Young Veiled Not Eating and I am Far Away

[gentlejamo]

Hey folks,
I have a male baby veiled maybe 2-3 months old. He has been eating fine and drinking fine, his temps are good, he has a great enclosure...I know the routine...

However, I am on vacation in the US (I am from Canada) and I have a friend looking after Owen. I have been communicating with my friend and he shared with me today that Owen has not eaten in a couple days. He typically eats 2-5, 2 week old cricks per day. that is the only thing I am feeding him now. I am also supplementing as I am supposed to and so on.

I feed him from a cup that sits under a vine that he basks on. he knows they are there, but has not been eating.

Is is this usual for a young male?
is he hearty enough to go a few days without eating at this age?
what should I do?

 

[jannb]

Young males usually eat allot. I do not think this is normal.

 

[chamlover]

That is certainly not normal. At that age he should be eating 15-30 crickets a day. Has he been putting on weight? Did you mention how long you have had him? You need ot start giving him alot more than you are now. If you are only feeding him crickets you can always try silkworm or hornworms to see if you could get him interested. And as long as you have access to the internet, which you obviously do, you can go online to Mulberry Farms or someplace else and get some ordered pronto.

Good luck
Debby

 

[SoCaliSon]

As was said.. They are supposed to be eating a lot daily at that age. But at the same time I have seen Chams go on a hunger strike for wierd undeterminded reasons...for anywhere from a day to a month. Is your friend experienced with Chams? Maybe he is eating while your friend isn't looking, or maybe your friend put to many in the cup... They can become overwhelmed by the site of 20 crix in a small cup, Mine will only cup feed if there are only a few feeders in the cup. Is your friend feeding at your usual time? I would say that yes, you should worry when they stop eating the food that is offered, but at the same time I would say don't overlly worry yourself, and try to enjoy your vacation. Not eating for a few days won't kill him. He may just not trust the new face dumping the feeders.

I do like the idea of trying a couple more types of feeders..Like roaches, silkies, or hornworms, even gutloaded supers... I have seen them stop eating just because they become bored with the norm. You should always try to offer a variety. My Chams love anything in the "worm" form(Actually larvae form, but all of our "worm" feeders are misnomers). I have found somethimes after offering Roaches, silkies or supers they will decide that the crickets are whack anyway.

How long before you make it home? Debby had a great idea to get online and have some silkies sent to where your friend can pick them up.

 

[gentlejamo]

sorry to mislead you guys, i am not sure what I was thinking when I wrote 2-3 months. he is probably just over a month old, maaaaybe 6 weeks.

my friend has experience with other reptiles, but has never had a cham. the feeder cup only ever had 5 or so cricks in it at once. he said when he came home today that the cup was empty, sooo my problem may be fixed. who knows what owen's deal was. there was no cricks in the bottom of the cage either soooo he probably came to his senses.

for the record though i will try another feeder when i get home. i have access to a bunch of options since i work at a petstore. but yeah. thanks for the help guys.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Thank you for the update. That is a relief. I am glad he is eating again. I would guess he misses you.