eat2muchrice
Avid Member
Being a new chameleon owner I have found this forum a great source for information and questions. One of my biggest hurdles with owning a young chameleon was getting him to eat, for the first week my chameleon hardly ate from me and never ventured down to the bottom of the cage to find food. I was worried he was losing weight, so I tried different methods to introduce food to him and they all failed but one. The cricket cup was a success, I found the idea on this forum and thought to give it a try. I went online to search up cricket cups, but not offended anyone and despite being completely functional, they all looked horrible; upside down plastic water bottles, milk jugs hacked up with scissors and bottles zip tied to branches. So I would like to take the time to share my build for people who want something a little more pleasing or less intrusive looking for their chameleon setup.
Quick Build
1. Painted the “outside” of a clear plastic container.
2. Cut the opening with a dremel or razor knife.
3. Attached a magnetic backing.
3. Wrapped netting around a cardboard insert.
4. Stripped wire for the opening and glued on.
5. Add crickets and watch eat.
Detailed build instructions
1. Find a clear plastic container of your choice, be creative and go through house hold junk to find something to your liking or next time you go out shopping buy a product that comes in a cool plastic container.
2. Paint the container, you only want to paint the outside of the container, leaving the inside of it completely smooth so that crickets cannot scale the walls. 3 coats normally will do it, a clear coat is optional depending on the quality you are going for.
3. Use a stencil to mark your opening, I used a round lid off from a jelly bean jar and traced the rounded edges with a sharpie marker. Yum, jelly beans…..
4. Cut out your outline. I would recommend using a dremel cutting bit for this if you want crisp cuts, a new razor blade will also work but require more effort depending on the thickness of the plastic. I personally avoid using scissors and hate them because they will leave jazzed, bend, ugly cuts and would probably crack the paintjob.
5. Attach your backing, I went with a piece of sheet metal stuck on with 3m double stick tape or hot glue will work, now I can use a strong magnet and attach the container through glass. Depending on your magnet it will easy secure to screens for a secure hold, for extra strength you can use two magnets.
6. Cut out a piece of cardboard insert, it should be long enough to reach the bottom and top of the inside of the cup. The piece should have a nice snug fit so that your chameleons tongue cannot pull it out.
7. Get some netting or screen, I found some garlic netting in the kitchen that worked perfectly. It slides on the cardboard insert like a sock, but if you cannot find something like that then you can use hot glue to stick it onto the cardboard.
8. Use rubber tubing to protect the opening, this will help prevent damage to your chameleons tongue from the sharp edges. It will also give them something to have a nice grip onto when peeking down into the feeder cup. I did not have any tubing so I used an old charger cord, took a razor to cut a straight line down the center and remove the wire. Then use slow drying glue wrap it around the edges of the cutout and trim off the extra slack to join the two ends.
9. Insert your screen covered cardboard insert, make sure that the screen/netting sits completely to the back wall to prevent crickets hiding behind it and that it reaches the bottom so that they can reach and climb up.
Tip: If you find your crickets can still escape then use clear tape alone the inside outer walls.
Hope you guys use and enjoy this build, feel free to post pictures of your cricket cups here to inspire ideas and share your creation.
Quick Build
1. Painted the “outside” of a clear plastic container.
2. Cut the opening with a dremel or razor knife.
3. Attached a magnetic backing.
3. Wrapped netting around a cardboard insert.
4. Stripped wire for the opening and glued on.
5. Add crickets and watch eat.
Detailed build instructions
1. Find a clear plastic container of your choice, be creative and go through house hold junk to find something to your liking or next time you go out shopping buy a product that comes in a cool plastic container.
2. Paint the container, you only want to paint the outside of the container, leaving the inside of it completely smooth so that crickets cannot scale the walls. 3 coats normally will do it, a clear coat is optional depending on the quality you are going for.
3. Use a stencil to mark your opening, I used a round lid off from a jelly bean jar and traced the rounded edges with a sharpie marker. Yum, jelly beans…..
4. Cut out your outline. I would recommend using a dremel cutting bit for this if you want crisp cuts, a new razor blade will also work but require more effort depending on the thickness of the plastic. I personally avoid using scissors and hate them because they will leave jazzed, bend, ugly cuts and would probably crack the paintjob.
5. Attach your backing, I went with a piece of sheet metal stuck on with 3m double stick tape or hot glue will work, now I can use a strong magnet and attach the container through glass. Depending on your magnet it will easy secure to screens for a secure hold, for extra strength you can use two magnets.
6. Cut out a piece of cardboard insert, it should be long enough to reach the bottom and top of the inside of the cup. The piece should have a nice snug fit so that your chameleons tongue cannot pull it out.
7. Get some netting or screen, I found some garlic netting in the kitchen that worked perfectly. It slides on the cardboard insert like a sock, but if you cannot find something like that then you can use hot glue to stick it onto the cardboard.
8. Use rubber tubing to protect the opening, this will help prevent damage to your chameleons tongue from the sharp edges. It will also give them something to have a nice grip onto when peeking down into the feeder cup. I did not have any tubing so I used an old charger cord, took a razor to cut a straight line down the center and remove the wire. Then use slow drying glue wrap it around the edges of the cutout and trim off the extra slack to join the two ends.
9. Insert your screen covered cardboard insert, make sure that the screen/netting sits completely to the back wall to prevent crickets hiding behind it and that it reaches the bottom so that they can reach and climb up.
Tip: If you find your crickets can still escape then use clear tape alone the inside outer walls.
Hope you guys use and enjoy this build, feel free to post pictures of your cricket cups here to inspire ideas and share your creation.
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