cup feeding

[chameleon884]

how do i cup feed? all my chameleons life i have been putting the crickets in his cage for him to hunt and develop good hunting skills. i put in 2-4 at a time. i will be getting a 18x18x36 screen cage soon. is it bad that im not cup feeding? the reason i dont want to is for my cham to develop good instincts.

tell me yes or no if i should cup feed.

 

[carol5208]

I don't think it is bad that you are not cup feeding at all. Until my cham went on a cricket strike I always let them go in the cage. The downside is that they can hide and come out and night and supposedly can bite the chameleon. If you sit there and count them and watch him eat them then you will obviously not have that problem. When my cham decided to quit eating crickets I had let them go in the cage and I thought they had been eaten and then when I looked in the cage at night they were all over the screen! If you want to cup feed, you have to angle the cup so the crickets cannot jump out or pull of their legs(which I could never do) and you could use a more shallow cup that would be easier to access for the cham. Personally, I liked to watch my cham hunt them down so I guess it is just a personal preference.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I cup feed my veiled who injured his tongue and can't shoot straight. First my cup was too short so I pulled the jumping legs off the crickets. It was kinda gross (especially when cricket accidentally tore in half instead of just the leg popping off), and it got really old really fast. So my advice is if you do cup feed get a cup tall enough that they can't jump out! Take-out containers work great. And don't use something clear, they can injure their tongues hitting the plastic too hard when they don't realize it's there. I free feed my jacksons and panther. I like to watch them hunt and I haven't had problems with it yet (knock on wood).

 

[sandrachameleon]

You dont NEED to cup feed at all. But its not a bad idea to get your chameleon used to the idea. It makes introducing new foods easy, it makes offering fast moving prey easier, it makes offering prey that doesnt hold on to branches well easier, it makes offering vegetables/fruits to your chameleon easier, it makes it easier to monitor what your chameleon eats.

By both free-ranging and cup feeding, you get the best of both worlds.

Just get an opaque cup/bowl/container. secure/hang it under a favourite branch. put in a favourite bug (one at a time at first), at a time when your chameleon is probably hungry. done.

 

[Silkyslim]

I was going to cup feed Samson until I saw how easy it was for him to find them. I just make sure to slowly put the crickets onto the branchs so they don't freak out and drop to the bottom of the cage. Those that do fall, I get to hand feed which is pretty cool in it's own right.

I did try cup feeding the 1st day I had him and it was no problem at all. Samson is an aggressive eater though so anything that moves in the cage is food to him.