My cham won't eat :(

[Veild Cham Owner]

• Your Chameleon - Veild, male, 10 months (we think), I got him in Febuary 2016, the pet store said he was about 2-3 months but bc he was so tiny we assumed he was only 2.
• Handling - Everyday, he will scratch at the cage door untill I let him out in his free range.
• Feeding - I feed him large crx on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He usually eats about 7 but has decreased to 0 . The days he doesn't eat crx he was supers and fruits and veggies. He also on occasions will eat hornworms. I gut load with fruits and veggies at my house mainly kale, romaine lettuce, strawberries, Apple, carrots and broccoli.
• Supplements - I dust crx everyday with calcium w/o d3 everyday but on Sunday's he switches off from d3 to multivitamins everyother Sunday. I use reptical or his calciums and I use rep-cal for multi
• Watering - I have an automatic mister. It goes off for one min everyother hour (the misters r pretty strong so it gets everything soaked in one min) when I see he is dehydrated I bring it up to 2 mins everyother hour. It turns on at 6am and turns off at 6:15pm I have seen him drink maybe like 5 times but Ik he is hydrated by his urine.
• Fecal Description - Poop is brown and solid and his urine is white. Sometimes it will be yellow but I will just up his misting. yes I had him tested for parasites when he was about 6 months and he had none!!
• History - i bought him from my local petstore. He was basically starved and ate about 20 crx a day for about a month then slowed down to 15 now he eats about 7. He is such a sweetheart, he loves to be socialized with, loves being held by my friends and family and loves to be out of his cage. He even doesn't seem to mind my dog!! He is insanely active and the only time he stops is to bask and when he starts get get tired around 5pm.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - He is in a screen repibreeze cage. 4ft tall 2 ft wide and 2 ft deep
• Lighting - he has 3 lights, two 75 watt heat bulbs and one 10.0 uvb bulb. I also bring him to bask the natural sunlight almost everyday at my window (I keep it open when I do that but I will have to stop soon bc it it starting to get cold ) I also bring him out a lot during the summer. his uvb Light turns on at 5:40am and his two 75's turn on at 5:55am bc i have school at 7:30am. All turn off at 6:10pm
• Temperature - His basking temp is about 85 but when he sits there long enough he gets hot and moves down the cage or starts to move around a lil bit. My room is about 75 so that is about what the bottom of the cage is. The lowest it gets in my house over night is 63 then the heat turns on to get it warmer. I have a temperature reader In there.
• Humidity - it usually stays Inbetween 70%-80% in his cage. I have the mister going off to keep it humid and the plants keep it humid. I have a lil humidor hanging on one of the vines.
• Plants - yes I use live plants. I have 3 big golden Pothos in there that he will on occasion munch on. I also have fake leave hanging on the side to catch some water and fake vines. I also have real sticks I collected form outside and him to climb on. I also have bird ladders in his cage to climb on lol
• Placement - His cage is in my room. I do keep a fan on but I only put it on at night to help me sleep and durring the summer I will have it on for a couple hours but only when it gets over 95 degrees outside. his cage is on top of an old coffee table wich is on top of a vent but that vent sucks up dust in my room so nothing gets blasted on him. I'd say the top of his cage is at 6 ft.
• Location - we live in Massachusetts.

Ok now the problem. About a month ago I noticed that Castiel was starting to eat only about 7-9 crx everytime he ate instead of his normal 10-15. I didn't really bother me that much bc I know that as the get older they eat less and less. About a week ago he only was eating 4 crx and now he eats almost nothing. Friday he ate 1, Sunday he ate 0 and today he ate 2. He went through this when he was about six months he brought him to the vet but they said I was over feed g and I just need to slow down his eating. He will eat worms and fruit but I really want him to get back on eating crx. Should I be worried at all?

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

I forgot to add. This morning when he pooped it sounded like a fart like he was releasing gas...could he be gassy and causing him to have discomfort and not eat?

