Will not eat if it is not in my hand…

[Kx2+cham]

Our 4 month old panther will not eat much, as in will pick one or two from his feeder or the free range moth or hoppers. I have the feeder out in the morning and in the afternoon it is almost the same amount of food in there, but when I offer it in my hands he will eat perfectly.

Am I doing it wrong or training him wrong (or maybe his training me)? Should I control my self not to feed him in my hand until he learns to use the feeders? I am curious to know.

 

[Steve A]

Our 4 month old panther will not eat much, as in will pick one or two from his feeder or the free range moth or hoppers. I have the feeder out in the morning and in the afternoon it is almost the same amount of food in there, but when I offer it in my hands he will eat perfectly.

Am I doing it wrong or training him wrong (or maybe his training me)? Should I control my self not to feed him in my hand until he learns to use the feeders? I am curious to know.

what bugs are you feeding besides the moths/hoppers(crickets I'm assuming, or grasshoppers?)

Spike gone through some phases where he'd stop eating even his favorite bugs, and I'd have to introduce something else. Then re-introduce the bugs he ate before and he'd start eating them then.

I typically feed Spike silkworms, BSFL, sometimes hornworms (1 a day when I get them), and crickets. He also loves eating hatched BSF. I put a bunch of BSFL in his pot containers and they eventually hatch

 

[Sonny13]

Good point there! I suffering the same problem with my Jackson’s. From feeder nothing all day, giving by hand instantly. Tried different things, even no feeding for week. No change at all, I only eats from the feeder when he wants to and not when he needs to.

 

[Steve A]

Good point there! I suffering the same problem with my Jackson’s. From feeder nothing all day, giving by hand instantly. Tried different things, even no feeding for week. No change at all, I only eats from the feeder when he wants to and not when he needs to.

Yep when I notice him specifically avoiding a certain bug, I stop feeding that bug for like a few days. Let him eat the ones he's preferring. Then I'll re-introduce them later and he will go nuts for them. It's like they get bored or something, or they simply just have mood swings lol idk

 

[elizaann2]

Good point there! I suffering the same problem with my Jackson’s. From feeder nothing all day, giving by hand instantly. Tried different things, even no feeding for week. No change at all, I only eats from the feeder when he wants to and not when he needs to.

I get the same thing from my Jackson's....Not sure what the answer is here....I just keep hand feeding him....

 

[Steve A]

I get the same thing from my Jackson's....Not sure what the answer is here....I just keep hand feeding him....

At least yours will eat from you lol Spike looks at me like I'm an idiot and waits for me to put his food dish and screen feeder on

He doesn't even really get spicy with me when I try. He just sits there with this blank look on his face, no color change or anything (usually).

 

[Andrew1283]

My veiled big boy Tony looks at me like I’m Freddy Kruger when the screen is open. So I don’t have these problems. He cup feeds and pops off the hoppers that escape onto the screens. I like that he gets that tongue exercise/stretch too.

My baby buddy Bertie does whatever. Hand feeds, cup feeds, free range feeds. It’s my experience that they eat when they’re hungry. No?

 

[Kx2+cham]

what bugs are you feeding besides the moths/hoppers(crickets I'm assuming, or grasshoppers?)

Spike gone through some phases where he'd stop eating even his favorite bugs, and I'd have to introduce something else. Then re-introduce the bugs he ate before and he'd start eating them then.

I typically feed Spike silkworms, BSFL, sometimes hornworms (1 a day when I get them), and crickets. He also loves eating hatched BSF. I put a bunch of BSFL in his pot containers and they eventually hatch

I feed him grasshoppers, dubia roaches, silkworms and silk moth. I have tried BSFL and hornworms but he only look at them and turn around. I stopped the crickets because whatever I do they die so fast, though he eat crickets the same way as grasshoppers.

 

[Steve A]

I feed him grasshoppers, dubia roaches, silkworms and silk moth. I have tried BSFL and hornworms but he only look at them and turn around. I stopped the crickets because whatever I do they die so fast, though he eat crickets the same way as grasshoppers.

I wonder why your crickets are dying. They're one of the easier ones to keep alive for me. I just stick them in a larger critter cage, throw in a plastic tube, and a small dish with their frozen food we make from various veges and they're good. I clean out their food tray every other day. Some die but only a couple here or there.

 

[MissSkittles]

It’s my experience that they eat when they’re hungry. No?

