What to do with my Panthers eatting!

[Sancho]

Ok to get you all updated my Panther "Sancho" has the super worms addiction! I gave him one for his first time about 2 months ago and he has ignored all Horns, Crickets, Dubias since then. I've kept the supers away for 2-3 days and he only ate one cricket in that time so I took away all food for 2-3 days after that and tried to give him crickets and he didn't bother with them so I tried a dubia and he did the same thing so I put a super up on my finger and he ran to it like a starving kid!

SO now I've kept him away from all food for 7 days now and he is still refusing to eat crickets or dubias!!! What should I do? Keep supers as a staple? Wait a few more days?

 

[NewOwner]

I do not know, but i will keep following this forum, sucks thaty hes addicted, my chame once,we ran out of crix, i gave her worms for 3 or 4 days, she wont eat any worms now!! lol... the exact opposite...

i will look around for you, and try to dfind what to do...

 

[Sancho]

I do not know, but i will keep following this forum, sucks thaty hes addicted, my chame once,we ran out of crix, i gave her worms for 3 or 4 days, she wont eat any worms now!! lol... the exact opposite...

i will look around for you, and try to dfind what to do...

Thanks I've searched and searched and 99% of the threads show once the cham has been away from supers for a few days they go back to crickets/dubias well this isn't the case for my PITA!

 

[Cainschams]

Hahahaha I have only fed supers a few times to my chams. It seemed to make them a little constipated too so I dont use them 7 days? You would think he would go for anything that moves! Just make sure he is well hydrated if you keep him off food longer. Eventually he should take interest in something I would think.

Pic?

 

[Sancho]

Hahahaha I have only fed supers a few times to my chams. It seemed to make them a little constipated too so I dont use them 7 days? You would think he would go for anything that moves! Just make sure he is well hydrated if you keep him off food longer. Eventually he should take interest in something I would think.

Pic?

I will get new pictures of him this weekend for ya Oh he is misted very well every day 3-5 times for 3-5 minutes at a time! I'm starting to develop some muscles on my arms from all this pumping of this hand held mister!

 

[Lancecham]

He's testing you.
He wants to see when you are going to give in and give him more supers. I would tend to agree with Cain, that after being off food, for 7 days, he would jump at anything presented to him.
Let's face it, generally chameleons get much more food in captivity than they do in the wild. In the wild, they are not real selective, if it moves, they will eat it(appropriate sized insects).
In captivity they are geneally well feed compared to wild caughts. They can get selective on the type of food especially if offered a variety of insects. Naturally, they will develop their favorites and then want that one item that is really good to them.
But eventually, they will accept other items other than the favorite food if they are hungry enough.
You see this more with adult chams. Adult chams eat less than a younger juvenile who is growing quickly. A younger juvenile is more interested in eating and eating and eating and......

 

[Sancho]

He's testing you.
He wants to see when you are going to give in and give him more supers. I would tend to agree with Cain, that after being off food, for 7 days, he would jump at anything presented to him.
Let's face it, generally chameleons get much more food in captivity than they do in the wild. In the wild, they are not real selective, if it moves, they will eat it(appropriate sized insects).
In captivity they are geneally well feed compared to wild caughts. They can get selective on the type of food especially if offered a variety of insects. Naturally, they will develop their favorites and then want that one item that is really good to them.
But eventually, they will accept other items other than the favorite food if they are hungry enough.
You see this more with adult chams. Adult chams eat less than a younger juvenile who is growing quickly. A younger juvenile is more interested in eating and eating and eating and......

He's only 8 months old. Are you suggesting to hold out longer with him? Or give in and feed him some more supers? it's been 7 days now

 

[GooglezNvincent]

My 4 month old Nosy Be Vince LOVES his silk worms, he will eat 2 -4 crickets a day but when my gf holds him and i put a silky in my hand BAM! insta bite! lol but i tricked him. I will powder mealworms and give him a silky then a meal then back and forth, i feed him worms like every 3 days and he goes cazy and eats like 6-9! i was impressed with howmuch he is putting away!

 

[Lancecham]

I can't tell you what to do. But going without food for 7 days is unusual for a chameleon not to eat. If you wait longer, it could be possibly be detrimental to his health. Maybe you can try other items he has not had such as the irresistable house fly. Chams rarely pass those up. The idea is not change to flies, but make him learn that other items other than superworms are tasty.

 

[Sancho]

I can't tell you what to do. But going without food for 7 days is unusual for a chameleon not to eat. If you wait longer, it could be possibly be detrimental to his health. Maybe you can try other items he has not had such as the irresistable house fly. Chams rarely pass those up. The idea is not change to flies, but make him learn that other items other than superworms are tasty.

I would but I have no house flies Only person I know that has them is Chad and it would take 2-3 days

 

[Lancecham]

I just finished feeding off my last batch house flies, otherwise I could have given you some to try out(since you are local).
You can also try other food items he has never had before.
More than a few times, I have had chams refusing to eat, it boils down to finding something else he will like. I have tried a bunch of different insects to get some chameleons to eat, and with each cham it is different.
So try to find something. SInce you live locally, I know you could probably find some pill bugs/rolly-pollies in your yard. Chams seem to enjoy those as well.

