Panther not eating crickets

[Sleaper88]

Unfortunately iv had to feed my Cham little meal worms for the last month as i haven't been able to get any crickets. Now that I have some he won't touch them!!! Anybody got any tips on how to get him to eat these crickets again?? Cheers

 

[Alexl]

Wait and don't feed any mealworms. Those are really fatty, so your chameleon is probably just totally overfed up to date. A healthy not overfed chameleon is always hungry and doesn't choose favorite feeders.

 

[Sleaper88]

Thanks for the reply, what iv done is put a couple of meal worms in with bout 8 crickets just to kinda lure him to them!! How long would you say he could go without eating??? Cheers

 

[chameleonkev]

10 days without problems

 

[Sleaper88]

Oh that's a bit of a relief!! What happened after 10 days?? Did he/she just start eating again???

 

[chameleonkev]

Yes my old faly male wouldn't take anything but locust so I didn't offer them and after 10 days he gave up And chomped on some roaches and crickets

 

[Sleaper88]

Ahh that's brilliant!!! This site always puts my mind at ease!!!!!

 

[chameleonkev]

That was a fully grown adult tho, if your is a young Cham I would probly say after a week you would start to worrie

 

[Sleaper88]

Yeah he's 8/9 months old nd due a shed which doesn't help lol

 

[Sleaper88]

Ok, so he's now eaten the worms nd left the crickets the little bugger lol

 

[sandrachameleon]

Do not give it any more worms. If you dont provide them, it cant eat them. Provide only other choices, like crickets, silkworms, butterworms, roaches, blue bottles, indian walking sticks, terrestrial isopods etc. And continue to NOT provide worms for several weeks, as you've clearly over-done it on those. Mealworms should form only 10% of a chameleons diet (up to 20% if the rest is largely soft bodied like silkworms). This is not going to starve the animal, as you are still providing plenty of food choices. It will eat when it is hungry enough.
To put your mind at rest, you can weight your chameleon every few days. Unless it drops 10% of its body weight, dont give in .

 

[torquasprings]

Unfortunately iv had to feed my Cham little meal worms for the last month as i haven't been able to get any crickets. Now that I have some he won't touch them!!! Anybody got any tips on how to get him to eat these crickets again?? Cheers

I see that he's already started to eat, but have you tried feeding anything else besides those two? There's quite the variety of bugs out there now available to us keepers. Try Dubia roaches, silkworms, small horn worms, Phoenix worms, etc. As for myself, I personally can't stand crickets. They stink, bite, and die off easier than roaches... plus, they jump and have more exoskeleton to digest than roaches with less 'meat'. I'm not sure about you, but I'd hate to eat chicken 3 times a day for the rest of my life. Good luck with your guy's continual successful eating!