Won’t eat anything but large meal worms.

[rdrzman]

My adopted female panther is not taking crickets and only wanting a couple Super Worms a day, fed by hand. She came with both crickets and super worms but the crickets just remain in the enclosure until eaten. Has anyone else faced this? I assume it’s due to the last owners feeding habits.

Suggestions on how to get her to take crickets.

Yes I know she needs a varied diet.

 

[Lucas00-]

My adopted female panther is not taking crickets and only wanting a couple Super Worms a day, fed by hand. She came with both crickets and super worms but the crickets just remain in the enclosure until eaten. Has anyone else faced this? I assume it’s due to the last owners feeding habits.

Suggestions on how to get her to take crickets.

Yes I know she needs a varied diet.

Just went thru this with my veiled. I got him hooked on super worms due to me having an excess and running out of other bugs. It took about 4 days without any food but yesterday and today he has been eating them lol. I had to give him no other option for a little bit and he got pretty hungry. Hopefully this helps a little bit.

 

[Rango_TheManEater]

As Lucas said, sometimes tough love is the way to go with Chams. I would offer your cham only different types of bugs (NOT mealworms; offer dubia, silkworms, crickets, etc). If she doesn’t eat them, then just don’t feed her for the day. Your cham should give in eventually and the problem will be solved.

I had to do this with my Rango, too!

 

[rdrzman]

Thanks guys

 

[MissSkittles]

When a male panther that I was given did the same as your girl, a vet visit proved he was healthy with the exception of a parasite (pinworm). Once treated for the parasite, his appetite lost all limitations and he eats everything now. So, start with a vet visit and parasite check. I also advise increasing variety of feeders and as stated, practice some tough love…no more supers. Many on line feeder vendors offer variety packs. Also, for her age, she shouldn’t still be getting fed daily - decrease her to every other day. If she’s being overfed, she may not be terribly hungry and is just eating the ‘candy’ bugs (fatty superworms are like reptile candy).

 

[rdrzman]

Thanks for the advice, she’s captive born and a very healthy eater so I’ll pass on the vet at this point as I believe it’s simply habit over health in this case. I was able to speak to the past owner and it was his habit to take her our twice a day and take a walk around his neighborhood. During these walks he fed her 3-4 super worms each time. She’s simply spoiled lol

 

[Beman]

Thanks for the advice, she’s captive born and a very healthy eater so I’ll pass on the vet at this point as I believe it’s simply habit over health in this case. I was able to speak to the past owner and it was his habit to take her our twice a day and take a walk around his neighborhood. During these walks he fed her 3-4 super worms each time. She’s simply spoiled lol

So spoiling a female chameleon with food is actually the very last thing you want to do. So the old owner started something that you will need to correct for her to live a long healthy life. You end up over feeding them which has a direct impact on their clutch size. Large clutches from being over fed lead to things like egg binding, prolapse, early death, and reproductive issues. To avoid this a female is given only 3 insects and they are only fed 3 days a week.

My concern is looking at the pic you posted is that she is on the hefty side for a female. You can tell by her casque and limbs. With the old owner giving her so much food it would be important to know if she laid eggs yet. At 8 months she may very well be coming up on her first egg laying experience. And with the food intake she was getting just with the snacks on the walks twice a day she is far exceeding what she should have been getting. So I would expect a large clutch.

She is not lacking in fat. So it will not hurt her at all to with hold the superworms they are a higher in fat feeder. She will eventually give in and go for the crickets. Then move her over to the reduced feeding.

Combined with lower food intake you want to also really control basking temp as this helps with their appetite reduction.
You will not ever want basking to be over 78-80 for her. The hotter the temp the more their metabolism speeds up so we have to keep the temp lower since we are doing lower food intake.

A lay bin should be added as a permanent fixture by the time they are 6 months old so they get used to it and it does not cause stress.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video.77225/

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/veiled-chameleon-laying-101.2488/