 

[addicted]

Hey Sancho, I'm curious, do you cup feed or free range feeders?

I ask because I'm having the same problem with my 10 month old male Ambanja (only I haven't tried roaches, I'm a big chicken) Once he tried supers he wanted nothing to do with crickets. He's currently on day 3 of no food at all, tomorrow I'm going to try free ranging some crickets to see if them being loose will stimulate him to hunt (I'd been cup feeding everything, including crix, for the last few months)

I'll let you know how he reacts to this, hopefully it will work

 

[Sancho]

I just finished feeding off my last batch house flies, otherwise I could have given you some to try out(since you are local).
You can also try other food items he has never had before.
More than a few times, I have had chams refusing to eat, it boils down to finding something else he will like. I have tried a bunch of different insects to get some chameleons to eat, and with each cham it is different.
So try to find something. SInce you live locally, I know you could probably find some pill bugs/rolly-pollies in your yard. Chams seem to enjoy those as well.

Right now I have crickets, Dubias, Horns and Supers. All he does not want except Supers. Don't know what else to try that I can get local. Is there a negatives for giving him supers as a staple?

Hey Sancho, I'm curious, do you cup feed or free range feeders?

I ask because I'm having the same problem with my 10 month old male Ambanja (only I haven't tried roaches, I'm a big chicken) Once he tried supers he wanted nothing to do with crickets. He's currently on day 3 of no food at all, tomorrow I'm going to try free ranging some crickets to see if them being loose will stimulate him to hunt (I'd been cup feeding everything, including crix, for the last few months)

I'll let you know how he reacts to this, hopefully it will work

I do both since he is a picky ass. Sometimes he just wants to eat out of the cup sometimes he won't touch them until I let them go free.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I wouldnt hold out for longer than a week myself for a still fairly young chameleon that is growing. But if he's hungry enough he should accept an alternate food item.

that said, There have been cases where a chameleon will eat only one prey item, choosing not to eat any other to the point of the chameleons own detriment.
I think Brad R has a chameleon that eats only supers.
Make sure you gutload the supers as much as possible. the downside to supers is that they are high in fat, a bit high on chinton, not high in calcium (so dust them)

Other things to Try:
sneak other food into his mouth while he chews,
offer a variety of other options to try to entice him to eat something else,
make the next few superworms taste bad? by coating them with something unpleasant but not unsafe (trying to think of what that might be, but cant remember right now)

 

[ciafardo 4]

Sancho i have this exact problem with the exact panther locale thats the exact age. I have starved him for nine days offering crickets on the 5th and there after i gave up. so i cup feed with supers and crickets in the cup he grabs the crickets along with the worms and eats all but there's always a few crickets left use a small enough cup its been working for me. oh and he will eat mantis but thats not realistic in the winter.

 

[hallenhe]

If it were me, I'd give in. Supers aren't a terrible staple; not like waxies or mealworms. Make sure he has the opportunity for other bugs, and try giving the supers a varied diet to make them nutritious (echoing the earlier "aversion therapy" suggestion, maybe feed him a super fed on something harmless but unappealing and strongly flavored? - Of course that could backfire, and you'd be stuck with a Cham that only ate limberger flavored superworms).

 

[Sancho]

Well I got him to eat one dubia last night I guess that's better then nothing. I'll try again tomorrow night with more dubias

 

[dc2ap2]

my bb went down the same road and i starved the shit out of him i went as long as i could with out feeling real bad for him and nothing his tong dose not work so i hand feed him every day so all i did was when he went for the supper i moved it and put a cricket in its place it took a few times but he seemed to just get mad and walk away then one day i tryed swiss miss cricket crack and now he will eat crickets but will still go crazy for supper so i try not to feed them to him the whole thing took like 3 months but he will eat his crickets and now i really try not to feed much but crickets i dont ever want to do that again

 

[Cainschams]

Glad to hear he ate something besides a super finally! Hopefully he will pick up his eating soon! Along with trying something awful to put on the supers I would also try to find something you havent gutloaded with for the crix. Get one in his mouth and he might feel the urge to eat them if they taste a little different. Do chams have taste buds?

 

[chambabysitter1]

my bb went down the same road and i starved the shit out of him i went as long as i could with out feeling real bad for him and nothing his tong dose not work so i hand feed him every day so all i did was when he went for the supper i moved it and put a cricket in its place it took a few times but he seemed to just get mad and walk away then one day i tryed swiss miss cricket crack and now he will eat crickets but will still go crazy for supper so i try not to feed them to him the whole thing took like 3 months but he will eat his crickets and now i really try not to feed much but crickets i dont ever want to do that again

Whew, I got the gist of that but only after reading it twice. Punctuation would really make that post 20x easier to read.