baby veiled eating invisible food

[jbrough42]

Hey, I've got a 2 month old male veiled that I've had for about a week now. He appears to be very healthy. He is in a 54" x 24" x 24" enclosure with 1/4" mesh sides and a real ficus, he has a reptisun 10.0 uvb light, and an incandescent heat lamp, as well as a mist king automatic misting system. There is a temp gradient from 97°F to 73°F and the humidity is usually around 50%.

Full size crickets seem to be too big for him right now and smaller ones escape the cage. Because of this I have placed two hanging feeder bowls, one with smaller crickets and one with meal/wax worms, for the most part this has been working well, he has been eating regularly. Today I noticed something odd though. He can see the insects through the side of the bowl and he has been trying to eat them through the walls of the bowls rather than the top and therefore has not been able to get food. He's started flicking his tongue at the ficus branches (at what appears to be nothing) he's been doing it a lot for the past few hours and every time he does he chews a couple of times and swallows as if he's catching something, but I can't see him getting anything. Does anyone have any suggestions for a better feeding solution or any idea as to why he appears to be eating invisible insects?

 

[javsto]

Hey, I've got a 2 month old male veiled that I've had for about a week now. He appears to be very healthy. He is in a 54" x 24" x 24" enclosure with 1/4" mesh sides and a real ficus, he has a reptisun 10.0 uvb light, and an incandescent heat lamp, as well as a mist king automatic misting system. There is a temp gradient from 97°F to 73°F and the humidity is usually around 50%.

Full size crickets seem to be too big for him right now and smaller ones escape the cage. Because of this I have placed two hanging feeder bowls, one with smaller crickets and one with meal/wax worms, for the most part this has been working well, he has been eating regularly. Today I noticed something odd though. He can see the insects through the side of the bowl and he has been trying to eat them through the walls of the bowls rather than the top and therefore has not been able to get food. He's started flicking his tongue at the ficus branches (at what appears to be nothing) he's been doing it a lot for the past few hours and every time he does he chews a couple of times and swallows as if he's catching something, but I can't see him getting anything. Does anyone have any suggestions for a better feeding solution or any idea as to why he appears to be eating invisible insects?

instead of using a clear or semi transparent bowl, use a colored one that he cant see through or just let them free range and allow him to hunt as he would in a natural setting. what size crickets are you using? At that age he should be eating 1/4 to half inch crickets I would say.

 

[MelissaB]

Are you sure he's not getting a fungus gnat? Sometimes you'll get those on really moist soil. They're really small, too.

 

[jbrough42]

instead of using a clear or semi transparent bowl, use a colored one that he cant see through or just let them free range and allow him to hunt as he would in a natural setting. what size crickets are you using? At that age he should be eating 1/4 to half inch crickets I would say.

I am currently putting both 1/2 and 1/4 inch crickets in there, both of which escape through the mesh quickly if I let them free range. I will try switching to opaque bowls, good suggestion.

 

[jbrough42]

Are you sure he's not getting a fungus gnat? Sometimes you'll get those on really moist soil. They're really small, too.

I've never heard of fungus gnats... that could be the case... I repotted the tree in in organic soil, I suppose they may have been in there... is that something I should be worried about?

 

[ridgebax1]

Fungus gnats are just those annoying little gnats that often hang around a moist environment. They really aren't anything to worry about but just make sure your plants and the floor of your cage have adequate drainage and no standing water. Omar does not seem to see these as prey items. It is probably like us eating a mini chocolate chip (for baking) and thinking it is a chocolate bar! I would be more concerned about the spacing on your mesh that is allowing 1/4 inch crickets to escape. I think it should be smaller like regular window screen mesh. Be careful your little guy does not get his hands or feet caught it that mesh.

I use a clear container too for crickets but I set it up so it is directly below a branch so Omar has to look down into it to get the crickets. When he was your little guy's size, I would take him out of his cage and hold him over the container and he would eat out of it and sometimes crawl around the edge. Now that he is bigger he won't eat if I take him out of his cage but he remembers how to eat out of that container and will do the same thing in his cage.

 

[carol5208]

Yes, opaque is the way to go and position your cup so your chameleon can see easily down in to the cup. Shooting his tongue at the side could cause a possible tongue injury also if it gets stuck.