Feeding a baby panther

[NapoleonPanther]

Hi,

I just got my Ambilobe X Nosy Faly yesterday and we've been trying to feed him some dusted crickets and undusted small crickets today with tongs and just putting a couple in the tree near where he's chilling. We've seen him drink and he seems quite comfortable in there but we're not sure of the best way to feed him while he's not so tame. Some of the crickets have just fallen down to the ground and he's in a 120cm high and 58cm wide so I know he's going to struggle to find them down there while he's so tiny.

Someone suggested locusts because they don't move around so much?

What do you lot think?

 

[melrito]

A newly acquired cham sometimes won't eat for a few days, but I personally would not try to feed him with tongs when you just got him - your presence is likely to disturb him and unless he is used to being fed with tongs, he's probably not going to take the food that way. As a general rule, leave your new cham alone for the first few weeks except when cleaning the enclosure - he needs time to acclimate to his new home before trying to get used to the scary human (you) ;-)

What I do with the young panthers is put in about a dozen crickets in the morning and then remove what hasn't been eaten mid-afternoon. I also leave some cricket food in a very small cup attached to the side of the enclosure (zip tie it through the mesh) and sometimes the crickets go there and eat. Put it in a place that is convenient for the cham to eat the crickets from. Also, you could try cup feeding (attach an opaque cup that is deep enough for the crickets not to jump out of under a branch and put the crickets in that - the cham can see them in the bottom of the cup and eat them from there). Another option is to feed some silkworms and/or hornworms, as these will generally stay on the branch where you place them or at least when they crawl around, they will stay on the branches. Just be aware with the worms, they are addictive to some chams so do not feed them exclusively.

Regarding the size of your enclosure - it's bigger than "recommended" for a baby, but remember that chams originate from the wild and those instincts to search for food are still there - and the wild is much larger than that enclosure ;-)

 

[SageZA]

I have a 5 week old female, i do not dust the pin heads yet only after i get her onto x-small crickets. the dust smothers the pin heads coz they small.

Look at the pic and see how i manage/monitor her feeding.

I got a decant size tube that she started off in and make walking area with thin vine and meat sticks. I put her pin heads in a small container and sprinkle a few to run around and get her attention that i put under her walk ways so that she notices. I give here access to the rest of that cage later in the mornings

How old is the panther? i might be a little off here

Please post a picture of the setup