My Chameleon is going on a cricket strike.

[Aricari]

So my chameleon is not very interested in eating crickets at the moment. Tried feeding him tons of horn worms but then he got tired of those ! I’m afraid he is getting used to eating the grasshoppers outside and wants more of those but god knows how hard it is to catch them! I’m about to take him to the vet tomorrow because I am afraid he will go hungry! Anybody else have this issue ? He’s also not interested in roaches or meal worms at the moment. No his eyes aren’t sunken in and his mouth is normal. He has unlimited amount of plants in his cage to eat and water to drink. I have two fluorescent lights one is specifically UVB. I have a heat lamp that’s 88-90 . I gut load with flunkers food products. I just recently bought him a bigger cage because I thought he was acting this way because he needs more space, but the bigger cage didn’t help. SOS ??

 

[Archie The Cham]

Have you ever tried Black Soldier fly larvae or the flies themselves? a lot of chams love the movement. The larvae have a lot of calcium so no need to dust them. This is a great staple feeder for your cham. Also there are a lot of different kinds of roaches that move a little more than dubia's do, you might try some of those. Hornworms should really only be a treat food.

 

[bbyoda]

Silkworms would be good to try as well. Superworms are a treat but since he's hunger striking a bit you might not want to introduce a feeder that he could get fixated on.

Adult chameleons can go a while without eating, so you can wait out the hunger strike to get him back on crickets.

If you haven't already, it'd be good to fill out the husbandry form so more experienced members can give you feedback in case husbandry details are related to the issue you're concerned about. You can find the form in the health forum. It's just a bullet list of questions for you to copy and paste.

 

[MissSkittles]

So in the old thread I gave you the feeder graphic. Mealworms aren’t a good feeder...high in fat and chitin. Hornworms, superworms and wax worms are for occasional treats only, but many chams are easily hooked on them. I don’t think any cham has ever starved itself to death and many keepers have had to practice tough love and be more patient and determined than their cham. Bsfl (aka Phoenix worms, calci worms) are really good staple feeders. If you let them pupate, they become flies which most chams seem to enjoy. After roaches, I believe the second best feeder is silkworms. (At least that’s what a vet told me). No idea what gut loads Fluker’s has besides the blue and orange cubes, but neither of those is really good for anything. Fresh organic veggies, greens and some fruits are great for gutloading. There are some commercial products...I use Repashy bug burger and add a little bee pollen and spirulina to it. Here’s the feeder graphic again and the gutload one too. Btw, a vet visit isn’t a bad idea imho

just for a wellness check and most importantly take a fresh fecal sample to test for any parasites.

 

[jacksonchamnew]

So my chameleon is not very interested in eating crickets at the moment. Tried feeding him tons of horn worms but then he got tired of those ! I’m afraid he is getting used to eating the grasshoppers outside and wants more of those but god knows how hard it is to catch them! I’m about to take him to the vet tomorrow because I am afraid he will go hungry! Anybody else have this issue ? He’s also not interested in roaches or meal worms at the moment. No his eyes aren’t sunken in and his mouth is normal. He has unlimited amount of plants in his cage to eat and water to drink. I have two fluorescent lights one is specifically UVB. I have a heat lamp that’s 88-90 . I gut load with flunkers food products. I just recently bought him a bigger cage because I thought he was acting this way because he needs more space, but the bigger cage didn’t help. SOS ??

I have caught grasshoppers outside for my cham. Maybe we need to put green food coloring on our crickets. LOL I just got new cage for mine and have roaches in food dish. Crickets have died in their container. He didn't eat them. Getting shooting gallery and will try this. Insect feeders can hide in big cage.

 

[Beman]

So my chameleon is not very interested in eating crickets at the moment. Tried feeding him tons of horn worms but then he got tired of those ! I’m afraid he is getting used to eating the grasshoppers outside and wants more of those but god knows how hard it is to catch them! I’m about to take him to the vet tomorrow because I am afraid he will go hungry! Anybody else have this issue ? He’s also not interested in roaches or meal worms at the moment. No his eyes aren’t sunken in and his mouth is normal. He has unlimited amount of plants in his cage to eat and water to drink. I have two fluorescent lights one is specifically UVB. I have a heat lamp that’s 88-90 . I gut load with flunkers food products. I just recently bought him a bigger cage because I thought he was acting this way because he needs more space, but the bigger cage didn’t help. SOS ??

Can you please take a picture of the enclosure lights down so we can see if there are environmental causes? And pics of the chameleon.

 

[Aricari]

So my chameleon is not very interested in eating crickets at the moment. Tried feeding him tons of horn worms but then he got tired of those ! I’m afraid he is getting used to eating the grasshoppers outside and wants more of those but god knows how hard it is to catch them! I’m about to take him to the vet tomorrow because I am afraid he will go hungry! Anybody else have this issue ? He’s also not interested in roaches or meal worms at the moment. No his eyes aren’t sunken in and his mouth is normal. He has unlimited amount of plants in his cage to eat and water to drink. I have two fluorescent lights one is specifically UVB. I have a heat lamp that’s 88-90 . I gut load with flunkers food products. I just recently bought him a bigger cage because I thought he was acting this way because he needs more space, but the bigger cage didn’t help. SOS ??

Hey guys!! So I ended up taking him to the vet and they gave me a powder that was an assistant feeder formula. I had to wrap a towel around his body and open his mouth gently with a card and insert it in his mouth every day twice a day for maybe 7 days. I can’t find the specific brand, but after that he started eating thankfully! He still does not like crickets and I think it’s because he’s used to top shelf horn worms and silk worms. He absolutely loves clean trot and Bok Choy and somethings won’t eat anything with that added to his food smh!!!
I also took him to be boarded and he recently burnt his head while in the hands of a boarding company for reptiles. I know it’s common, but now he has a shark fin lol.

 

[BostonKeith]

Just curious are you making like a bug buffet salad dish for your chamelon?

Also..I hope you did not pay for boarding after they burnt your animal..