A little advice, please!

[Cgiles]

I bought a Jackson's Chameleon on Sunday. He is awesome! Sal is about a year old and his previous owners were
Very nice. They sold us his whole set up! They said they handle him frequently and he doesn't seem to mind being handled at all. The first day we had him, he was quite active and drank from a water dropper but didnt eat anything. Today is a different story. Yesterday we thought he would like a real plant and put one in there, and my husband tried to cup feed him today. He tried to get two crickets but missed both times and hit the cup. He asks wasn't moving hardly at all so we took the plant out thinking he was too cramped, took out the feeder cup and just put crickets in the cage. Yesterday he was brilliant green all day but today is darker. I am worried that he hasn't eaten yet, and the crickets walk right by him. Are we just being worry warts? Should we just give him more time? We may have messed up with the new plant and cup, and I am afraid we have stressed him out too much. Anyone have any advice?
Thanks!

 

[Simon1986]

Hey
Although he's older, he's still had his world turned around with the move and new people and views so you can imagine its quite a shock. And to have his new home been changed about may upset him as he's not used to you or then viv.

My advise is set it up how you want it and just leave him be to get used to everything new, they often won't eat if they're stressed, my 8 month olds just started eating after a 3-4 week hunger strike and I still can't find the reason for it.

Give him some time and settling in spec and he will come round.

What size crickets are you using

 

[Cgiles]

The large ones from petsmart now; the first day we did small but he is pretty big.

 

[Cgiles]

Would you advise putting the live plant back in. It's pretty large and we are afraid it takes up too much room.

 

[Simon1986]

That should be fine I'm in the uk so we don't have pet smart but if they like ours then I'm sure that's right. I wouldn't worry about misses, Freddie and Charlie have missed an you see vids of them missing in the wild.

I'd just take them out at night (as they'll bite your Jackson) then show him you putting them back in the morning and count them so you can monitor if he eats.

You could also try a new feeder e.g silk worms which are highly nutritious and chams find them irresistible (well mine do)

 

[Simon1986]

Can you post pictures? What's the plant type and size and how bigs the viv?

 

[kinyonga]

Did you wash the plant well before putting it in the cage?

 

[Tanner Grisak]

He is stressed as stated above, what type of plant did you use?

 

[carol5208]

If he is missing his mark when shooting for prey on a continual basis, that is not normal. It can happen on occasion, but if it is a regular habit, he may be having eye issues. As far as not eating, just to ease your mind a little, I took in a cham from another member on here and he did not eat for 11 days when I first got him. He was of a very healthy weight when I got him though, so it wasn't a major concern as they can go quite awhile without eating if they are healthy animals. If this continues I would contact the previous owner and ask him about it. More than likely this was going on when he owned him and not something that happened with only 3 days in your care.

 

[Cgiles]

I washed the plant extremely well and even replanted it. I think the name is draceana...I got it off the safe plants list. I will give him some time...thanks y'all.