Cup Feeding

I use a 16oz. deli cup and start it as soon as I separate them into their own screen cage (sometimes very small chams and they figure it out rather quick). I use substrate to make poo removal easier and don't want my chameleons eating the substrate on accident.
 
royden said:
Then you've never been on vacation or fed roaches before ;)

With a misting system, and a cup trained chameleon, they're the easiest pet on the planet. When I'm gone for a few days I put 10-12 roaches in the cup with cricket chow and some collard leaves..fill up the misting resevoir and I'm gone.

Plus roaches can't be free roamed, and roaches are the dream feeder.
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A chameleon will never be the easiest pet on the planet ;)
What's wrong with free roaming roaches?
And no I don't go on vacation cause I can't be a way from my babies
I love them 2 much!!
 
Wouldnt using substrate also increase the risk of nasties (bacteria etc) no matter how well you clean? I dont use any substrate, I never see my veiled on the floor/ground, and since its male there seems no benifit at all.
barefloor is easy to clean thourally and branches are replaced and plants washed.
Im a big beleiver in the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid!)
Roaches are fed in a cup/small bowl because they hide under/behind anything and are a pain. Crix are set lose but raw carrot is included for crix to feed on.
 
I am the co-owner of the chameleon with the thread starter... Larry, just will not take the crix from the cup. he prefers hunting over cup feeding. i let a few roam free and he'll hunt and eat those w/o a problem, but he just won't eat from the cup no matter where i place it. did you chameleons begin cup feeding right away or did it take time??
 
g0ddang said:
I am the co-owner of the chameleon with the thread starter... Larry, just will not take the crix from the cup. he prefers hunting over cup feeding. i let a few roam free and he'll hunt and eat those w/o a problem, but he just won't eat from the cup no matter where i place it. did you chameleons begin cup feeding right away or did it take time??
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Is Larry a veiled or a panther? I tried to cup feed my veiled when he was about 8 months old and it was incredibly difficult. Through my observations I determined that it's not that they don't like them in the cup..it's that they somehow don't perceive them to be in there. Because when I would remove his food and place it on the screen.. he'd hunt it down ravenously like he was starving. If he was that hungry..a cup wouldn't stop him.

Also..it's winter now and the hibernation for most keepers chams has started. It may be a bad time to try cup training. Veileds can be incredibly picky eaters too.

Some folks on the forum had some really good 'appetite inducing' cup methods such as 4 gallon milk jugs with the sides cut out and screen glued on the inside to allow prey to climb up and down on the ''wall'' of the cup but never escape. I bet those would work well though I've never tried them.

I would just recommend letting your cham go hungry for a day or two and then dump 3 dozen large crickets into a cup to make a swarming attration of movement, keep that up for a few weeks and it might help.

A chameleon will never be the easiest pet on the planet
What's wrong with free roaming roaches?
And no I don't go on vacation cause I can't be a way from my babies
I love them 2 much!!

My Chameleon requires less work then a dog/cat/fish..hell my roach colony requires more attention then my chameleon!

Roaches only ever hide. They run for the lowest darkest spot, and they will hide there until they die. So you can only feed roaches from a cup..or from direct placement on the screen, watching it until it's eaten.

And I go on vacation because I have wife I love more then my hobbies, so yes Kenya..it is good to be me ;)
 
i started cup feeding both my male and female veileds at 3-4months with the milk jug method, easiest by far IMO.
 
I don't free range roaches because I don't want to find Roaches in my house!!! I put a male in a cup inside a cage I thought was "insect secure". The male Dubia flew out of the cup... and I found him in my Bathroom 2 days later.

Roaches as a feeder = Awesome!!!
Roaches loose in your house = Very Not Cool.

Cup feeding has a lot of beneifits... All of my chams eat from a cup that I hold in my Hand... and I use the hang in cups if I am short on time, or not going to be around for a day or two. I like it this way as I know exactly how much my chams are eating and when they are eating.
 
jojackson said:
Wouldnt using substrate also increase the risk of nasties (bacteria etc) no matter how well you clean? I dont use any substrate, I never see my veiled on the floor/ground, and since its male there seems no benifit at all.
barefloor is easy to clean thourally and branches are replaced and plants washed.
Im a big beleiver in the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid!)
QUOTE]
Unless your chameleons are sick they shouldn't be on the bottom of the cage and you'd have more to worry about than a little bacteria on some dirt. If you feel taking down the cage and scraping it clean is easier than scooping out a little poop you're welcome to your opinion.
Click to expand...
 
