1 month old Panther Chameleon Diet

[Gabbagabba]

Hello!
I have a Panther Chameleon, who is now just over a month old. I started feeding him fruit flies two days after he hatched, and since then, he refuses to eat anything else. I’ve bought him two week old crickets and have tried feeding him baby mealworms and baby Dubias, but he’s either uninterested in any them or simply afraid of them. How can I get him to start eating a more nutritious and varied diet? Or is he possibly still too young for them? I know only fruit flies isn’t very good for him, so I want to get him off of them as soon as I can. Thank you!

 

[snitz427]

I’d stick to fruit flies, lightly dusted every other feeding (others may chime in on their supplementation, but if I recall correctly - thats how I did it 2 years ago). If meglawhatsits are too small, bump up to hydei. My babies werent interested in pinheads. We stuck with fruit flies, mostly, until they were around 3 months old and able to take slightly larger prey, like freshly hatched mantids. My babies were Kinyongia Boehmei and mich smaller than panthers, so your mileage may vary.

 

[snitz427]

Bean beetles are also an option. I believe @JacksJill feeds them to her babies.

 

[ERKleRose]

@jannb

 

[snitz427]

Silkworm kegos we’re also a staple once my babies hit around 1 month or so.

 

[jannb]

I fed my panther babies fruit flies, pinhead crickets, freshly hatched mantis, very tiny silkworms and hornworms.

 

[TayloredExotics]

Vary what you're giving your flies for now (like different attractants in the enclosure), and that'll help some. To get him (and it does look like a boy, in case you're wondering!) to eat other things, it's easiest to train them to a cup or feeding area first. I put things the fruit flies like (banana slices, a dab of fly medium, etc) in the cup and only dump new food in there. They can crawl out, but a bunch will hang out there. He'll realize that food is usually in that area, and start going to look more often (or run there as soon as they see you in some cases, lol).

Once they realize that, you can start putting other things in- it helps to use active and/or brightly colored feeders to first transition them from flies; I like newly hatched red runner nymphs, but you could probably do pinhead crickets or similar. They should either be curious enough to try the new things, or accidentally tag them when going for flies.

After they've gotten good at using the food cup, you can let them go hungry for a day, them add less attractive options. That's usually how I have to get them to try boring feeders like dubia or BSFL for the first time. Be careful doing this with young chameleons; older ones can go days (or even weeks!) without food and be fine, but I wouldn't let growing babies hunger strike for that long. If they go an entire day without trying new feeders, go back to 'safe' food and feed well for a week before trying again.