Baby Panther scared of cricket bowl

[DylanN]

ok so, i have a baby panther, hes eating, but the only way he will eat is if i just drop the crickets in the cage, and even then he will usually only catch one before they are all at the bottom of his cage where he really cant see them through the foliage. So i tried using a small tupperware bowl and putting about 2 1/4 inch crickets in it. He sees the crickets moving, slowly walks over there and takes a closer look, then he starts investigating the bowl and after about 5-10 min, just turns around and goes back to his "safe spot". ive tried leaving them in with the bowl all day, but every time i check to see if hes eaten any crickets, he still hasnt. Any suggestions on getting him to eat more willingly, and without throwing 6 crickets in and having him only get one?

Thanks guys
Dylan

 

[sttines]

Try different bowls. Are you using white plastic, clear plastic, a color? I would try something different until he makes a go of it. Also, try other food items in the bowl. If you have small houseflies( and for a baby you should get some from spiderpharm.com) I would put freshly hatched flies in the fridge for an hour. Once they are chilled take them out and clip the wings off on some of them and put them in the bowl. As they warm up, they will crawl around and shouldn't be able to fly.

Another thing, change bowls to maybe something very clear and carefully put the bowl in at night while he is asleep. It doesn't sound as if the putting in process scares him but nonetheless, having it there and holding prey when he wakes up is another option. It changes the timing of activity a bit.

All in all, they are not easy to outsmart but it does test one's inventiveness.

 

[DylanN]

great idea thanks so much, im gonna check that site out right now

 

[sttines]

A very nice man and he has the small houflies already in pupa form and very cheap. Separate some out into small cups. I go to a restauarant supply and get the one or two ounce salad dressing cups and lids and put 10-20 in each. You may add the supplement of choice, such as powdered milk with some calcium, bee pollen, any powder( easy on the store bought supplements, I skip them) and the flies will eat this as they hatch. You will see the abdomens turn yellow. Flying loose is a good way to release them into the cage but for "training' this baby, I would stick with the other method which will keep them in the bowl.

You can keep the other fly pupa in the fridge for about a week, some say 2 but by then the hatch rate is compromised and the flies are a little weaker. This is how I ended up having so many animals, all the bugs are bought in bulk so why waste them. It only aids in tha addiction.

 

[sttines]

AND spiderpharm is near you so the order will be quick.

 

[ColorCham427]

Don't give up training him to eat out of the bowl. Try to get him to eat out of something less shallow than a bowl, a cup for example is good. You want him to excercise his tongue.

Cut the bottom of the cup out and replace the bottom with screen.

You could wrap colored tape around the cup's bottom half so he won't go shooting at the cup.

I'd get one of those party cups and trim an inch off the top of the cup. Those cups are too tall for a baby panther.

Stick a few crickets in the cup, and let a few in the cage. You could hold the cricket by it's butt, and allow it to climb upwards on the screen. That way, they'll atleast start out on the screen, they normally climb up.

 

[Sang]

my panther baby does terrific with crickets, but refuses to eat from a cup, so basically every morning, when i find him up in his basking spot.

i take a cricket 1 by 1, and place it on the mesh in front of him.. he sees it and eats it, after about the first 5 or so he kinda doesn't care so i put them in the cage loose and he hunts em down...

4 month old sambava in a huge 2'x2'x4' cage and he usually gets all of em..

but he is terrified of the horn worms.. i don't get it.. he just huffs and puffs at the site of em.


i have yet to see my new jackson eat from the cup or eat period minus the 2 horn worms he ate the day i got him, hopefully he will figure things out and soon, as id like to get him cup trained.


keep at it.. eventually your baby will figure out were the food is. when he is hungry he will have to eat.