Work schedule

[xraygirl]

Hey guys,

I was wondering what those of you do (when it comes to feeding your chams) who get up early in the morning for work? I'm up at 4:45 and leave the house usually by 6:15 am and I'm gone til about 4:20 pm, I usually come home to much on something, then I go to class anywhere from 6-10 pm (depending on what classes I take, I'm a part time student). I was thinking about the whole 12 hours night and 12 hours day time routine for chams.

When do you feed? When I gut load crickets to be eaten, could. Maybe dust them before I leave for work, and ask the boyfriend to put them in the cage? He typically leaves for work at about 7:13-7:30 am.

I've read that extra crickets in the enclosure can nibble on your chams at night, and I would think if I put crickets in a cage before I left for work would be risky for nibbles since it's still dark when I leave.

Any advice would be great

 

[SaintJimmy]

I have to leave early in the morning so what I do is ONLY use toilet paper tubes in the cricket enclosure/dubias. I take a tube (usually has at least 4-7 crix in it) and slap the end so all of the crickets fall into an old super worm cup with calcium, put the lid on, and shake it. Then I tap the crickets in Monty's/Jax's feeding cup. Takes less than a minute.

 

[Psychobunny]

I have an early schedule also, out the door by 6am every morning, home again at 3:30pm.
So, first thing I do (right after pouring myself a nice cold glass of red wine)
is feed my guys.
They are used to this schedule, and get into feeding possition as soon as they see me (who says chameleons are dumb??!!).

My guyz r all adult, so they eat less.

When they were little, I would prepare a small deli cup with worms in it, one
for each cham, the night before. In the morning, I stuck a pea-sized ball
of Blu-Tak on the bottom of the cup, and stuck it on their basking branch
so they can find it.
Then give them more when I got home.

That worked out okay. And they got the idea real fast

 

[Psychobunny]

I have to leave early in the morning so what I do is ONLY use toilet paper tubes in the cricket enclosure/dubias. I take a tube (usually has at least 4-7 crix in it) and slap the end so all of the crickets fall into an old super worm cup with calcium, put the lid on, and shake it. Then I tap the crickets in Monty's/Jax's feeding cup. Takes less than a minute.

Great idea SJ
I do something like that at dinner time.
I have a plastic box w/ a lid, and cut down a piece of egg carton which will
fit inside the box.
I leave the egg carton piece inside the crick bin, so all I have to do is very gently lift it, place it inside the plastic box, and shake the cricks off

I can dust them, and pour a portion of cricks into everyones, feeder.

Simple

 

[xraygirl]

I was going to try to avoid cup feeding, but it sounds like with my schedule, that it'll be the best route for me! Thanks for all the suggestions.... Keep 'em coming!

 

[CarlC]

I leave at 6:30 in the morning and Im usually home by 7:30pm. My lights are on from 10-10. What I do in the morning is cup feed. When I get home I feed again but this time it is free range.

Carl

 

[Defianceofexistence]

I leave for work at 6:15am. So my boyfriend turns Loki's lights on at 5am when he gets up and then by the time I get out of bed at 5:45am he has had 45 minutes to wake up and get warm.

The night before I put some crickets into a small Tupperware container I got at the dollar store and poked holes in the lid. That way all I have to do is sprinkle some calcium on them and then I dump them on the leaves for him...he gets all excited and the hunt begins lol

Then I am home by 5:30pm and since its getting dark outside earlier he normally tucks in for the night by 6pm....I don't feed him at night...just in the morning...

 

[melble68]

I have an early schedule also, out the door by 6am every morning, home again at 3:30pm.
So, first thing I do (right after pouring myself a nice cold glass of red wine)
is feed my guys.

LMFAO!!!! I just usually drink a nice hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning. It's noon some where always, so I guess its OK for a glass of wine at 6am. JK.

 

[ridgebax1]

I work nights so everybody's lights are on timers. They are set to turn on about a half hour before I get home. I put the days food in a cup for Omar and the beardie's are free range because she immediately attacks any live bugs and they are gone in seconds! On my days off, they get fed whenever I get up.

 

[LLLReptile]

If I'm not sure that all feeders are going to be immediately consumed, I'll leave food for the crickets in the cage. That alone should prevent any crickets nibbling on your cham - although there should hopefully not be so many in the cage that it's really an issue.

Depending on just how early it is, I'll also skew the light cycle to start and end earlier - to be fair, sunrise starts as early as 5:45 during the height of summer. Right now in San Diego it's at about 6:15 am, so that's right around when you leave for work.

Most of my animals have their lights turn on at 6 am, as that's when I'm up getting ready for work and will be adding food and changing water in their cages. You could set your timers earlier as well, and just add feeders right before you leave.

Cup feeding is definitely one of the easiest ways, but if that ends up not being an option, adjusting your light cycle might help too.

-Jen

 

[Ninkylou]

I leave early too. I get up and while the coffee is brewing I feed the cats and gently get enclosure lights on. I start with the room lights, a few minutes later the spot halogens over the enclosures and finally basking and UVB. This starts at about 0550

I let them warm up a bit while i have a shower.

While wrapped in my towel, and drying off I go out and dust and prep whatever feeders they are getting for the day.

I usually hand feed something to Ziggy and put stuff in his screen feeder, all crickets go into Daarios feeder but some fall out so they can hunt a few. Worms and dubias in cups.

Off I go to work and the Aquazamp is set to go off for the first time at 0800. this allows me a bit of sleep in time on the weekends without having to adjust timers.

I like them to be warmed up and having eaten for a while before water comes on.

I am home by 530 usually and give them each a wee snack. I have noticed since the days are getting shorter they are settling in even before lights out. Daario heads to a shady spot mid cage.