Feeder boredom?

Amanda1801

Amanda1801

New Member
Don't worry, this isnt a thread about the leisure activities of my dubia :)

My chameleon came to me having been fed only crickets - I got him when he was 6-7 months old. When I first got him, I noticed he was eating very little, and thus got a variety of feeders to entice him to eat - he LOVES worms...

Mealworms used to be his alltime favourite, closely followed by wax worms (i give him his medication in them).

Recently though, it seems as though he's getting bored with his feeders, causing me to have to really mix them up for him - he's just ended a 2 week hunger strike (literally eating max. one mealworm every 2 days).

I've just offered him an endless supply of wax worms (out of desperation - noticed he ate one of the ones i put in his cup today) and he polished off 6 in total :D

It seems as though he gets bored with the same feeders and just stops eating them.... Which is where the difficulties come in... it's difficult to get hold of anything other than wax worms, mealworms, crickets and locusts in the UK ... but its just yet another hurdle to a happy chameleon!

Has anyone else experienced this??
 
My guy has done this, too. We usually feed crickets and dubia roaches, but mix in superworms and butterworms.

If we do crickets too many days in a row, he won't eat them. Same with dubia. We'll usually do 2-3 days of one then switch it up, while one day a week throwing in supers or butterworms.
 
its a common thing with chams... if you can, try to get some hornworms and blue bottle flies... both work well to break hunger strikes
 
In my experience, when a cham is getting picky, nothing will end the strike. If I keep sticking different feeders in their face they will decline more and more. Chameleons can be described as opportunistic eaters. If they are not hungry and there is a steady flow of food, what makes the trigger in their brain go off? Many may disagree, but for me, the more feeders I offer, the worse it gets. Sometimes when a cham is not eating, its just not hungry. If the feeder generally only is gutladed one or two things... mullberry paste, wheat germ... how healthy is variety really when your animal refuses to eat the well gutloaded insects like crickets, roaches & supers?
Once & a while I am forced to make my animals hungry again. My male panther saw food for the first time in a week & a half at the beginning of this week. He was very healthy to begin with and is an avid drinker. I had no concern of malnourishment over the duration. He pooped & had an empty stomach for a few days. The next time he saw a borning old cricket, he looked like a kid in a candystore. If your cham is healthy & drinking, maybe give it a few days...
Variety is very important. I use a variety of feeders to round off a well gutloaded cricket diet. If I offer, silk worms for example, I skip a day, then go back to crickets.
I would also take it easy on the meal worms & wax worms. Im not sure whats available to you where you are but maybe try to incorporate some butterworms or superworms.
Sorry for my spelling. lost without spellcheck but I hope some of this helps.

Goodluck
 
This actually makes sense. My panther was on a cricket only diet when i bought him at 4 months old a week ago. I've seen him eat a couple crickets, but not many. the first time i showed him a mealworm he ate three pretty quick and now it takes him awhile to maybe eat one a day.. a couple days ago i had a fly in my house for the last week so i grabbed it and put it in. he ate in within 2 minutes so i think i've got the same situation as you unfortunantly...
 
The problem I have with my guy, and why hunger strike is a problem, is because he's very deficient in everything at the moment. Getting there though :)

I haven't been particularly concerned, because im a firm believer in if he's hungry, he'll eat - and I agree with letting them get hungry. I've also managed to get hold of a liquid multivitamin that i've been putting in his water and he's been licking off the leaves without noticing, so thats another victory.

What was concerning me, was that he hasn't had any calcium supplements in2 weeks, but hopefully, he's realised that food is good again!
 
pantherlover said:
hmmm... I hear ya. Do you find he is spending a lot of time under the uvb light?
Click to expand...

He does, but he also has severe MBD, so still trying to get the calcium into him but using a 10.0 reptiglo with reflector, so hoping things will looks better when he has his next lot of x-rays
 
oh darn... Now were talking about a whole diff situation. Fortunately, I have never had to care for a cham suffering from mbd so unfortunately I cant be as much help as I would like to be. Have you been able to administer any liquid cal?
 
pantherlover said:
oh darn... Now were talking about a whole diff situation. Fortunately, I have never had to care for a cham suffering from mbd so unfortunately I cant be as much help as I would like to be. Have you been able to administer any liquid cal?
Click to expand...

Before his hungar strike, yeah - not for the last 2 weeks though. Using liquid calcium with D3 and without D3 and liquid vitamin drops in his water - he's pretty high maintenance at the moment! Because he's been sitting directly under his UVB bulb though, im not too concerned - I'd rather give nature a chance to do it's magic anyway
 
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