Help , my Panther Chameleon not eating

[Maksim]

Hi every one , I'm new here so I did read related posts but it didn't answer some questions. So if any one knows what to do please help. I have 15 month old gorgeous panther Chameleon that was on the Cricket diet , but because of the smell I switched to super worms . Later I found out that's not a good died for Chameleon so I started Dubia colony that by now is very decent size. His cage is 24-24-48 with two reptifoggers , 2 reptisun 5.0 lights and a reptisun basking light , monsoon rs400. All temps and humidity are perfect. I tried to set the roaches on the screen cage and let them run around but nothing he just looks at them, tried cup also nothing , tried with tongs also nothing. He hasn't eaten in 5 days now . I had almost same problem when switching from worms back to crickets. I tried to cheat and place a worm in front of roach to get him to eat and he will go for a worm but still 0 emotions on the dubia. What can I do , going back to crickets is not an option since the runaways has infested the apartment last time and I almost got kicked out. Pleas help.

 

[pssh]

Well, when chameleons are fed superworms too often, they can become "addicted" to them. They will often refuse all other food unless they are starved. If he is healthy, he is old enough that you can continue to starve him and offer dubia/crickets/other worms every few days. He wont starve himself too much and will eventually eat other items when he gets hungry enough. A healthy adult animal can go a month or more without eating and still be okay. I suggest weighing him weekly to make sure he doesnt lose too much weight, and continue to offer healthier insects until he takes some.

It also helps if you flip the dubia over so that they kick their legs around, or only feed the freshly molted white ones at first. He may also just be a chameleon that doesnt like dubia, so you need to have other prey choices on hand too.

 

[Maksim]

Thank you so much for your help.

 

[Maksim]

I seen him eating dirt from a flower pot in his cage and still not eating Dubias

 

[Kate]

Cover the pot with large rocks or netting to stop him

 

[Maksim]

Still not eating at all , tried all the tricks to get him to eat dubias but no luck.

 

[Tazjunky]

You say you have 2x reptisuns, can I ask why? Surely if you have 2 tubes and a basking light then there can't be an adequate photogradiant at the tip of the cage? I know there have been a few people over here in the UK that have had the same issue with Chams losing appetite etc and jigging the lighting so that the uv and basking light are towards one side of the mesh roof has worked wonders. Maybe you could change one of the 5% to a 2% so that there is a bit variation at the top?

 

[Maksim]

Interesting thought ,

 

[Maksim]

 

[Maksim]

I took one out left only 12" tube