I used substrate when I got my first chameleon and when I finally heard about the problems with this I removed it. Well, let me tell you it was awful! The substrate was stuck to the bottom and I scraped and scraped and brushed and hosed and used bleach. I let it dry outside in the summertime and finally got it clean. NEVER AGAIN. It smelled if you can believe it and I scooped it out and added new from time to time. Lord knows how my Arnie managed to thrive in my ignorance, but he did, I am smarter and he is lovin his 24X24X48 cage.

I make sure he has the best since I was such a newb...
 
How do you get the crickets from staying in the cup? Do you rip off their back legs so they can't jump?
 
BocaJan said:
I used substrate when I got my first chameleon and when I finally heard about the problems with this I removed it. Well, let me tell you it was awful! The substrate was stuck to the bottom and I scraped and scraped and brushed and hosed and used bleach. I let it dry outside in the summertime and finally got it clean. NEVER AGAIN. It smelled if you can believe it and I scooped it out and added new from time to time. Lord knows how my Arnie managed to thrive in my ignorance, but he did, I am smarter and he is lovin his 24X24X48 cage.

I make sure he has the best since I was such a newb...
Click to expand...
That sounds pretty gross, I guess you weren't using a screen cage when you started? Wet substrate and chameleon feces would probably run your family out of the house with the stench. I just keep 1/4" of dry substrate to keep the feces from pasting itself to the cage bottom. What was your first setup? A 10 or 20-gallon aquarium?
 
rachelk said:
How do you get the crickets from staying in the cup? Do you rip off their back legs so they can't jump?
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Normal 16oz. deli-cups usually keep crickets in long enough to get chomped but cup feeding is more for roaches.
 
Orin said:
That sounds pretty gross, I guess you weren't using a screen cage when you started? Wet substrate and chameleon feces would probably run your family out of the house with the stench. I just keep 1/4" of dry substrate to keep the feces from pasting itself to the cage bottom. What was your first setup? A 10 or 20-gallon aquarium?
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Use a paper towel to make cleaning up easier. Having any substrate exposed to the chameleon isn't worth the risk of impaction. Unless of course it's a female then you always want to have something for her to dig/lay in at all times.
 
hey guys i just got my new veiled yesterday and I feed him about 10-12 crickets free roam. Today I'm starting to feed him from a small plastic cup and even though the crickets haven't been able to get out he seem not interested on them. should i just let them out and let him hunt them while he setle down or should I just leave them there hoping that he will eventually eat them? I don't want to stres him to much since he is just getting used to the place too.
What do you guys recommend?
 
alhickabee said:
Use a paper towel to make cleaning up easier. Having any substrate exposed to the chameleon isn't worth the risk of impaction. Unless of course it's a female then you always want to have something for her to dig/lay in at all times.
Click to expand...
Fine bedding is not a risk for impaction, especially when they don't eat it (hence the use of the cup and the original topic of the post). A bored chameleon will chew on fake leaves, newspaper and paper towel. It seems like an odd arguement to assume a few fine grains would cause impaction over a huge chunk of wadded paper towel.
I use a deep container with 80% sand, 20% coco fiber for egg laying (different topic altogether from cup feeding and bottom covering).
 
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chuito said:
hey guys i just got my new veiled yesterday and I feed him about 10-12 crickets free roam. Today I'm starting to feed him from a small plastic cup and even though the crickets haven't been able to get out he seem not interested on them. should i just let them out and let him hunt them while he setle down or should I just leave them there hoping that he will eventually eat them? I don't want to stres him to much since he is just getting used to the place too.
What do you guys recommend?
Click to expand...
It may take him a little while to figure out he has to aim into the cup rather than through the sides. It is important to make sure a branch is leaning directly over the cup so your animal can look in from the top. Some will figure out how to tip the container over but without a perch over the container they may just give up. One benefit of the cup is you can make sure what get's eaten rather than lost in or through the cracks of the cage.
 
I introduce the cup feeding concept to my hatchlings so they are well trained when the move on to other homes.

I use minigo yogurt cups with a wooden skewer punctured through it. The perch/cup (full with pinheads) sits directly underneath the heat lamps so for the most part every hatchling finds the crickets during the day.

I still let a few go throughout the enclosures to ensure everyone gets a chance at a meal, but I witness the hatchlings readily feeding from the cups.

My adults feed from hanging modified milkjug feeders with great success.
 
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