my new ambanja

[jordiwantsachami]

he hatched in november so that makes him just about 5 months old. his name is "Leon the Chameleon!" (using the voice of a circus ringmaster or the ready to rumble guy) hes been free ranging small crickets and i also added some dubias into a small cup to see if he would go for those too. They are the babies that i have from my colony for my bearded dragons. So they are about the same size of the crickets. Mealworms also have been introduced. I have only really seen him eat one cricket and that was today but i came home and the cup of 4 dubias was knocked over and they were nowhere in sight. he is in a zip up mesh enclosure for now until he gets big enough for the antique bird cage i have designed for him. So i throw in crickets everyday because I dont see as many as I did the day before. Is it safe to assume he is eating them or that they are just all hiding in his cage and attacking him at night is it a good idea to free range him now and then switch to cup feeding once he gets into his bigger cage? the bigger cage has larger holes in it, not the mesh. so there is greater chance for escape. Thanks!
He has been pooping regularly. I've had him a week and seen a good 5-6 poops. of good consistency
-Jordan and Leon

 

[pssh]

Not all chams will cupfeed, but you can set him up for success by using a large tub not a cup. Then he can hunt while the bugs are contained. I bet he would appreciate it if you moved the plant up a bit in his cage. A plant stand or an upside down plant pot works well. A few more branches in the basking area wouldn't hurt either

he's a cutie!

 

[BrianAschenbach]

Hi Jordan and Leon,

Welcome, that Ambanja is extremely impressive. Looked a lot like my very first chameleon, to be exact an Ambanja!! He was very green and turned out to be a seriously amazing purple bar.

Anyways, is this your only chameleon? If there is enough room, I like the milk carton approach to feeding bugs.

Check out screameleons.com and look at their DIY baby cage. Believe me, the baby cage is perfect for offering food.

Cup feeding isn't easy for a chameleon, because it might take them a while, and your boy is still growing... a lot.. so you don't want him to miss out on some days of feed.


The open milk carton is a very large gap, so he will def. notice them when he is simply roaming. (he won't have to look right over it in order to see that there are bugs in it)


Mealworms are no good. I don't care how many people believe in variety, mealworms are crud.

What are you gutloading your crickets with? Also did you offer the dubia roaches straight out of the colony bin? What were they feeding on in that large bin?

Check out chameleonsonly.com for a great cricket recipe, or better yet, hit up my man Steve, he sells this product called "cricket crack" and it is loaded with great stuff. It is a dry gutload, so you still need to juice those insects up with fresh veggies and fruit!

 

[jordiwantsachami]

yeah thats a good point. he was staying stuck up in the yellowish plant in the right corner until i added more bamboo sticks now he goes down into that for sleeping which im sure is more comfy and soft. like going from a futon to a pillow top king size. lol. i will try elevating the plant more. by tub what do u mean take him out of his cage and put him in a separate thing for feeding? or like i have my small crickets in a small probably 6in deep rubbermaid topped tub. should i just put that whole thing in there? you dont think he will fall in and get attacked?

 

[jordiwantsachami]

i did scoop the babies up straight from the colony bin. they were dusted a bit but sat in the cup for a few days until they disappeared. the crickets are gut loaded with this yellow gut load gel by flukers called cricket quencher calcium fortified. the dubias are being fed veggies such as kale collards potatoes and random fruit (apples/pears). is this good? they also get dog/cat food occasionally but i keep the veggies fresh and their bin clean. i sucked one up in the wet vac last week! it didnt die. lol.

 

[BrianAschenbach]

Yes, that's exactly what Kara is saying. A container (tub) is perfect too, keep it at a lower level, where he'll notice it.

Observe him, see where he hangs out most of the time in the morning. Does he love to bask in the morning like my chameleons?

Make sure to take them out during the afternoon, you don't want him eating past 1 P.M.



If he is as big as he appears to be, he should be able to climb out of a 6 inch deep container, but just to be sure, try to get something a little less deep... Also, don't place a branch right over it, make sure that branch is a little higher than right above it, I'd say a branch that is 3-4 inches above it.

Response to my response: Reptiles shouldn't get insects that have dog/cat food in their belly. In order to get that cat/dog food crap out of them completely you have to feed them the healthy foods first before feeding them to your chameleon.

NOTE: Dog/cat food causes gout, which is very painful and a horrible experience for your beloved animal.

I recently decided that 2-3 days of "cleaning their gut content" of cat/dog food is not long enough. Make sure to take the dubia roaches out and feed them healthy foods for atleast 14 days.

That flukers stuff isn't good. Try using the stuff above.

In the mean time, these are good foods to gutload your crickets with:

Oat meal, kale, romaine lettuce, squash, carrot including carrot top, sweet potato, orange, apple.

 

[jordiwantsachami]

thanks a bunch guys!