hand feeding... again lol

[shannond81391]

i posted a thread two days ago about hand feeding. i tried yesterday, this morning, and like 5 minutes ago. no success. but is hand feeding that essential? i feel that my cham is pretty comfortable already. he walks out on my hand and never puffs/hisses. i just think he doesnt like to have my hand in the cage when he eats. should i keep trying? or will this soon stress him out?

 

[desultadox]

What are you trying to accomplish? I imagine you hope this will make your cham more tame. Some chameleons are pretty hard to hand feed. What bugs have you tries? Silkworms seem to be the best for me because chams go crazy for em and you don't really have to hold on to them (they'll hold on to you!). Also, you should extend your hand straight in front of you and be directly in front of the chameleon, this way he can see what all parts of you are doing while he focuses in on the prey. If he doesn't have both eyes on the prize, he won't be able to get it.

 

[shannond81391]

yea ive been trying that. and yea ive been trying with silkies. i just wanted to make sure that it wont make like a big difference if he hand feeds or not. im trying everything so hopefully he'll start to get used to it. thanks

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Hand feeding is in no way essential.

-Brad

 

[Sepioteuthis]

No, handfeeding is not essential, but I do think it's useful. I 'train' all my chameleons to accept food from my hand because it provides me with an easy way to lure them out of their cage when necessary without pissing them off.

Personally, I haven't had a chameleon yet that wouldn't eat from my hand. I may just be lucky though.

Eric's post gives some very good hand feeding techniques:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-did-you-get-9624/index3.html#post81813

Suzanne

 

[shannond81391]

thank you all. i got him to eat 3 silkies out of my hand(throughout the day) from everyones helpful hints. very happy i guess the patience payed off wiht this. thanks again everyone!

 

[ken2414]

i tried giving him one cricket a day and that worked for my baby veiled. i feed him all his food. just don't move at all and dont try to stare at your cham.

 

[rocketman]

i just let them hunt mine lol!!

 

[ken2414]

yesss... that is fun too but i do all three: hunt, hand and cup like most. its good to have more than one way to feed your cham.