Getting a chameleon to eat from a feeder bowl

Jakedn

Jakedn

New Member
I can not entice Waldo to eat out of his feeder bowl. I've tried many different feeder bowls of all different colors. What are your guys' methods to entice a chameleon to start feeding from a feeder bowl. Because as of right now Waldo only eats from my hand or if it is free ranged. If I free range them, I worry about if a cricket that was left in could start gnawing on him. If I hand feed him, it becomes tiresome and tedious to hand feed 10-15 crickets a day. So the best option in my case would be a feeder bowl, but he refuses to eat from one unless he is outside of his cage and perched on my hand.

Any suggestions are appreciated,
Jake
 
hey

i cant say ive ever had this problem because my female veiled eats like a horse haha but when i first brought her home she was a bit hesitant of the feeder bowl. im using a clear plastic deli cup and it took her a while to figure out that she has to go above the dish and her tongue cant go through it pretty pathetic i know.

i had a viv for my girl at first but switched to a free range pothos so try giving that a shot. SHE KNOWS WHEN ITS FEEDING TIME. ive never seen a cham move so fast in my life when i pull out the mealies shes on a death trip coming down those vines.

you can usually find a pothos for pretty cheap. i got mine which is about 5' long for 6 bucks at a local nursery but good luck with the lighting.
:D
 
Where are you positioning your bowl, or how are you handling it? (Is it easy for Waldo to see in the bowl, and that there are bugs in there?) Have you tried a halfway approach (carry the bowl over; pick up a cricket from it, hold it out and let him take it; tilt the bowl so he can see there are more bugs inside; hold it out for him to select his own; place it in the cage while he's watching [or pour bugs from it into the bowl in his cage, depending on your set-up])? Maybe if you combine hand feeding and bowl feeding a couple of times he'll learn to look for the bugs in the bowl and you can slowly phase out the hand feeding.
 
hallenhe said:
Where are you positioning your bowl, or how are you handling it? (Is it easy for Waldo to see in the bowl, and that there are bugs in there?) Have you tried a halfway approach (carry the bowl over; pick up a cricket from it, hold it out and let him take it; tilt the bowl so he can see there are more bugs inside; hold it out for him to select his own; place it in the cage while he's watching [or pour bugs from it into the bowl in his cage, depending on your set-up])? Maybe if you combine hand feeding and bowl feeding a couple of times he'll learn to look for the bugs in the bowl and you can slowly phase out the hand feeding.
Click to expand...

Great suggestions hallenhe. I'll give these a try, thanks :D.
 
you should be really patient. if you chameleon is hungry enough i couldnt imagine him not going for crickets in a bowl. let him eat on his own time maybe
 
Find a food your chameleon is super addicted to. My panther chams. love superworms. They never will eat out of feeder cups. The only time is when I put superworms in them.
 
Choose one feeding cup and stick to it. Familiarise Waldo with it by hanging it close to his favorit basking spot, with the rim level or just below the basking perch and leave it there at all times empty or not.
Your lizard will become used to it and cease seeing it as a threat (if thats the case).
Each day put one or two insects of different type into it.
Eventually you will find he associates it with food and begins to eat from it.
Crickets and hopping bugs are in my opinion, not truely suited to this feeding tecknique and are best free roamed.
Try worms of different kinds avail to you.
Feeding crickets with a cup generally requires larger bulkier (and therefore more 'space intrusive' (visually upsetting) cup designs like deeper milk cartons etc.
I found a relatively shallow and wide cup, suspended below a basking perch to be less intrusive for the lizard (not to mention more aesthetically appealing to me :)) and the lizard more incline to approach something below (and smaller than) itself.
:)
 
What i do is when i have time i have a white bowl that the crix can't jump out of but usually I hold Zap's over the bowl and well he eats from there or when i go to school in the morning i just put the bowl on the bottom and when he's hungry, he climbs down to it and hangs on a branch upside down the catch his meal :) I dont free range the crix just in case the crix get out or hide, or if Zap's can't find them. But the feeder bowl is just a routine for me.
P.S. I keep the bowl in the same general area so he knows where it is.
Hope this helped...

-tyler
 
lol i dont want to jack this thread and change the subject but for now if you guys wanna talk about the fan club pm me.

On the other hand
I really think the cups Jann made so if you guys wanna view my video you can make some very useful cups
 
Both of my chameleons eat from my hand they wont eat from bowls idk how the whole bowl thing works but they take whatever out of my hands :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Gecky
He tries to eat my fingers. Is he ok?
Replies
3
Views
456
Gecky
Gecky
FreeJovan
Should I give my new Cham non gut loaded crickets or skip a feeding for today? Help
2
Replies
25
Views
1K
M&M
M&M
Arabella2424
Not eating from a cup
Replies
13
Views
556
Arabella2424
Arabella2424
Kx2+cham
Will not eat if it is not in my hand…
2
Replies
27
Views
1K
Steve A
Steve A
sketchtone
not eating still :/
2
Replies
36
Views
2K
Beman
Beman
Back
Top Bottom