Yes, but how long does that take? All of my chams have been good eaters. I put the bugs in and they eat the bugs. Now I have a fussy eater - Mango. He will barely glance at the feeders. He likes silkworms, silkmoths, pupated bsfl and superworms and that’s all. He’s been tested and treated for parasites and gotten clean bill of health. The speed in which he zapped and ate the bsfl fly demonstrated that there is nothing at all wrong with his ability to eat. I’ve always advised people to wait their chams out to get them to eat better. Now I’m on the other side and it’s not that easy. Last Friday Mango got his last superworm until he learns to eat normally. It will certainly be harder for me than for him, but has to be done.

 

[Kx2+cham]

I wonder why your crickets are dying. They're one of the easier ones to keep alive for me. I just stick them in a larger critter cage, throw in a plastic tube, and a small dish with their frozen food we make from various veges and they're good. I clean out their food tray every other day. Some die but only a couple here or there.

I have a 16 gallon plastic tub, eggcrates, under tank heater, veggies, cricket crack and I clean the tub every other day and the die off is like the end of the world or zombie apocalypse.

 

[Andrew1283]

I swear my veiled didn’t eat more than a few feeders for two months. I went on vacation and that ruined his routine. He’s back to eating like a pig but it’s really wild how long some reptiles can go. They aren’t like mammals, that’s for sure

 

[Sonny13]

I get the same thing from my Jackson's....Not sure what the answer is here....I just keep hand feeding him....

Interesting! He also prefers dubia’s and occasional waxworm, but also so now and a desert locust or cricket. When I “adopted” him he ate locusts without any problem. Don’t know where it went wrong @Mendez what’s your experience on this with Grommet?

 

[Mendez]

Interesting! He also prefers dubia’s and occasional waxworm, but also so now and a desert locust or cricket. When I “adopted” him he ate locusts without any problem. Don’t know where it went wrong @Mendez what’s your experience on this with Grommet?

I think the trick is to use a feeder in the feeder cup that moves around a lot, like crickets, to help capture their attention and prey drive. Once they start to realize that the cup holds food, they'll go for relatively stationary bugs out of habit (like dubia roaches). My jackson's chameleon will eat out of my hands but will also take it out of a cup.

I also cup-feed a few of my wild-caught chameleons. Crickets seem to do the trick. But not everyone wants to deal with crickets. If you're okay with hand feeding, then I wouldn't change anything. You're not training him wrong at all. They all have their preferences.

 

[elizaann2]

At least yours will eat from you lol Spike looks at me like I'm an idiot and waits for me to put his food dish and screen feeder on

He doesn't even really get spicy with me when I try. He just sits there with this blank look on his face, no color change or anything (usually).

Oh my goodness that is too adorable. You have to wonder what is going through his head.

 

[Sonny13]

I think the trick is to use a feeder in the feeder cup that moves around a lot, like crickets, to help capture their attention and prey drive. Once they start to realize that the cup holds food, they'll go for relatively stationary bugs out of habit (like dubia roaches). My jackson's chameleon will eat out of my hands but will also take it out of a cup.

I also cup-feed a few of my wild-caught chameleons. Crickets seem to do the trick. But not everyone wants to deal with crickets. If you're okay with hand feeding, then I wouldn't change anything. You're not training him wrong at all. They all have their preferences.

True! the moments he eats feeders from a cup is when I put a cricket in it and it's moving a lot. Also noticed they prefer a feeder run above a cup.

 

[Steve A]

Oh my goodness that is too adorable. You have to wonder what is going through his head.

It's likely: "Put the bugs in the cup, and slowly step away "

 

[Beman]

I feed him grasshoppers, dubia roaches, silkworms and silk moth. I have tried BSFL and hornworms but he only look at them and turn around. I stopped the crickets because whatever I do they die so fast, though he eat crickets the same way as grasshoppers.

What exactly are you using in the cage and how do you have it set up? Can you take a picture? This issue with them only hand feeding while young is that they need to take down a ton of feeders every day. Also as they mature if they learn that this is how they eat it will make it extremely hard if you need to leave town and have someone else care for him.

 

[Kx2+cham]

What exactly are you using in the cage and how do you have it set up? Can you take a picture? This issue with them only hand feeding while young is that they need to take down a ton of feeders every day. Also as they mature if they learn that this is how they eat it will make it extremely hard if you need to leave town and have someone else care for him.

This is the one I am using and it is on the side wall of the cage. He does it from it once in a while ( more infrequent than the rain in California ). I am always telling my wife and kids that I will try not to feed him in my hand but every time it is mid afternoon and only one insect have been eaten I worry and hand feed him. You are right that it would be hard if we have to leave town, which we do twice a year, it will be hard for the person going to look after him.

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

I have a 16 gallon plastic tub, eggcrates, under tank heater, veggies, cricket crack and I clean the tub every other day and the die off is like the end of the world or zombie apocalypse.

I'm not good at cricket keeping. 1/2 of them die and there is too much cleaning involved.