Feeding my new cham

[tbone412]

Just got my first chameleon home yesterday. Doc is a male veiled about 4 inches long. I've been doing my research for weeks in preparation of getting him but since I'm lacking any real chameleon ownership experience I could use a few tips.

For starters how should I go about introducing him to food in his new habitat? He has shown no signs of hunger yet. He hasn't really moved from his basking spot unless it is to hide from me when I get too close. I've been waiting for him him to move lower in his cage to look for crickets but I'm assuming he is just too stressed out right now. A couple hours after he got here yesterday I let just a couple crickets go in his cage and now I have a cup hanging from a branch with a bunch of crickets in it and he doesn't seem to have any clue that they are there.

My main concern however is that when he really wants to get away from me (when I actually open the door and have to reach in to do stuff) he will climb up the walls to the top and actually be hanging upside down from the top trying to crawl across it. I'm not really sure why because he has a pretty thick pothos plant he could hide in and I'm very worried he is going to lose his grip and fall and get hurt. How likely is this? Should I take him down when I see him on the top or should I let him do his thing?

 

[i3uildabear]

ok i had the same worries as you i've had my chameleon for only a month and a couple days calm down you're doing fine so don't worry about starvation he is neither on a hunger strike or he is about to shed when they're about to shed they tend not to eat also getting into winter they also tend not to eat but what you should do is let the crickets free roam if your cage allows it if he is really hungry once he spots that cricket bam!! you wont see it again. If he is not eating don't let anymore crickets in there the amount in there is fine. So with the feeding just don't keep putting crickets let them free roam he will eat them. Also with the hands in cage and him running away and going upside down listen just this morning my cham did that but not because of my hands its because the infrared light is in the middle of the tank so she went closest as possible to it i put the screen under her since my tank is a screen so i unzipped it and put it under her she just grabbed on it and went up my arm just dont but anything near her she may hiss and try to bite let him make that decision life or death. So dont worry about your cham falling there hands allow them to do that also start hand feeding your chameleon but don't get too close if she doesn't take it just put it away and be done

 

[KarmenCham]

Infrared light bulb? if you are using that you need to change it for a standard Basking light, as for not eating, my vileed on getting her didn't eat for a few days, Stress of the drive from store to home (90 miles on back roads) that and she was starting to shed

 

[tbone412]

Actually no more worries here. As soon as I took the crickets out of the cup and let them free roam a couple of them actually crawled up the screen right in front of him. As soon as he saw them (and ate them) he went looking for more. I even tried hand feeding him, completely expecting him not to do it and just wanting to start the association with me and food. But to my surprise he went for it and took it right out of my hand! On his first full day home! It honestly made my day. I've never seen a chameleon feed in person before and it is very cool. Can't wait to try again tomorrow.

 

[KarmenCham]

tbone, 3 months now and the feeding part for me is NOT getting old. Only Problem I have now and I seriously need to video it, When I try to introduce the feeders to the Vivarium where I dust them, I can't get the lid off the tub before Karmen is Sitting on the cup putting her front legs on the tub as if to say get a move on!!