How quickly should I expect my panther chameleon to eat?

[sanitysake]

Hello everyone, I'm a first time chameleon owner and I have a question about feeding...

So, about five days ago I brought home a captive bred sub/adult male panther chameleon (8-10mo old), he's settled in fine and eats. I feed him dubia roaches every morning, I set them down in his cage near him within sight, one at a time. I stand back a couple feet and watch so they don't escape into the plants.

However, he seems to have been eating less and less each day - he ate 4 roaches the first day, 3 roaches the next, yesterday he ate 2, and today he only ate 1.

It usually takes him a while (15-20min or so) to eat one after the other. Is this normal? How quickly should I expect him to be consuming his food?

I spend about an hour and a half total trying to get him to eat

Room temperature is usually 75-83F and I mist thoroughly every morning before feeding.

 

[jamjam]

im fairly new to chams myself and my guy isnt quite that old yet but seems hes about that age when his eating is slowing down some people may feed every other day or two. than there are other members like sandrachameleon who decides to feed small amounts of prey each and everyday and she actually tracks it so ill find the link and show you if that seems a bit right

 

[jamjam]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/819-panther-prey-consumption-log-july-2013.html

thats one months example theres many more, and plenty other great topis in her blog especially for gutloading.

 

[OwenPowell]

He may also just not like the roaches too much.
My panther, for example loves his super worms and crickets, but isn't too fond of the dubias. He will eat 2-3 in a sitting if he's hungry enough, and usually one right after the other, but it's a bit of a fight to get him to eat them so I tend to stick to crickets mainly.

 

[Bush baby]

Feeding every other day is usually preferred. It mimics more of what happens in nature, where a cham has to look for it's food and doesn't find prey everyday.

Dubias are pretty filling, so eating just a few good sized roaches is quite normal. When you first fed him, maybe he hadn't eaten for a day or two prior and gorged on them when you fed him. Now that he's noticing you're feeding him regularly, he doesn't feel the need to jump at prey because he knows he's being fed regularly.

Try variety. BB Flies, Superworms, crickets, wax, silk, horn and butter worms

 

[ZiggyStardust]

Hi as Bush Baby says, try and vary his food. Chams can quickly get bored with one prey item and it is also better for them nutritionally if they have variety. You should ideally be feeding between 3 and 4 different insects regularly. Try super worms, silk worms if you can get them (my boy absolutely loves them), juvenile locust are also a good feeder, calci worms are very high in calcium and are great, with wax worms once a week as a treat.

 

[sanitysake]

Wow, thank you for the responses! I'll keep an eye on his food consumption every day and try to change up the insects he gets. I think it might be that he was really hungry when i brought him home. i'm feeding him decent sized roaches..so i guess just eating two-ish a day isn't too less.

 

[jamjam]

remember variety though!

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. A good variety of well gut loaded feeders is a must for a healthy chameleon. If you only have one chameleon you might like the value packs at lindasgonebuggy.com. She gives you 4 or 5 different feeders in small amounts for like $20.00. You might find my blog for new keepers helpful.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

 

[sanitysake]

Thanks jannb, that's awesome. I'm going to look into that it seems like a great option!