Free Roam feeding and getting a new cham

[Geckoxp]

I have had this site bookmarked for sometime now and I keep reading everyones post. I wanted to ask everyone if there is any good advice for getting a cham off of free roam feeding to cup feeding or even just plain eating worms at all?

My cham is a 6month old Ambilobe from the Isairy-mifidy offspring that the Kammers have and he is doing pretty well. Right now he weighs in at 64 grams (which may be small for his age idk). He has no issues feeding off the screen for his cricks and I feed him everyday but I just can not get him to eat out of a cup for his butter worms, silkworms or wax worms...I have hornworms on the way. Even if they are out of the cup he wont take to them...I would like to add some variety to his diet but its just about forget it with this cham...any ideas?


I am also in the process of looking around for a Nosy Be male to add as a 2nd cham. I would prefer a slightly older cham if possible then a baby as the smaller cage I had for Izzy didn't last very well. If anyone has one that is available please let me know. I am awaiting word to see if the Kammers have one as I have only dealt with them in getting a cham but in the meantime I thought I would ask here too...

Thanks for all the help!

 

[John33871]

well seems like you are giving him a great varity of feeders. i would recommend free roaming because they will make your chameleon active and want to go after his pray. if you are able to train your chameleon to eat from a cup, he may become lazy, and may also become bored with the food. my chameleon will not eat from a cup, but i do keep a cup with at least 5 crickets inside. they eventually get out of the cup anyway, its just kind of a way from me to keep track of them. but he never goes after them inside the cup. the silkworms, butterworms, and hornworms should be able to climb on the branches but with the waxworms you way want to but them on something flat so that they dont fall to the bottom and be wasted. well the kammers have awesome chameleons and i have one of their veiled. his father was azog, and kind of looks like his daddy, lol. well anyways beautiful chameleon and good luck

 

[dodolah]

hello..
what a pretty cham you have.
I also Kramers' happy customer.
I just bought shagrat's offspring.

As far as cup feeding, it really does need a huge amount of patience.
My veiled is also accustomed to free roam feeding.
But, i've just had it with crickets escaping all over the place or drowning in the water container for drainage.

I tell you how it worked for me.. but, it's not a guarantee success cause each chameleon might handle this differently.

What i do is, slowly, introduce him to the cup.
For now, the clear cup is sufficient.. in fact, it's better to let the cham see through the crickets moving..(some people might over react when i suggest you using clear cup.. but please read this post all the way through)

I jiggle the cup in front of him (safe distance offcourse.. you don't want to freak him out).
Since i jiggle the cup, usually the crickets are jumping. The movement catches my cham's interest (this is my suspicion why your cham completely ignored the worm in a cup.. Cham is one of the animal who likes to hunt.. hunting requires a moving object.. any non moving constitutes dead stuffs. thus, no attention is needed)
If he ended up looking at you, move the cup in between you and his view line. It's best for you to kneel down when you attempt this, so he's higher than you.. so he can only see your head. or just move the cage higher)


when you catch his attention, try moving the cup slowly..
Usually your cham's eyes will also follow the movement of the cup.
(if he do this, you are half way there!)
now SLOWLY put the cup in one spot while making sure that his eyes keep following the cup (not looking at you.. it's not hard to do this if his attention is focused on the cup.. after all, he's hungry!).

Now: the cup placement..
ALWAYS put the cup lower than where he is.
If possible, put the cup in between the leaves (so the only open view access is the top.

If you put it anywhere else, your cham will try to shoot it from the bottom or from the side of the cup..
That wouldn't work, would it ?


Do this often enough.. and try your best to put the cup in ONE spot over and over and over again.
overtime with patience, whenever feeding time arrives, you will see him standing on the same spot waiting for you to come with the cup..
by then, you might change the clear cup to the not-clear cup i dunno the english for that.. lol i'm not a native speaker.. as u might notice from my lame grammar.

 

[Geckoxp]

Thank to the both of you for the info....I will try and see what happens and if all works out he will be eating some worms...the pic doesnt give Izzy any justice as my camera isn't the greatest but it works. I should hear something by tomorrow from the Kammers about another panther...I think I am going to go with a baby as the larger ones are a little bit harder to come by and I think I am alright getting another small cage and setting it all up again for a baby...plus its a lot of fun watching them grow the way they do.

Thanks again for the info!