Need feeding suggestions

[Psychobunny]

I have a new panther baby in a 18 X 36'' reptibreeze which is packed with
vines, branches and foliage.
He is very small, and I have been just letting the cricks free in his cage to
hunt down.
Problem is, he only gets a few and the rest gather at the top of the cage
and dont move!! There are too many in there now!!
I have only had this guy a week, so if I could cup feed him, it would take
care of the excess crick problem, plus I would know how much he is eating.

I havent yet tried sticking a cup in front of him yet, so dont know how he
will react!!

How would you guyz do do this, feed a new baby cham in a big cage!!??

 

[kplatvoet]

I got my new flapneck some house flies- It's hard to keep track of how many he's eating but he's been spending a lot of time hunting them down - (and dusting them is a pain)
When I stick my hand in to give him silks or fill his cup he runs for the hills- I use little dixies with velcro buttons for cup feeding.

 

[Psychobunny]

Will he eat out of the cup?
How long did it take before he would do this?

 

[Zephalia]

Place the cup in an area where he can perch above it and be able to see the feeders and reach them. Leave it there and he'll figure it out. Mine didn't touch them the first day but the second day and since he's figured it out just fine. I don't always place the cup in the same place either. As long as he can see them he knows what to do.

 

[Psychobunny]

What kind of feeders are you putting in the cup?

Cant use cricks, they just hop out!?

Roaches just stop moving, so my little guy doesnt notice them

 

[MelissaB]

Have you tried a deeper feeding cup, to keep the crickets in? My baby panther, Otto is a little bit bigger than your guy. I use a dry creamer container (cut like a Sunny D feeder), and put gutter guard on the back wall for the crickets to climb on. It works pretty well for 1/4 inch crickets. When I 1st put it in, I put 1/2 the crickets in the cup and 1/2 free range. When I saw him going to the cup, I put most of the crickets in the cup and a couple loose. It's been working great, so far. Oscar, my bigger panther, lost interest in the cup, so now I free range all his feeders.

Front (bad picture, sorry) showing mesh for crickets to climb on, there are small magnets hot glued near the top and bottom:


Back of feeder, with magnets to hold it in place:


Not happy that I was taking pics inside his cage:

 

[kplatvoet]

I put phoenix worms in a cup - and the crickets start there for the most part - (more than one cup) I put silk worms in a cup of beardy salad as I saw him trying to chomp on a leaf- I don't think he's thrilled with them - the phoenix worms were gone but at least a couple of the silks ended up on the bottom of the cage. He will not eat if I'm watching though except for the flies -

 

[Chameleon Creator]

I put the cup of reptiworms in the same place everytime I feed them to my panther, I will find him perched above the spot where I place the cup now when I get home, so he knows where to find the food.
I introduced the cup of worms to him the first couple of times, then I would move the cup away from him slowly and place it in the same spot every time. To get him to notice the cup I would shake the cup a couple times then close his cage and let him check it out.
As far as the roaches not moving or inspiring him to eat, what I will do is kind of Shake the cup and attempt to flip a roach on it's back, when this happens their brighter colored legs start flailing around frantically in attempt to regain balance; my panther chameleon notices this and for the most part eats the flipped roach immediately.
Sometimes he is funny when it comes to privacy though, sometimes he will appear interested, then give me a dirty look because I'm watching and not eat the food.
If you are afraid of the excess crickets I would recommend removing them, he might be too intimidated to eat them if there are too many gathered in one location.
The sunny d and gutter guard trick works well, although some crickets will still jump out, most should stay in and climb the gutter guard.

 

[scruggyj]

I have had my baby jackson since 1/1/14. He was about. 6 weeks old. He took right to cup feeding. Now every morning he is sitting there waiting. I just moved him from the 10 gallon to his new cage and I put crix in bowl of new cage and placed him on top. The next day he way there waiting like always.

 

[IAmCarl]

Took my Panther one time to see those crickets in a Chinese soup container and the rest was history. Two days later and it was out of my hand . When I cup feed I make sure I turn the cup on its side, almost, and put it right in front of his face and wait. Sometimes I let them crawl on the lip of the container, tantalizing!

 

[fluxlizard]

when I used 17x17x36" reptarium for raising baby chams, I always turned them so the long side was on the ground. Keeps the feeders in range of hungry babies...

 

[Psychobunny]

Have you tried a deeper feeding cup, to keep the crickets in? My baby panther, Otto is a little bit bigger than your guy. I use a dry creamer container (cut like a Sunny D feeder), and put gutter guard on the back wall for the crickets to climb on. It works pretty well for 1/4 inch crickets. When I 1st put it in, I put 1/2 the crickets in the cup and 1/2 free range. When I saw him going to the cup, I put most of the crickets in the cup and a couple loose. It's been working great, so far. Oscar, my bigger panther, lost interest in the cup, so now I free range all his feeders.

Front (bad picture, sorry) showing mesh for crickets to climb on, there are small magnets hot glued near the top and bottom:
View attachment 91840

Back of feeder, with magnets to hold it in place:
View attachment 91841

Not happy that I was taking pics inside his cage:
View attachment 91842

I use this sort of feeder for a few of my adults.
Maybe if I could make a small one, just his size, it may work.

Right now, I have too many cricks that have been in his cage for some time.
I keep having to knock them out of the corners of the cage where they
gather.
I know he is eating them, because I see his little poops.
But when I try to get the cricks out of the corners, it freaks Slinky out and
he hides, which is no way to tame a baby!!

I will try the cup thing first, put some cricks in it, and hold it up to him, see
what he does.
I suppose I should get something else to feed him, maybe some small silkies.

Thanks everybody for the suggestions

 

[MelissaB]

I really like getting the egg cups of hornworms from GreatLakes. That way they start out really small, so I can feed them out to smaller animals. I FINALLY was able to go through a whole cup of hornworms before they got too big.

 

[Ninkylou]

I really like getting the egg cups of hornworms from GreatLakes. That way they start out really small, so I can feed them out to smaller animals. I FINALLY was able to go through a whole cup of hornworms before they got too big.

Thats funny I have some arriving to day after a break from buying them and am hoping the same thing.

I use the screen feeder too and when my guys were little I got a single serving SunnyD bottle and made it out of that. Any opaque smooth plastic will work.

The roaches do just sit in one place but I put super worms in it too and they piss of the roaches enough that they move around some more.

 

[Denverbug]

I was doing a combination of cup and free range but noticed my Cham keep striking the cup instead of the feeders so I got worried he would hurt his tounge now I just let them free range however I did post on if he would hurt his tounge and the best suggestion I got was not to use a clear cup so he can only see them from above

 

[Psychobunny]

I will try cup feeding him.
He is just a baby, and everything is new to him, so this may take several tries.

He seems to be finding the stray cricks in the cage, not as many as there was.

I am also using small 1/4'' cricks, so maybe a scaled down version of the
'Sunny D death trap' would work.

He is still getting used to his new home, so putting something new in there
may not be a good idea right now?!

 

[Psychobunny]

Well, I tried cup feeding with a small deli cup and he was too afraid to eat
from it. He just stared at the cricks inside, which actually is better then if
he was just staring at me.
This is a new concept to a little guy who may not be 100% adjusted to his cage yet.
So I will try this every day.
At least he didnt run for cover, and I pulled the cup back a few inches and
let the cricks crawl out onto the vines in front of him so he could see what I was doing.
Ordered some sillkies, hope they dont arive frozen!!

They work very well for hand feed training