what causes picky eaters?

sandrachameleon

sandrachameleon

Chameleon Enthusiast
Im constantly suprised that people report their chameleon wont eat this or that bug. Chameleons appearing Afraid of insects known to be edible, just not interested in certain bugs.

I have trouble imagining a wild chameleon turning down most edible insects/prey. My own chameleons dont seem to get "stuck" on a limited number of prey choices, even if its clear one or two (stick insects, terrestrial isopods, hornworms) are far out favourites.

Im beginning to wonder if hesitancy in a young or adult chameleon to eat a variety of bugs comes from lack of experience. Meaning, if babies / very young chameleons are not offered a variety, as adults they are hesitant to try new things. Anyone think there's merit in this?

I wonder too if that this can turn into "pickiness" wherein a chameleon refuses to eat anything but one or two insects, showing an extreme preference.

Or if these strange refusals to eat certain (or many) prey choices are due to being overfed generally, or overfed a particular item in exclusion of variety, leading to strong habit.

Your thoughts?
 
Last edited:
I believe it has something to do with quite a few things..

Movement,
If a bug isn't moving, sometimes it can look dead or not like food at all! I'm sure they only eat what "catches their eye".

Habit,
Like you said if they are fed only one thing for so long I'm sure they aren't exactly tempted to try something new if they enjoy what they are eating.

Taste,
I doubt every bug a chameleon eats is appetizing. I know I wouldn't want to eat just chicken my whole life, and I don't exactly enjoy pork.. Some chameleons might just not like the way a bug tastes!
 
well if I was to eat crickets for 3 months in a roll... then I tried superworms.. Oooooh crunch!! CRISPY.. its "nice and long" and doesn't have sharp legs. Yummy yeah I would crave and starve myself til I was fed only that. Cravings... Animals know what they're eating. They also know that they are prisoners... they just don't wanna say it.....
 
Im beginning to wonder if hesitancy in a young or adult chameleon to eat a variety of bugs comes from lack of experience. Meaning, if babies / very young chameleons are not offered a variety, as adults they are hesitant to try new things. Anyone think there's merit in this?
Click to expand...

Imprinting is a quite reasonable theory, and I think quite likely. Ive seen it in dragons fed only insects as hatchlings juveniles that wont touch veg/fruit, and vice versa.
Variety is important. A young lizard will encounter many different insect types in its natural enviroment when young (in the wild), I think imprinting (switching on instincts) occurs very early on. Without such stimuli in captivity, how can a lizard recognise different insect types as food, especially given most offered in captivity are species it would never encounter in its natural habitat (not instinctively recognised).

Syn points out some strong indicators toward instinctive recognition however, for instance, I find all my lizards particularly excited by green insects, even types not encountered before, so I beleive that color, shape, locomotion do play an integral part in instinctive food recognition, but that early imprinting may (switch on) such instincts to varying degrees.

Given we are discussing captive animals, I would think some degree of enviromental influence may also play a part. Captive v's wild behaviours/stimuli.
 
I think they have no choice on what to eat. You either put crickets in the cage they are bound to eat it. To me its the movement of the insect that catchs there attention the most. My cham will not eat wroms unless he see's them wiggle on his cage, thats the only way. Plus i don't think they like eat the crickets or super worms cause to me they smell bad but like i said before they got no choice. Plus my cham will not eat anything in a cup unless it is crawling on his cage. Sad to say cause i just bout Phoenix Worms and he refuses to eat them from a cup. I tried everything. But i know for sure my cham is very picky eater cause he will only eat crickets and superworms and hornworms. That's bout it. Tried ever other worm and no luck there.
 
kianna2118 said:
I think they have no choice on what to eat. You either put crickets in the cage they are bound to eat it. To me its the movement of the insect that catchs there attention the most. My cham will not eat wroms unless he see's them wiggle on his cage, thats the only way. Plus i don't think they like eat the crickets or super worms cause to me they smell bad but like i said before they got no choice. Plus my cham will not eat anything in a cup unless it is crawling on his cage. Sad to say cause i just bout Phoenix Worms and he refuses to eat them from a cup. I tried everything. But i know for sure my cham is very picky eater cause he will only eat crickets and superworms and hornworms. That's bout it. Tried ever other worm and no luck there.
Click to expand...

See, i am not sure I agree with this. My cham was raised on crickets from the start and was introduced to locusts about 3 months ago (he's about 7-8months now). He would also be fed waxies as a treat. He now refuses crickets, and will only take locusts, preferably adults. If we put crickets in his enclosure, he will eat his plants and ignore the crickets. the most i let that go was 4 days. he will even turn his nose up at waxies now.
 
