How to get my picky eater back onto roaches

[Jefe The Chameleon]

I have a dubia colony but my Panther chameleon hasn't eaten them in months (he is about 10-11 months old). He was crazy for them when he was little, but now he only eats an occasional cricket and a few superworms every other day (all are gutloaded by the way). He is the pickiest eater. It is beginning to really frustrate me. Is there any way to get him to eat the roaches again?

He won't eat:

• Butterworms
• Sometimes crickets
• Waxworms
• My roaches
• Hornworms (he wasn't too big of a fan of them but overtime he ate some. They are too expensive for me to regularly feed him and breeding them isn't an option)
• Basically everything.

I am just tired of him not eating like he use to. He use to eat anything, now he doesn't eat much at all. It is actually exciting when he eats because its such a rare site. He is perfectly healthy which is the confusing part.

 

[hkitchen]

Silkworms?

 

[Jefe The Chameleon]

Silkworms?

I am thinking about it but they don't seem very active

 

[NERVOUS]

How often are you feeding him?

 

[Virgil1972]

What @NERVOUS said and also how big are the ones you are trying to feed him. Mine is picky about the size. If they are to big mine will not even look at them.

 

[mcanham]

Hold off on feeding for a few days and then offer them. An adult male that's healthy will go a week with no problem. Usually you can break that habit.

 

[gotwqqd]

Maybe getting close to mature so growth dropping
Requiring less food

 

[Jefe The Chameleon]

What @NERVOUS said and also how big are the ones you are trying to feed him. Mine is picky about the size. If they are to big mine will not even look at them.

I feed him adult superworms (he takes those), and roaches that are about the size of a cricket (or smaller). I can try smaller and see how that goes.

 

[Jefe The Chameleon]

How often are you feeding him?

I offer food every day or other day if I am not home before he goes to sleep. He wakes up at 7 in the morning and goes to sleep at 7ish at night.

 

[Jefe The Chameleon]

Hold off on feeding for a few days and then offer them. An adult male that's healthy will go a week with no problem. Usually you can break that habit.

He has gone a while while striking but I don't know the exact amount of days. Should I offer him roaches everyday and nothing else until he eats them?

 

[NERVOUS]

Should I offer him roaches everyday and nothing else until he eats them?

That's certainly one way to force the issue, but it might be easier to increase the variety (i.e. roaches of different sizes, different species, etc) or changing your feeding schedule (i.e. offering food 5-days per week instead of everyday).

Just curious, but have you tried offering an adult male Dubia before?

Also, I recently switched to a 5-days per week feeding schedule. I was feeding every day before, but I noticed a decrease in my Cham's feeding instinct. The change in schedule has definitely increased his responsiveness to food items.

Best of luck.

 

[mcanham]

He has gone a while while striking but I don't know the exact amount of days. Should I offer him roaches everyday and nothing else until he eats them?

Sorry for late response, I would offer nothing for several days and them occasionally offer Dubia until he eats them.

 

[Jefe The Chameleon]

That's certainly one way to force the issue, but it might be easier to increase the variety (i.e. roaches of different sizes, different species, etc) or changing your feeding schedule (i.e. offering food 5-days per week instead of everyday).

Just curious, but have you tried offering an adult male Dubia before?

Also, I recently switched to a 5-days per week feeding schedule. I was feeding every day before, but I noticed a decrease in my Cham's feeding instinct. The change in schedule has definitely increased his responsiveness to food items.

Best of luck.

The adult male would be way too big plus I am low on males.

 

[Jefe The Chameleon]

That's certainly one way to force the issue, but it might be easier to increase the variety (i.e. roaches of different sizes, different species, etc) or changing your feeding schedule (i.e. offering food 5-days per week instead of everyday).

Just curious, but have you tried offering an adult male Dubia before?

Also, I recently switched to a 5-days per week feeding schedule. I was feeding every day before, but I noticed a decrease in my Cham's feeding instinct. The change in schedule has definitely increased his responsiveness to food items.

Best of luck.

I am not sure where to get different species that are non-invasive. I was looking at the Madagascar Hissing Roaches but they are pricey and breed slowly.

 

[Jefe The Chameleon]

They are about halfway grown.

 

[nightanole]

From my experience:

Adults will only need/eat an adult dubia every 2-3 days, once in a blue moon he might eat 2.
Males with wings are his favorite
He will only eat them from the end of tongs, he will not hand feed dubias (guess they dont wiggle in the hand?)

 

[MSMorgan]

Jefe,

Welcome the forums. As indicated above, hold off for a few days and then offer the dubia. He may strike. If not, a super worm or two and then hold off for a few more days and try again. Like mcaham has posted, a healthy adult male can go a week without a bug.

 

[Alexander1]

My make adult has gone 2 weeks easy without eating drives me insane........BUT it's always a good idea to get a fecal to keep an eye on his parasite load

 

[mvad]

Nick Barta might chime in with advise. Ever look into banana roaches?

 

[Jefe The Chameleon]

Nick Barta might chime in with advise. Ever look into banana roaches?

Nah, I have a colony of Dubias so thats why I am asking.