6 month old panther is not eating silkworms

[zele]

Hi all,

Our six m.o. panther cham seemed excited when the silkworms first got here but now he just mainly ignores them. he ate maybe 2-3 silkworms per day in the past week but now he just keeps waiting until we give him something else (crickets mainly). I've tried offering smaller silkworms just to rule out size as an issue.

A quick test with waxworm revealed that he has a preference against silkworms specifically - waxworms are still his eaten very quickly (although given very rarely due to supposed poor nutritional value).

I'm really bummed that he doesn't like these silkworms because I've read they are very good nutrient-wise. Plus I have about 50 silkworms which I now don't know what to do with. They are getting too large for him now.

Is this normal? From what I've been reading so far - chams usually love silkworms.

 

[ibdragons]

Some if my panthers love them. Some fell out of love from them . I only feed them silks every other day . One or two a day . When i use to feed them every day I would notice some of them at the bottom of the cage untouched.take them away for a few days or more then give them one .good luck

 

[danTHAman152000]

I would like to hear the advice others give you as well. My 4 month old veiled ignored them after I had bought 250 of them. Eventually they all died.

He did not seem interested in them because they did not move much after I put them on a branch.

 

[nightanole]

Mine will only screen feed them. He wont touch them if they are on the floor,cup,branch,hand. He will only go for the ones doing the worm dance on the side screens.

 

[Kate]

Welcome to the forum. Mine will only eat one or two and then I bring out they crickets on locusts. Like you I was left with 14 which I kept to cocoon and then moth. I now have about 700 eggs that I am experimenting with to see if they hatch. At this stage they are low maintenance and don't take up much room. If they do hatch Popeye WILL eat them.LOL

 

[CLP]

At the moment, both my chams LOVE them which is good because I've got WAY too many - got a little overzealous when hatching the eggs . I guess I figured I'd have a high mortality rate, which I didn't. Hopefully they don't lose interest until most have been eaten or cocooned. At least now I know not to hatch so many!

 

[Kate]

I have them in the fridge and have just taken out a few but probably too many!

 

[zele]

Mine will only screen feed them. He wont touch them if they are on the floor,cup,branch,hand. He will only go for the ones doing the worm dance on the side screens.

thanks for this idea - I'll give it a try tomorrow!

 

[zele]

So far seems to be a timing issue - today our little Indiana Jones ate one large silkworm that hasn't even been moving - it was just pretending to be a branch.

Thanks for reading and responding!

 

[heather89]

Alternate and hand feed

I've noticed with my Panther that he doesn't like just silkworms. I have a glass bowl that curves in at the top that keeps crickets from escaping (along with a couple breadcrumbs in the bottom) and I keep crickets in there all the time. In addition to that I give him a few silkworms each day, but he will only eat them from my hand. He will just stare at them if I put them anywhere in his cage. If your cham is comfortable with hand feeding then you might try that. Along with having crickets available.

 

[Dagreek]

You can put them in the fridge? Does it slow their growth rate?

 

[Dagreek]

Anyone? I have 200 of them and don't want them to go to waste.

 

[Paul30]

Maybe someone on here is close to you and wants to buy em..... Where I'm from they are pricy