 

[Carlton]

He may just be bored with crix, as you say he does still eat other feeders. Also, at his age his metabolism/growth rate has slowed down a lot so he's not as hungry. We are also heading into winter and the light intensity (even though he's indoors), daylength, and general temperatures are also affecting him. I doubt there are any effects from gas. It could be because he eats a lot of plant material. Doesn't sound too awful to me. Don't feed him every day. A bit of hunger and a change to other feeders might pick up his appetite.

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

He may just be bored with crx, as you say he does still eat other feeders. Also, at his age his metabolism/growth rate has slowed down a lot so he's not as hungry. We are also heading into winter and the light intensity (even though he's indoors), daylength, and general temperatures are also affecting him. I doubt there are any effects from gas. It could be because he eats a lot of plant material. Doesn't sound too awful to me. Don't feed him every day. A bit of hunger and a change to other feeders might pick up his appetite.

yes i dont feed him everyday, i have been doing that ever since he was 6 months lol. thanks for the help!! i think between him being bored of his crx and him getting bigger thats why he wont eat as much. Wednesday he ate 8 crx and today he ate 3 crx before i went to school. I added some more and put some in free range for him to chase around. I am looking into getting some grasshoppers, breeding them and feeding them to him every other week. One week crx and the other grasshoppers just to change things up do u know of any website i can buy them off of? if not i will have to wait until next summer but its ok!!

 

[WAMBO]

I don't know much about hoppers, but I wanted to say that your cham looks great!

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

I don't know much about hoppers, but I wanted to say that your cham looks great!

he has eaten them before and he likes them a lot, but thank you!!

 

[Carlton]

Grasshoppers are an agricultural pest and I doubt there is anyone with the permits to ship them commercially. I don't think I've ever seen them offered by insect dealers because of that, but you could try looking on educational biological supply houses such as Carolina Biological. Be careful, as there are a couple of grasshoppers to avoid if I remember right (something called a "lubber" for example).

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Supper hydrate and feed something new! Sone thing he has not had before! They love variety! Also when they go through puberty they act like that!

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

My boy is going through puberty, he's just a little bit younger, but he's being a stubborn eater lately too. Between the weather change and the age he's been on a semi feeding strike. He paces and grumps at me which is very out of character for him! I'm trying not to give in to his low appetite because he's eating some just not much. He's refused pretty much everything except crickets and hornworms lately...

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

Grasshoppers are an agricultural pest and I doubt there is anyone with the permits to ship them commercially. I don't think I've ever seen them offered by insect dealers because of that, but you could try looking on educational biological supply houses such as Carolina Biological. Be careful, as there are a couple of grasshoppers to avoid if I remember right (something called a "lubber" for example).

Ok, I will wait u till next summer to get them then. I don't wnat to risk any chances. There are a bunch at my barn and Ik of a feild with lots of tall grass I can look there

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

Supper hydrate and feed something new! Sone thing he has not had before! They love variety! Also when they go through puberty they act like that!

He is actually pretty good with hydrating himself bc I never seen him drink!! His pee is always white and his eyes r never sunken in!! He is Turning 11 months soon so he probs is in "mid stage purperty" lol. He tends to hump me everyone once and a while and is very grumpy so that might be the problem

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

My boy is going through puberty, he's just a little bit younger, but he's being a stubborn eater lately too. Between the weather change and the age he's been on a semi feeding strike. He paces and grumps at me which is very out of character for him! I'm trying not to give in to his low appetite because he's eating some just not much. He's refused pretty much everything except crickets and hornworms lately...

That's the same with my boy!! He is usually very happy and wants to come out all the time but now he lunged at me everytime I put my hand near him. I think the weather has to do with it also...thanks for the help!!

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Still, when I super hydrate my chameleons their appetite picks up!

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

Still, when I super hydrate my chameleons their appetite picks up!

ok , if he ever goes through hunger strike i will def use this advice!!!