Well I'm sure you wouldn't like being fed pizza for 3 months... you would start begging for hamburger after a while! :)
 
Overfeeding. Almost all cases of picky chameleons is due to them being overfed. I have not had a picky chameleon in a very long time. The only ones I've had in the past decade ever refuse food* were deremensis that were overfed and/or in a seasonal cycle. Once I got their temps and seasons correct, I figured it out (before hand, it drove me CRAZY).

Chances are that if your animals refuses anything, it's being overfed.

*not counting ones that were on their way out or gravid.
 
Syn said:
Well I'm sure you wouldn't like being fed pizza for 3 months... you would start begging for hamburger after a while! :)
Click to expand...

Actually I would take pizza over a beef burger anyday! :D

As soon as we could get locusts of a suitable size for him we have been alternating his food so that he has variety, so for quite a while he hasn't been on one food type. Also tried superworms, which he hated. Took one and refused to take anymore, so we are trying with the variety, although I really need to get off my ar*e and order some other feeders for him to try. He won't even take waxies, but I think that may be more to do with me and not them!

Eric, you say this could mean I am overfeeding him. He currently gets fed every other day, and will usually get about 4 locusts, or maybe 6-8 crickets - is this still too much? He is about 7.5 months old. Would only 2 locusts be enough?
 
Sorry for not getting back to this thread sooner. Thanks everyone for their input.

Eric I too think over feeding is a likely cause in many cases. But it doesnt seem to account for it in all cases.

WelshOneEmma, I think 4 locusts OR 6-8 crickets every other day is probably fine for a growing veiled or panther chameleon under a year old. Good luck findin some additional feeder options soon.
 
I've been ruminating on this as well. I tend to agree with with Eric. Our newest guy is on a hunger strike. When we got him he was underweight and would eat everything I put in his cage - crickets, silks, supers, dubias, hornworms. And that may have been the problem. I let him eat whatever he wanted.

Then nothing. He chews ficus leaves.

HOWEVER, and I've seen this in every one of my chams over the last 8 years. If they are outside in natural light and roaming bushes or trees, they will readily eat the same things they ignored indoors under artificial lights. They will also go after anything in the garden.

I watched a cycle that our two adults entered into now and its maddening. Young they all want crickets. They wouldn't touch any worms. Then as they grow they only want worms and wouldn't think of touching crickets. This happened to all the adults I've had. I'm trying to get them off supers right now. I don't know what causes the supers addiction but its a challenge. Since they're adults I don't mind making them hungry enough to eat something else even if it means not eating for three days. However, once they eat another feeder because they're hungry and going back to every other day feedings they won't touch anything but supers.

I've tried probiotics and that has helped on occasion. With young chams I don't want to stunt their growth so I'm more concerned with them than adults. As a vet told me it takes a long time for a cham to die of starvation but only a day to die of dehydration.

My recently passed Veil would sometimes not eat for weeks and then start up again.

I've done fecals on all the animals that have been on hunger strikes and nothing showed up that would account for it.
 
The majority of the chameleons which were kept in captivity were overfeed. That's in my opinion the main reason why they start to eat sth or not.
 
Overfeeding could account for alot of it-but not ALL of it. There are MANY issues to consider-hydration, temperature, mouth rot, tongue issues, gravidness, parasites, and the list goes on and on. I can tell you that when my male Veiled and my female Oustalet went off food for a few months-neither one was due to overfeeding.
 
I said it's the main reason not the only one.
I probably would never understand people who have got chameleons which are round a half meter long, who are concerned when it stop to eat for a while ! An adult calyptratus or pardalis won't die when it gets 4-6 weeks nothing to eat
 
eisentrauti said:
I said it's the main reason not the only one.
I probably would never understand people who have got chameleons which are round a half meter long, who are concerned when it stop to eat for a while ! An adult calyptratus or pardalis won't die when it gets 4-6 weeks nothing to eat
Click to expand...

Yep-they can truly go awhile without eating if they are healthy.
 
I won't try it but I strongly believe than an adult calyptratus male could handle 3 months without food, when it gets enough to drink and the temperatures are lower
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

AnamCara
Adult Female Panther Supplementation - Missing Feeders
2
Replies
20
Views
1K
Rst_Cham
Rst_Cham
nick barta
  • Locked
Feeders for Happy Chameleons
Replies
0
Views
1K
nick barta
nick barta
nick barta
  • Locked
Feeder Insects and Supplies
Replies
0
Views
2K
nick barta
nick barta
nick barta
  • Locked
Feeder Insects
Replies
0
Views
2K
nick barta
nick barta
nick barta
  • Locked
Feeders for Happy Chameleons
Replies
0
Views
2K
nick barta
nick barta
Back
Top Bottom