My Chameleon Won't Eat?

[Ashton777]

I just got my graceful cham about 5 days ago. The first day she ate 12 crickets and drank a bunch of water, i was really happy! the second day she only ate about 5 and barely drank much water, now for the past couple days, she wont eat anything and dosent drink. I have left crickets in there for her but she dosent touch them so i took em out. Today finally i gave her some water when she woke up and she was drinking! but i still cant get her to eat anything any suggestions??

 

[LLLReptile]

Stop messing with her so much!

Chameleons typically need more than just a day or two to settle in, so that she ate so much the first day she came home is unusual. Your set up also may not be warm enough, or she may not be getting enough water throughout the day.

Can you describe your setup for us?

-Jen

 

[Ashton777]

Aweeeee my baby is eating now!! she is actually moving around in her cage to get the crickets!! . I do leave her alone, i have done no handling with her yet and i have been giving her her own space so she feeling comfortable. she has a 50gallon mesh terrarium. She is around a year old and iv had her for about 5 days. I do the whole drip system thing, mist couple times daily, i do have a waterfall but she hasnt done anything with that yet. I actually just changed my bulb the other day cause she wasnt getting enough, it was a 100w infa red but now i changed it to a 150w infa red with a 10.0 uvb/uva light as well. I think the problem was she was to cold to move around the cage a couple days ago but now she does really well cause shes probably warmer. I am wondering how i can get her to eat fruit and veggies as well. The only thing i have for her right now is crickets. i will take a picture of my terrarium too!

 

[ChamomilleCame]

Are you recording temps? That seems really hot. Also, 10.0 uvb is too strong. We here use 5.0 uvb. Glad to hear shes moving around and eating

 

[carol5208]

remove the waterfall and substrate. She most likely will not drink out of the waterfall and it will need constant cleaning to prevent bacteria from growing. The substrate can pose a health hazard if she injests it. So please remove both.

 

[Ashton777]

Her basking area stays at a temperature around 80-85 and down lower goes around 68-72. The guy told me a 10.0 would do better than a 5.0 but yah. I was going to take the waterfall out because it is a hassle but it would be awesome if she did drink from it. I know my cham is a Girl so i thought substrate would be good and it probably helps with my humidity. I was also trying to figure something out where i could have my drip'er actually drip into another cup so i dont get water everywhere, its hard with how bug my light fixtures are. But i think she just needed a couple days to feel comfortable for her to eat. I went and got some meal worms today and a couple Hornworms! I gave her one awhile ago and she loved it!