Hi, I am not new to reptiles but I am new to chameleons. I have a 4 week old veiled cham (purchased him when he was 1 week old...I know that is young but I have done enough research that I am confident I can raise him healthy). So as everyone else probably did, I made his cage very dense with foliage and vines and sticks, I was feeding him by just putting 10-15 crickets in there with enough time in the day for him to hopefully get most of them. I was worried that because of all the hiding spots I would not be able to get all of the crickets out or see them before night. So I went and bought a decent sized aquarium and filled it just like his other cage. I put the same amount of crickets in there and give him about 2 hours or so in there to hunt. I know that cup feeding is what a lot of people do but I really want him to still be able to hunt. Is this an ok method or should I work on getting him used to being cup fed?
Is my method of feeding ok?
- Thread starter TTK
- Start date
NvC Dex
New Member
I put my crickets in a cup but they jump out sometimes and then my chams hunt them down. I don't see why it would be bad for them to hunt I mean that's what they do in the wild. But i give mine the option to cup feed if they are quick enough to eat before they jump out into the enclosure.
zlew
Member
As long as he's still eating, I don't see any problem with it. Sometimes moving around places too much can be very stressful, but if it doesn't seem to bother him then it should be fine. It will also probably help with him being more social and coming out of the cage. Only thing I can think of is that he might be losing some UVB lamp time when he's out of his cage, and time to thermoregulate, although he can probably just bask when he gets back in his cage. I would switch his uvb lamp over to the hunting tank when he's in there, just for good measure.
JaxyGirl
Avid Member
My little male free ranges now but he started out in his baby cage. When he was used to that I started leting him out onto his free range but then I would put him back in his baby cage to eat and drink and he was fine with it. However, my female is too timid and she would never go for that. I think if your Cham is ok with switching cages to eat and it doesn't stress him out that then it's probably ok. It's surprising how easily some chams can adjust to a certain routine while others would be really stressed out.
Thank you, my one concern is that every since I have started doing this his color has been darker. I don't know if it is just because he is basking or if he is stressed. I don't think it is stress because he eats very well.in the hunting cage and is very active but I don't know.he is not grey or anything but he is a very dark green.
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