Newbie with 3 month male panther

[Robbothelaker]

Hi everyone, I am new to this. I have bought a 3 month old male from a local breeder yesterday and I'm very happy to have him. He is in a small tall exo terra tank currently but I know in a short time he will need to have a bigger tank but at this point in time it's perfect.
I put the pot of locusts in the bottom of his enclosure at 8am this morning. I think there are about 15 in there currently and he has definitely eaten 2 as I watched him but no more than that. I thought he would have gone for them a lot more than he has. Do you think he is nervous about his new surroundings? The set up is good. Will post a pic when I can! Now obviously I have 15 small locust in the tank which will be in there overnight which I know could bother him. I've tried to get some out but I don't want to keep invading the tank and disturbing the Cham. Plus they are next to impossible to catch...
Do you think there are too many in the tank for him to feel comfortable? He isn't showing any signs of stress.
Would appreciate any advice.
Thank you. Rob

 

[Dave Bolamperti]

Hey Robbothelaker,
Welcome to the forum, congratulations on the new Cham . Make sure you have a carrot / moisture and dry chow in the panther enclosure also. I have lost babies to crickets attacking eating the eyes out of the Cham . Bugs need food also and make sure they are not too big, size appropriate , do not overwhelm your panther.
good luck

 

[Robbothelaker]

Thanks for the welcome!
Am going to place a carrot in there now and see if the locust will go to it. What is dry chow?
The locust are definitely the right size as I asked the breeder what size he had been eating before I purchased. He told me he would eat two boxes of small locust a week at this age.
I'm just concerned with the amount left in the tank and with him trying to settle into his new home.
Thank you again!!!

 

[timmin89]

Dry chow = Cat food?

 

[nick barta]

Dry chow would be a grain-based gut load for feeder insects such as super worms, crickets, mealworms, and roaches.

Robbothelaker is probably from UK, and he would need to put locust food to feed the locust he has.

Robbothelaker, I would place the locust on a surface the locust can climb on, and watch the chameleon eat the locust, rather than having 15 in the enclosure at once. If you have screen on a vertical side, place the locust there so it can climb on the screen to get the attention of the chameleon by moving.

CHEERS, Robbothelaker from the US!

Welcome!

Nick

 

[Craig94089]

What Nick recommended. Also a feeder cup mid level in the habitat would get more attention than at the bottom. Eat2muchrice posted a great DYI feeder cup in the Enclosure section and could be modified with suction cups if you have a glass enclosure.

I would say the next go around for feeding just put a few feeders in at a time until you can gauge eating habits so the feeders are not in the habitat overnight. Once they eat all you provided put in a few more. Once you get the hang of it you'll know about how many to put in with less risk that the calcium dusting wears off before they get eatten.

I free range feed, but if I recall those that use feeder cups move them around the habitat every so often to make sure the chams tongue is exercised and not always shooting at the same location.