I am not a fish person, but are there live fish foods that could be used for the little guys?
CHEERS!
Nick
CHEERS!
Nick
Furcifer Campani Hatching - Canvas Chameleons
- Thread starter NHenn
- Start date
Chase
Chameleon Enthusiast
Maybe you could try the gold colored hydei, I think I got mine from Josh's Frogs? I've used them before and it helped my babies start eating.
Chase
kplatvoet
Member
It's great baby one is eating - hopefully you'll catch baby two eating soon too- using aphids was a great idea- I was reading on how much the bigger guys like green banana roaches- and the color might be a factor - though you and Carl would know way more about that than I would. I'm just really excited for you- seems like PA is going to be the small chameleon capital -
kdc5019
New Member
NHenn
Avid Member
I will have to try this and see if I can't get any little feeders. Right now I have some Isopods and springtails which I assume will be very similar to what I would get from the woods. The problem is they like to hide down in the substrate and only really come out when it is dark so most of the time they little ones will never even see them.
NHenn
Avid Member
Yep these were my first choice as I know most babies will destroy fruit flies. The smaller species is the Drosophila Melanogaster but even they are not small enough. They might be able to eat one if they would really try but honestly the fruit flies are about the size of their heads hahaha.
Right now Aphids seem to be working well with the older one as I've seen her eat quite a few already. She usually picks out the ones that are younger as even the adults aphids are too big for her. I will have to upload some more pictures soon to really try and show their size in reference to something.
fluxlizard
Avid Member
Change your setup for a month or so while the little guys grow.
Bare bottom glass tank or plastic tub and tiny insects cannot hide. Or probably better- use a petri dish for feeders (I use deep petris sometimes- they make an extra deep dish that works really well for baby chams. The walls are tall enough to keep tiny feeders in, but not too tall so as to keep tiny chameleons out). The petris are plastic. I "dust" the dish with calcium really well- not only the bottom but more importantly the sides. I just "dry wash" it with calcium powder- put a pinch in there and roll it around everywhere along the sides really thoroughly so any tiny cracks get filled in and coated- makes it slippery and difficult for even ready climbers like lobster roaches to escape. At the very least it slows them down so the window of opportunity for feeding is several hours instead of a few minutes. Then put your feeders in and mount it up near the chams. To attract new baby chams to the dish- I get a twig several inches long, prop it between a bottom corner of the dish and a plant or twig somewhere above. Some of the feeders will select this easy climb and start making their way out of the dish and along the twig- this attracts baby chams to eat and they can get as close as they want. I prop the twtw into a plant or twigs that is close to some of the baby chameleons so insects climbing the twig get noticed by the lizards. Once they reach plant leaves, the insects tend to park it and slow down- making them available for hours in the leaves, on the twig and in the dish all at the same time- not all the insects want to climb out of the dish on the twig. Some of anything I've ever tried end up remaining in the dish for hours or even until the next day when I am ready to empty the dish and feed something else.
Just an idea for feeders that like to "dissappear". I use baby lobster roaches all the time for baby chams, and they definately like to dissappear into substrate, and are nocturnal, etc. But this method keeps them available. Campani babies are tiny but same principles should apply. If not- go bare bottom tank for a while until they are a little larger...
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fluxlizard
Avid Member
video link of my baby jacksons using "dusted petri dish" with twig wedged into corner of dish and onto plant above setup. I had a WC female jackson's chameleon drop 4 babies and a bunch of slugs the week before thanksgiving and I've been raising the babies this past month in an adult sized 2'x2'x3' cage using this method of feeding- they figured it out pretty quickly and go to the dish to eat even in this "huge for babies" sized enclosure. The twig allows the insects to roam up into the plant a few at a time also for the babies that are a little slow figuring things out, but they are soon attracted to the twig and then the dish. This week the lizards have become large enough now that I don't need the twig any more- they just go down and eat from the dish directly. The dusted walls of the dish keep even baby lobster roaches contained for the most part, but the day I made this video I was feeding baby mealworms. The mealworms, as you can see behind the tail of the lizard, also crawl up the twig occasionally. In this case the chameleon is actually on the feeding twig itself, which runs down to the bottom corner of the petri dish, which of course, is fine.
http://livingwithlizards.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/VID_20141205_181651_144.mp4?_=9
http://livingwithlizards.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/VID_20141205_181651_144.mp4?_=9
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NHenn
Avid Member
I was actually going to try something like that with a really low dish. Right now they are in an 8x8x8 cube and the bottom 2" or so is substrate so their setup is extremely small which does help with them being able to see and find feeders. I think once I get over this first hump with getting them eating and growing it will become very easy as there are tons of options for feeders that are the next size up
JamesBryan
Member
They are so cool!
frankpayne32
Avid Member
Just amazing! Is the second one eating yet? How's the third egg coming along?
Chris Anderson
Dr. House of Chameleons
Great shots. They really are quite tiny!
Best of luck!
Chris
Best of luck!
Chris
NHenn
Avid Member
I haven't seen the second on eat yet but today is day 4 which is when the first one started to eat so hopefully soon I will catch her snatching up some food.
The third egg looks to have just started to sweat a little bit so I will keep you posted on how it is doing.
NHenn
Avid Member
Thanks Chris!
