My chameleon won't eat (3 weeks now)

[AndreaFC8]

Hi, we bought a 1 year old chameleon around 1 month and a half ago. At the beginning he was eating a lot. They gave us a small box of locust and he loved it. After that we started feeding him crickets and he was still ok. 3 weeks ago we bough locust again and I was feeding him 1 locust and 5 crickets (size 4) everyday. However, suddenly he stared to eat less. He will not take the locust (before he used to get crazy about it) and the he stopped eating crickets all along. It is been around 2 weeks now (maybe a bit more) and he don't eat crickets in front of me (we leave some 4-5 on his cage and later 1 or 2 disappear though not sure if he eats then or not). But basically he is not eating at all. He has a lot of energy though, as we keep moving around his cage and seems healthy (his mouth is yellow but don't remember if it was always like that). We bought him some super worms and he is eating them ok, actually he just see them and eat them straight away. I don't know what may be wrong with him. I am worry he may have broken his tongue or he may be ill. Can you please let me know what you think? Also recently he had become friendlier ( about a feel ago) when I just open his cage he want to come out straight away and club my arm, not sure if it is relevant or not.

 

[carol5208]

I am a little confused by your post. You say three weeks, then two, then you say he eats superworms as soon as he sees them. Are you feeding him everyday? If the crickets are gone, then most likely he is eating them, but not in front of you. If you are seeing him eat superworms, then there is nothing wrong with his tongue. He does not need to eat everyday at that age. He can eat every other and sometimes they may get bored with food and refuse what you offer them altogether. Most chameleons will not turn down superworms. I guess they must tast like filet mignon! lol Anyways, It would not hurt to post a picture of your chameleon and set up. Do you have the proper uva and basking lights for him?

 

[kinyonga]

If it's a panther then it's normal for it to have some yellow units mouth. Is it definitely a male? Why do you think there could be something wrong with his tongue?

 

[ataraxia]

I am a little confused by your post. You say three weeks, then two, then you say he eats superworms as soon as he sees them. Are you feeding him everyday? If the crickets are gone, then most likely he is eating them, but not in front of you. If you are seeing him eat superworms, then there is nothing wrong with his tongue. He does not need to eat everyday at that age. He can eat every other and sometimes they may get bored with food and refuse what you offer them altogether.

Agreed ^

Dont fall into him just eating super worms. Your looking for real problems if you abuse them.

 

[AndreaFC8]

It's been sometime between 2 and 3 weeks, sorry for the confusion. He does eat the super worms, but I just started feeding them few days ago. The reason I am worried is that he does not have the same appetite as before and sometime it seems he is not eating at all. He does not even look to the crickets and locust.

I think there may be some issue with his tongue as for example today when I feed him some super worms he has some problems catching them until I put them really close to him.

I will try to take a photo later and show it to you.

Thanks anyway

 

[Bush baby]

What does you supplementation schedule look like? Tongue issues could be an early sign of a calcium deficiency, or some sort of other supplement issue...