesday.

 

[Olimpia]

That's excellent advice, I wish people would follow it more. You've got to think about the level of stimulation they must get in the wild compared to in captivity. It's like the animals at the zoo, you have to keep them busy and stimulated mentally all the time so they don't get lazy/bored. Getting hard to catch feeders like this is also making him work his brain as well as his muscles, so it's excellent for him. Good job!

 

[ChameleonRave]

I do this as well for my Chameleons, although I don't know what the "safe" butterflies look like, I usually go for the house flies! I catch them with a small fish net, the ones that you find at Wal*Mart. They seem to like them. c:

 

[sandrachameleon]

Totally agree that Variety is important, but not just because they get bored. It is also possible that the new feeders are providing a nutrient that was missing or not adequate in the previous feeders.
But I'd be cautious about using wc flies - can carry bacteria.

 

[Jakedn]

Totally agree that Variety is important, but not just because they get bored. It is also possible that the new feeders are providing a nutrient that was missing or not adequate in the previous feeders.
But I'd be cautious about using wc flies - can carry bacteria.

I normally don't feed flies as they are very unclean creatures but this guy was inside my room where he can see through a window and he was eyeing a fly that was trapped there so I grabbed it for him haha.

I have tons of leftover reptaid that I am going to be giving him a treatment of soon anyways just for good measure and overall health so I figure why not haha.