How to force feed?

[sidekick101]

Took little man to the vet. Both eyes are closed now. Bet figures vit a deficiency and have eye drops. He hasn't eaten in about a week. How do I go about feeding him? I mist 30 min every night and a few times durning the day with mist king to keep him hydrated.

 

[Andee]

Depends, are you thinking about going the liquid food route? Or trying to do a whole feeder?

 

[sidekick101]

He loves supers and crickets. Willing to try while first

 

[Jmay25]

I had a blind chameleon, I found that if you tap both sides of their mouths (kind of like a pinch, but with no pressure) they will open their mouth and try to hiss out you. I then would ton a super worm in his mouth. After a while he learned that i would feed him every time i held him and i no longer needed to tap his mouth. Hope this helps, Good luck!

 

[kinyonga]

Use a dripper to get the chameleon drinking and then while the mouth is opening and shutting to drink, stick a cricket head first between the teeth as it drinks. The chameleon should chew and swallow it. IMHO that's the least stressful way of doing it.

Please tell us what supplements specifically you use and how often for each? Also, what do you feed/gutload the insects with? Do you have a UVB light? Have you replaced it lately?

 

[Andee]

I agree the above methods work for certain chameleons, certain chameleons they don't work for. It often depends on what your cham is ok with and what works for him best. ^^ There are so many ways I have tried. Definitely answer Kinyoga's questions something in the husbandry may have caused his eye issues. It may not be a vit A deficiency and it might be. But if there is something in your husbandry that is a bit off that could prevent this from happening in the future it is usually a relatively easy fix. Keep going and often soft bodied feeders are good to force feed with as far as whole feeders to. They are less intrusive sometimes ^^

 

[sidekick101]

Hey. Thanks all. Rubbing the sides of the mouth worked. Got hold of the old owner. Def a suppliment issue. They thought it was no d3 calcium 1 time a week and that was it. Got four gut loaded supers dusted with multi vit in. Rest of the week will be Reg cal with no d3. And next thur will be d3. Posted the info in the past and was told all was good. Only reason I'm not going through it again. Thanks all

 

[Andee]

Just keep babying him while he's recovering, trust me he may hate it now and get grumpy, but I feel afterwards most of my rescues almost seem to realize what I went through with them XD. I usually have a really good relationship with my rescues once they are healthy ^^