How to make a feeding cup?

[RobandJess]

We have a very large cage for our baby cham and we are trying to come up with a better way to feed him. He loves to hunt but it can be time consuming for us to place the crickets and worms in close range to him they tend to move away before he can catch them and since we are both working all day we want to try cup feeding with him so he has enough food at all times. what is the best way to make a feeding cup? we were thinking of taking a plastic cup, cutting out the bottom and replace it with screen so the crickets can crawl..i have also seen the screen on the side but i am afraid it will be too easy for the crickets to crawl out. any suggestions?

 

[Silkyslim]

We have a very large cage for our baby cham and we are trying to come up with a better way to feed him. He loves to hunt but it can be time consuming for us to place the crickets and worms in close range to him they tend to move away before he can catch them and since we are both working all day we want to try cup feeding with him so he has enough food at all times. what is the best way to make a feeding cup? we were thinking of taking a plastic cup, cutting out the bottom and replace it with screen so the crickets can crawl..i have also seen the screen on the side but i am afraid it will be too easy for the crickets to crawl out. any suggestions?

Check out this thread: https://www.chameleonforums.com/modified-milk-jug-feeding-cup-40365/

 

[sandrachameleon]

Hang a bowl under a favourite branch, or afix to the side of the cage in a place the chameleon can look down into it. Its okay to have two or three feeding bowles in different places too, if your cage is a good size. Bowl should be opaque, not see-through. A big bowl is similar to free-range, in that the chameleon will have to aim at a moving target. A deep bowl is more likely to keep jumping crickets contained.

 

[ajacobson]

I use a taller, but still smaller sized tupperware container. Make sure it isn't clear though. Chams will shoot their tongues at the container because they don't get the see-thru thing.

 

[gaxmode]

I use a rubbermaid with front cut out and mesh hot glued to the back. don't really have a problem with crickets escaping.

 

[RobandJess]

Thank you guys...we built a cup yesterday and will see how it goes.

 

[gaxmode]

Leave it for a few days, after about 2 my old veiled took to it, my panther, however, refuses. He will only free range. Goodluck.

 

[jannb]

Here are a few of my feeder cups. I use the tall one for dubia and crickets and the short one and the bowls for worms.

 

[RobandJess]

Here are some pics of our current set-up with our new feeding cup...Bob (our cham) has already used it on his first day...we are so proud...lol

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Silkyslim]

What is that "wall" on the back of your enclosure, I totally want one of those! Just don't know what or where they are availble for purchase. Nice looking enclosure though....I like it better than mine!

 

[RobandJess]

Thanks silkyslim! The background is made out of styrofoam. You can get it in reptile stores or online. The one we have is from exo-terra (see link below)

http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/background.php

Our cham walks on there and it gives the whole enclosure a really cool look. In the beginning we had some problems with crickets getting behind it because the plates have cutouts for wires and tubes in the back but we glued some screen in front and were able to solve the problem.

We have two 24x24 background plates on top of each other for our terrarium.

Hope this helps...

 

[bigwigwabbit]

heres one I made up in about 20min, after reading the thread Silkyslim posted and watching this vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_od47TlbXA

I did pretty much the same thing as the guy in the video accept instead of screen on the back for the crickets to climb I just sanded it down with some sand paper I had so that there are no worries of the cham hurting his tongue on it. I also taped the edges up with ducktape for the same reason.

 

[Symbiot]

There's some great ideas for feeding cups in this thread. I have the same problem as you. My new baby ambilobe's cage is a bit too big for him as well. Reminded me that I need to make a feeder cup of some sort for him in his cage. I'll take some of the ideas here and work on it tomorrow.

 

[RobandJess]

So Bob is loving his new feeding cup which makes our lives much easier..he still free ranges and has fun with it, but it is good to know that he finds his food when we are not there..

 

[Tony_S]

Here are a few of my feeder cups. I use the tall one for dubia and crickets and the short one and the bowls for worms.

@jannb

I know this is a old thread, but is that a Dole Fruit/Applesauce Cup?

I'm thinking of doing something like this for my 1/4" dubia and have it hanging off of the front of my camo feeder run so that my little guy can see them better.

I'll try anything to get him to eat Dubia's instead of crickets.

 

[jannb]

Yes, that’s a fruit cup. Not to disappoint you but I’ve found allot of chameleons don’t like roaches.

 

[Tony_S]

Yes, that’s a fruit cup. Not to disappoint you but I’ve found allot of chameleons don’t like roaches.

Thanks, he's eaten a couple that actually were dumb enough to climb up the green net(run) of the feeder cup. At least they were missing when I did a headcount later on in the day after seeing them up on the green net part of the run.

So I'm not sure if he doesn't like them or just can't tell they are down there hiding.

The crickets climb up to the top of the netting as soon as I put them in and start playing their own version of king of the hill which gets Peri all excited.

 

[Ramrod]

Here is one I made out of 3" pvc pipe. Cap the bottom and drill couple holes for drainage.
Used 2 way tape to attach mesh on back but you could hot glue.

 

[Tony_S]

Here is one I made out of 3" pvc pipe. Cap the bottom and drill couple holes for drainage.
Used 2 way tape to attach mesh on back but you could hot glue.

This is pretty much exactly what I'm using from full throttle feeders
https://www.fullthrottlefeeders.com/product-page/3-magnetic-camo-grid-cup

But they group up at the bottom towards the front so you can only see them if you look straight down into the bottom of it.

 

[Ramrod]

Yeah, mine is used to it so if he does not see anything crawling on the screen he will stick his head in to see if there is anything hiding on the bottom. Eventually the crickets will jump out and then it's game on.